Since Tex Wants to Talk Fashion...

...how would you like to learn about bras from the 1400s? Believe it or not, this represents a serious revision of our understanding of historic costume.
In an interview with Associated Press, Beatrix Nutz, the lead archaeologist for the find, said, “We didn’t believe it ourselves,” she said in a telephone call from the Tyrolean city of Innsbruck. “From what we knew, there was no such thing as bra-like garments in the 15th century.”

Up to now there was nothing to indicate the existence of bras with clearly visible cups before the 19th century. Medieval written sources are rather vague on the topic of female breast support....
Doubtless they were discreet. Even in my lifetime, we used to refer to these things as "unmentionables."

14 comments:

Texan99 said...

A modern abomination.

MikeD said...

You prefer corsets, T99?

Grim said...

A modern abomination.

No! A medieval torture device! :)

Texan99 said...

For young, slender women, I prefer nothing at all.

Sadly, time ravageth. As a friend in the local woman's club noted, "I used to be a 34B, but now I'm a 44 long," and some kind of structural support is grudgingly accepted as a necessity in public. But going out in public is overrated.

bthun said...

In the words of William Wallace,

FREEDOM!

Tom said...

For young, slender women, I prefer nothing at all.

That's funny, me too. I guess we can agree on some things. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Well, there's always the Bavarian compromise - a dirndl with a bodice designed to be both, ahem, uplifting and supporting.

LittleRed1

Nicholas Darkwater said...

I always called them brassieres, until I was corrected by a younger lady in her 50s, who told me that no one uses that word anymore.

MikeD said...

Curse my slowness... Tom beat me to it!

Anonymous said...

Nicholas, we still call them that out here, but then we're so far behind the fashion curve that we're about to become trendy again.

LittleRed1

E Hines said...

"Brassiere"--isn't that another term for "Short Corset?"

Either way, they're clearly instruments of torture. It's the gateway tool for binding feet. Where're the human rights councils (and counsels) working to ban these abominations?

Who will speak for the little woman on this?

Eric Hines

bthun said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bthun said...

"Who will speak for the little woman on this?"

Certainly not the spindly fellows who prefer tighty whities.

Might have to look for defenders of FREEDOM! in places like, well, like where I come from.

bthun said...

Sheesh! Take 3:

..."in places like, well, like where I come from."

Note to self: Do not compose letters to U.S. Senators while yapping in a forum comment.