600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle

[mlr52]

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle
Associated Press By GEORGE JAHN | Associated Press – Thu, Jul 19, 2012

VIENNA (AP) — A revolutionary discovery is rewriting the history of underwear: Some 600 years ago, women wore bras.

The University of Innsbruck said Wednesday that archeologists found four linen bras dating from the Middle Ages in an Austrian castle. Fashion experts describe the find as surprising because the bra had commonly been thought to be only little more than 100 years old as women abandoned the tight corset.

Instead, it appears the bra came first, followed by the corset, followed by the reinvented bra.

One specimen in particular "looks exactly like a (modern) brassiere," says Hilary Davidson, fashion curator for the London Museum. "These are amazing finds."

http://news.yahoo.com/600-old-linen-bras-found-austrian-castle-192408678.html

:whis:

[DancesWithHorses]

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle

 
Well, you learn something new everyday... but it doesn't surprise me. For some reason I don't think corsets would have been all that useful to servant women.

[mlr52]

Well, you learn something new everyday... but it doesn't surprise me. For some reason I don't think corsets would have been all that useful to servant women.

 
Cost would have be a factor also.  These things were not mass produced.

[DancesWithHorses]

Cost would have be a factor also.  These things were not mass produced.

 
Yep, as a seamstress, I can imagine just how much work went into that.

[iulla]

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle

How cool!  

On the one hand, it's amazing how, er, modern? the bra (and the underpants, too) look.  

So I did some digging around and, well, bras have been around for a long time, and they look like things that women wear today.  Like the Ming Dynasty's dudou, the 4th century Piazza Armerina's "Bikini Girls" mosaic, Pompeiian women (I am not linking to a picture as evidence, as it was found in a fresco of a brothel), and apparently the Minoans as well.

[Aster Breo]

On the one hand, it's amazing how, er, modern? the bra (and the underpants, too) look.  

So I did some digging around and, well, bras have been around for a long time, and they look like things that women wear today.  

Form follows function, as they say.  

[Tana]

Form follows function, as they say.  

Yup.
There are only so many ways how to wrap up the fair femaleness.

And from a breast band (what the 'bikini' girls are wearing) to the idea of sewing some straps on and making a dart here and a tuck there, you don't have to go a long way.

[Caroline]

Cost would have be a factor also.  These things were not mass produced.

 
Actually, they were - at least by the Victorian era when clothing was being mass produced thanks to the invention of the sewing machine. Multiple needle machines were especially useful in corsetry.

Of course, pre-mass production people generally had a minor percentage of the amount of clothing we today consider adequate.

[Caroline]

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle

 
I also recall reading an early account of this find discussing other garment fragments, two of which seem to be the famed 'shirts with bags' described in medieval accounts. Which is even cooler, in my mind, to find concrete evidence supporting written descriptions.

[delaineyrae]

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle
Associated Press By GEORGE JAHN | Associated Press – Thu, Jul 19, 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/600-old-linen-bras-found-austrian-castle-192408678.html

:whis:

I hope that further study proves that these "bras" were torture devices, same as today.

[Juni]

I hope that further study proves that these "bras" were torture devices, same as today.

 
Speak for yourself- for me not wearing a bra is torture. I get serious back pain.

[Nyktipolos]

Speak for yourself- for me not wearing a bra is torture. I get serious back pain.

 
Even proper corsets shouldn't be painful or incredibly restrictive.

Personally, I like wearing bras. I'm able to actually walk around without pain.

[yewberry]

Speak for yourself- for me not wearing a bra is torture. I get serious back pain.

I like not wearing mine...until I'm moving.  I don't like the painful variety either, but my all-cotton, underwire-free jobbies are great.
 
Brina

[Amethyst]

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle
Associated Press By GEORGE JAHN | Associated Press – Thu, Jul 19, 2012

 
I love how that first picture looks almost exactly like modern bras - cracks me up for some reason.