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The Clothing Reform Movement

Main article: Victorian dress reform

The evolution of the bra from the corset was driven by two parallel movements: health professionals' concerns about the cruelly constraining effects of the corset, and the clothing-reform movement of feminists, who saw that greater participation of women in society would require emancipation from corsetry. Prominent amongst these were the Rational Dress Society ^[6], National Dress Reform Association^[7] and the Reform Dress Association ^[8].

Although there were a number of voices warning about the considerable health risks of corsets, the health professions were generally muted, and anyway women ignored 'unfashionable' advice. The health professions concentrated more on psychosomatic complaints, which were in fact probably related to corsetry. Ill health was considered synonymous with femininity, and a a pale and sickly demeanour, normative. (Fictional heroises often died from tuberculosis, or "consumption" This made them pale and kept them immobili.) Corsets were supposed to provide both physical and moral support.

Some physicians ignored colleagues who felt corsets were a medical need because of women's biology and the needs of civilized order. The physicians who raised the alarm pointed to nausea, bowel disturbances, eating disorders, breathlessness, flushing, fainting, and gynecological problems. Bed rest was a common prescription for the 'weaker sex', which of course implied relief from corsetry. (This prescription was only practical for upper-class women, whose function was largely decorative: working-class women actually needed to work.)

Women's interest in sport, particularly bicycling, forced a rethinking, and women's groups called for 'emancipation garments'. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps urged women to 'burn the corsets!' in 1874, an eerie prediction of 1960s 'bra burning' (see below). Indirectly and directly sports empowered women in other social climates.

Not surprisingly corsetieres fought back, embellishing their products, as frilly and feminine in the 1870s. Advertising took on overtones of erotic imagery, even if in practice they acted as a deterrent to sexuality, especially when they started appearing in men's magazines, stressing cleavage and bare arms (then taboo). It is not clear whether parents actively corseted their children to prevent them exploring their own sexuality. Dolls assumed the corseted image implanting an image of the 'ideal' female form. Corsets certainly reinforced the image of a weaker sex, unable to defend themselves, and a challenge to disrobe.

In practice, early brassieres made little market penetration. They were expensive, and only educated wealthy reformers wore them to any extent.^[9]

American women who made important contributions included Amelia Bloomer (1818 - 1894) ("When you find a burden in belief or apparel, cast it off.”)^[10] and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919).

Source from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki