Tired of bra padding or stuffings to enhance your bust? There’s a more effective alternative: push up bra.
Push up bras are designed to provide additional support to the breasts to enhance their look. They work by combining the bust-enhancing powers of paddings and bra structure, making an effective way to make the breasts look fuller and “richer”.
Push up bras have paddings or inserts, which enlarge the bust line. Some push up bras use silicone paddings, while others use water-filled sac inserts. They are also constructed such that they lift the breasts to make them more pronounced, and push them inwards to enhance the cleavage. Push up bras usually use underwirings to give the breasts a lift.
Push up bras work well for any bust size and with almost any kind of clothing, be it a stylish dress, a sporty top, a girly blouse, or a plain t-shirt. There are push up bras that are designed to have detachable straps for tube tops, halter tops, dresses, and other similar outfits. Others have removable inserts or air pillows in the cup so one can opt to change their size. Demi-style push up bras are also available for those who may prefer it low-cut.
Tracing its roots
It was only in 1948 that push up bras were introduced to the market. However, bras had already been used hundreds of years before that. It is believed that in as early as 2500 B.C., garments similar to bras were used by Minoan women who lived in Crete, an island of Greece. They used them to lift their breasts. Roman women, on the other hand, used these garments years later to do the opposite: to reduce their bust size. Thus, in as early as the ancient times, garments were already used to enhance the bust.
However, the more pronounced use of garments in shaping certain body parts came in the time of Catherine de Médicis of France. She forbade women with thick waists from attending the court, thus, corsets were used, narrowing women’s waists and lifting their breasts.
In 1893, Marie Tucek gained a patent for the “breast supporter”, which is similar to the modern bra. The term “brassiere” was coined only 14 years later, and it got a place in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1912. In 1928, cup sizes were introduced by Ida Rosenthal. In the 1930s, strapless bras, underwired bras, padded bras, and the A-D bra sizing system were introduced. As years passed, bras began to have more varieties and features, all in the purpose of enhancing women’s assets, making them look and feel more fabulous.