American Mary Phelps Jacob (also known as Caresse Crosby) was part of New York’s upper class. As a young woman, she spent much of her time at extravagant parties, socialising with other members of the city’s aristocratic circles. This lifestyle required confining oneself in a tight corset. However, these corsets were so restrictive that they inhibited women’s ability to breathe, put pressure on their ribs and kidneys, and sometimes even caused their wearers to faint. But Jacob was more than just a privileged socialite – she was also a committed women’s rights advocate. With her invention, which freed women from the constricting corset, she was surely not the first feminist entrepreneur, but by far the most successful – today, the bra is a billion-dollar industry!
However, her invention was in many ways an accident. Three very different factors drove Mary Phelps Jacob to invent the bra: World War I, her large bust and a daring dress.
Jacob had decided to wear a bold dress to a party. However, the whale bones that formed the structure of the corset bothered her, since they were not only restrictive, but would also be visible under the dress. Because of her generous bosom, she couldn’t appear at such an event without a corset. So she needed an alternative. She asked one of her servants to fashion a corset substitute using two silk handkerchiefs and some pink ribbon and tape. It probably didn’t seem like a big deal to Jacob at first, but she had invented the first brassiere – or bra for short.