Bras From Around The World: A History

The holiday season is a great time of year to learn about and celebrate the holiday traditions of different cultures. Here at Levana Bratique, we search the globe to carry the best bras from makers around the world. Which got us wondering...while we wrote about the history of undergarments from a European perspective a few months ago, how did bras develop in the rest of the world?

Asia

In ancient China, dudous were items of underwear that were used to flatten women's breasts, similar to a gentle corset. The first dudous were simple rectangles, but evolved to form a diamond shape that covered the breasts and belly, and tied to the neck and waist with attached strings (similar to a halter top). While most dudous were made from cotton, wealthier women used silk yarn or brocade, or even bronze, silver, or gold chains instead of silk thread. Popular colors are red, pink, and green and they are often embroidered with flowers, butterflies, or Mandarin ducks.

The dudou inspired similar fashions elsewhere in Asia, including the Vietnamese yem (shown right) and the Japanese haragake, but has fallen out of favor towards Western-style corsets and bras.

India

Although most female figures in ancient Indian sculptures are topless, there are several shown with breast coverings. The first garment closest to a bra they had was the choli, a little piece of cloth wound tightly around the breasts, and the first historical reference to bras in India is the half-sleeved tight bodice called a kanchuka, which were so in vogue that cities had special tailors to make them.

Throughout history the wearing of bras is intertwined with the social history of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the female body. According to this article there was a time in some parts of India where covering your breasts was closely linked to one’s caste (or social status). Upper caste women were allowed to cover their breasts in public, but lower caste women were not allowed to cover their bosom in public unless they paid a casteist ‘breast tax’, which differed according to the size of women's breasts! Leaving women little control over their own bodies ensured that the dignity of women belonging to the lower classes was taken away. In protest, a woman named Nangeli chose to defy the tax and cover her breasts in public, ultimately sacrificing her life for the right to cover her body. Her sacrifice resulted in a proclamation being issued that allowed all women the right to cover their breasts.

Historically we’ve gone from being topless, to fighting for our right to cover up, to bra burning to underwear as outerwear; and bras have gone from strips of cloth or fabric to restrictive corsets, to an almost endless variety of shapes, styles, colors, and sizes. Once the Western style bra was invented, it was eventually adopted by women around the world, and remains the popular choice in most cultures today. Here at Levana Bratique, we specialize in having a bra for every body. Stop in and let our bra whisperers find you something fabulous!

Yem photo from Flickr