Marilyn Monroe-style 50s bras making comeback

The renaissance has its roots in catwalk fashions, as top designers like London’s Louise Goldin and Gaultier (man, has he got a thing for them!) have included them in their Spring/ Summer 2010 collections, this has then filtered down to high street shops, giving women the chance to get their hands on them (and put their boobs in them). And the sales are pretty impressive. Department store John Lewis reports that sales of their Fantasie Belle (why do bras have such daft names?) are up 10 per cent this week on last, while Truimph Doreen White (again, why?) are up 33 per cent on this time last year and the Truimph Doreen Powder up 10 per cent.

On this burgeoning bra trend, a John Lewis spokesperson commented: “Throughout the last century the trend for feminine pointy shaped bras experienced a renaissance following times of a toughened economy, marking a return of unabashed femininity as women seek to have more fun with fashion as a form of escapism.”

And elaborating on this historical theory is Eleri Lynn, the curator of fashion at the V&A Museum. “Women sought overt femininity and glamour embodied by Hollywood starlets such as Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe,” she explains. “Several decades later, style pioneer Madonna brought the look back into fashion in the form of the cone shaped bra designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and inspired by 1950s underwear. It was worn during her Blonde Ambition tour, following the Wall Street Crash of 1987 and the resulting recession of the late 1980s.”

So are we to understand that when the bank is bare, ladies like squeezing themselves into pointy bras? And how would this economical thriftiness translate into men’s fashion – jockstraps? The mind boggles.

[via Daily Mail]