“Bra” is actually just a shortened version of the full name of the garment – brassiere.

But before brassiere, there were all sorts of nicknames for bras. In the 1800s, when women added padding underneath their corsets to create the allusion of a fuller bosom, that material was called “bosom friends,” or “cuties.”

That’s the year the word “brassiere” was first used in American Vogue.

And since Vogue was long the epicenter of fashion discourse, this marks the year that brassieres first became mainstream. Things became official in 1911 when Oxford English Dictionary added the word brassiere, meaning it (and the garments) were here to stay.

In a controversial 15-year study, French scientists concluded that bra-wearing actually weakens the muscles that could otherwise be built up to help reduce breast sagging.

Of course, sagging happens over time anyway as the ligaments around the breasts stretch. Bras aren’t meant to prevent breasts from sagging anyway, only to provide the wearer support at the moment.

There’s nothing like not knowing what to do with a bra that you won’t wear anymore. What happens when those underwires start sticking out?

Fortunately, in addition to being able to donate them, you can also recycle your bra. There are a number of organizations who will accept bras and other garments for either donation purposes or for recycling and creating new textiles with them.

In the 1920s, flappers wanted to have a thinner and straighter silhouette, so they opted for restrictive bandeau-style bras that streamlined everything.

It wasn’t until the 1930s that SH Camp and Co invented bras with letter sizes for the cubs. Fortunately, this helped women find better-fitting bras.

This claim has been disproven over and over again. Studies have shown that there is no difference in the rate of breast cancer between women who wear bras versus those who don’t.

According to Splinter News, which cites the book Breasts: a Natural and Unnatural History by Florence Williams, the average bra size has grown from 34B to 36C.

The data she gathered spans 15 years, so it’s safe to say this is an upwards trend.

What better way to ensure that you’ll get a bra that fits AND save some major money than to design one for yourself?

You know your measurements best, and this way you can design it exactly how you want it to look and feel. There are also patterns and tips online to help you get started.

Frankly, it looks hard and time-consuming to us, but imagine the craft business you could start if you got good at it!

Bra styles change often, and lately, bralettes have been all the rage.

These are meant to be a lightweight and more comfortable alternative to the traditional bra and the very first bras were actually bralettes.

Of course, the busty women reading this are probably laughing so hard their underwires are coming out.

In the 1930s, chemists at Dunlop created a material called Lastex. It was a type of elastic thread that could be used in place of wire and boning to form bras.

If you’ve ever tried to wear a corset without stretch, you know we should probably be thanking those chemists for a more wearable fabric.

One of the most famous ones involves the fictional character Otto Titzling (just say the last name out loud and you’ll know it’s fake).

The legend says that he created the bra for a neighbor in his boardinghouse who had ample breasts, but that he did not patent the invention and the prototype was later stolen by Philippe de Brassiere.

Of course, these men never existed.

That’s a lot of dought to spend on bras! But if you’ve looked at the prices lately, you can see how it happens. Especially since bras are only supposed to last a couple of months.

Of course, we have some…let’s just say “vintage”…bras still in circulation in our wardrobes.

A number of women seem to have had similar ideas about taming their breasts, which is no surprise. Even a statue from the 3rd millennium BCE seems to be wearing some sort of garment to lift her breasts.

Female athletes in Minoa wore bandeaus for ease and comfort while they were playing sports Even Homer’s Iliad describes Hera in a garment that pushed up her breasts.

There are a few dozen examples in between, but in 1874, Clara P. Clark invented the “improved corset,” which looked similar to the modern-day bra, but had straps that crisscrossed in the back.

It’s a design people are still trying to improve on.

And truthfully, she was just really sick of wearing her corset. Her name was Mary Phelps Jacob and she wore the first bra to a ball in 1914. She later patented the style and changed her name to Caresse Crosby.

In 1917, the US War Industries Board asked women to give up wearing corsets so that the steel could instead be used for military supplies.

Having to forgo the corset meant women looked for an alternative to keep “the girls” in place. Enter the bra. By the end of WW1, the steel ban was over, but bras were far more popular than corsets.

In WWII, another major shift occurred with bras.

Thanks to rations, bras were only made in a handful of nude and neutral colors. But they were also more supportive and practical than previous versions of the bra so that women could comfortably work in factories.

Bras were even seen as patriotic! The American company Lockfitt Corporation announced that bras were for patriots who cared about “good taste, anatomical support, and morale.”

On average, Europeans and Americans have bigger breasts than people in other countries.

While Americans win the World’s Biggest Boobs prize, among Europeans, British women rank the highest in breast size. It’s unclear what causes variation in average bra size from country to country.

Bra sizes are complicated and probably tried on a couple of bras, found the one that fit, and assumed that was your size when you were a teenager.

But if you find a properly-trained bra fitter, they can help you out by taking the correct measurements and also making suggestions for you based on your breast shape

The Kestos bra is a soft cup bra that comes with triangle-shaped cups and fastens around the back with buttons underneath the cups.

For those who don’t wear bras, having a cup for each breast helps us avoid that “monoboob” look.

For women who worked in the military or around heavy machinery in WWII, a bra came with the uniform.

It had plastic cups that were meant to protect women’s breasts during this work that had previously been reserved for men.

So thoughtful.

After the bandeau-style bras of the 1940s came “torpedo” bras that altered a woman’s natural curves into something more…noticeable.

After that, in the 1950s, women like Marilyn Monroe wore “sweater girl” bras, which were supposed to create the illusion of larger breasts. The pushup bra didn’t come until 1964.

In addition to certain stylistic benefits, like being able to wear sleeveless and backless dresses, there are potential health reasons for not wearing a bra all the time too.

According to one OBGYN, going without a bra could improve muscle tone, blood circulation, and comfort levels. Of course, no one is comfortable for long in a bra that cuts off their circulation!

At the 1968 Miss America pageant, there was a protest led by women’s-rights activists, but they didn’t plan to burn their bras as a symbol of liberation.

As it turns out, one trash bin was set on fire briefly. And that trash bin did contain some bras, but it wasn’t intentionally set on fire in order to burn the bras specifically.

According to French Today, the word brassiere is mostly used today for a type of shirt that babies wear in France.

But what do they call bras then? Un soutien-gorge.

Ok, we know you know this, but bras are a personal choice.

They’re popular for a reason, but people with breasts are not required to wear them. In fact, more and more women are opting to go braless at least some of the time, and the bralette has been gaining popularity as a happy medium between the two.

Wear what you want!