The History of the Brassiere

There is much controversy about who first invented the brassiere.  Henry Lesher is credited by some with patenting the first brassiere, in 1859. While his design looks more or less like a bra, (though the figure of the person wearing it hardly looks like a woman), he designed it primarily as a “breast pad and perspiration shield”. While it was also designed to “give a symmetrical rotundity” it was not intended for breast support.

Many attribute the invention of the modern brassiere to Mary Phelps Jacob mostly because her patent was the first to use the french word “brassiere”.  Her invention was backless and was held in place by straps which wrapped around the woman and tied in front. But, as she writes in her patent description, on February 12, 1914 her invention was meant to be worn with evening gowns that were cut low in the back and was intended to “cover the top of the corset and hold the wearer in proper form”. Again, she did not mention breast support.

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