Key takeaways
- Corset and bra design evolved almost every decade to match each era's beauty ideal, from the mono boob of 1900 to the slim-thick silhouette of the 2010s.
- Tango dancing, not World War I metal rationing, was the primary driver behind the shift to softer, more flexible undergarments that allowed women greater freedom of movement.
- Valerie Steele recommends investing in three well-fitted bras instead of thirty mediocre ones, noting that a properly constructed custom bra provides more comfort than even a sports bra.
Fashion historian Valerie Steele, who directs the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and specializes in corset history, joined Jessica Cruel, editor in chief of Allure, for the second episode of the Allure Perspectives podcast series. The inaugural season examines how breasts intersect with beauty, health, identity, sexuality, and culture through expert interviews and historical context. In their conversation, Steele and Cruel explored how undergarments have functioned both as tools of physical support and as instruments that reinforce evolving beauty standards.
Breasts Have Always Been Central to Fashion Design
Steele opens her discussion by framing a fundamental reality: breasts are inherently “an issue in fashion” because they are part of the female body and must be accommodated in clothing design. The bra’s role throughout history proves far more complex than simple functionality. A single garment has simultaneously served as a symbol of feminine empowerment, a mechanism for physical support, and a tool of bodily control—often all at the same time, depending on who wore it and why.
While breasts and bras are often discussed as uniquely female concerns, Steele notes that supportive undergarments have not been exclusively female territory. Men wore corsets when riding horseback and continue to wear supportive garments at the gym while lifting weights. Yet the cultural narrative surrounding the bra remains distinctly gendered and intertwined with shifting ideals about the female form.
How Silhouettes Changed With Every Passing Decade
The design of corsets offers a visual record of each era’s beauty standards. You can date a corset by its shape: hourglass designs, barrel-shaped constructions, and styles that pushed the breasts upward like an ice cream cone all correspond to different periods and their particular notions of the ideal female body. Steele emphasizes that corsets were never merely functional garments. Instead, they actively shaped women’s bodies to match the aesthetic preferences of their time and culture.
The Mono Boob and Early 1900s Fashion
Around 1900, the dominant silhouette in fashion was what Steele calls the “mono boob”—a unified projection of the breasts, appearing as one large bulge at the front of the body. This required specific engineering within the corset to create the desired shape.
The Diminished Ideal of the 1920s and 1930s
By the 1920s and 1930s, beauty standards shifted dramatically. The ideal breast became decidedly small, and Steele notes that most women could not naturally achieve this look. Flattener bras emerged as the solution for women with larger breasts who wanted to minimize their appearance and conform to contemporary ideals. The widespread adoption of these flattening garments underscores how undergarment design does not simply accommodate the body—it actively attempts to remake it.
The Slim-Thick Era and Modern Shapewear
Fashion ideals continued to cycle. The 2010s brought an idealization of the “slim-thick” silhouette: small waists paired with fuller curves. This aesthetic directly led to the resurgence of modern corset-like garments in the form of ultra-stretchy shapewear, demonstrating that the underlying impulse to reshape the body through undergarments persists in contemporary culture, even as specific ideals change.
The Tango Changed More Than We Thought
A widespread historical narrative holds that World War I transformed bra design, with metal rationing for the war effort supposedly forcing manufacturers to abandon rigid boning in favor of softer constructions. Steele challenges this account, presenting evidence for a different story.
The tango, surprisingly, played a pivotal role in undergarment evolution. The dance requires backward bends that are physically impossible while wearing a rigid, boned corset. As women increasingly embraced the tango and other sports and recreational activities, the demand for undergarments that permitted greater movement became urgent. Manufacturers responded by developing corsets and bras that sacrificed rigidity for flexibility—a change driven by social behavior rather than metal shortages.
That said, World War I did contribute to the shift, though not in the way popular history suggests. As men went to war, women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers, taking on jobs that required a wider range of physical motion. Undergarments designed for earlier eras, when many women moved through confined domestic spaces, simply did not accommodate the demands of factory work and other labor. The war therefore accelerated a transition already underway, driven by changing activities and social roles.
Mass Production Lost the Plot
Today, anyone can purchase an undergarment that appears sophisticated or fashionable. Yet Steele expresses concern that mass production has fundamentally compromised our understanding of quality. When inexpensive bras flood the market, consumers lose the ability to recognize what a genuinely well-constructed garment should feel and perform like. The abundance of mediocre options actually undermines informed decision-making.
Her recommendation runs counter to modern consumer culture: own three genuinely good bras instead of thirty mediocre ones. This philosophy reflects a return to earlier approaches, when quality construction and fit were paramount because undergarments were expensive and durable goods, not disposable items.
The Comfort of Custom Construction
Custom-made bras represent an extreme contrast to mass production. A bra tailored specifically for an individual body would outperform even a well-regarded sports bra in comfort, according to Steele, because it is engineered exactly for that person’s anatomy rather than a standardized size range.
Steele illustrates this point with a personal anecdote: she wore a custom-made corset styled after an 1880s design to a social gathering. When guests expressed concern about the garment’s comfort, she responded honestly that the corset felt fine—but her feet were aching in high heels. The contrast is telling: a properly constructed, individually fitted corset from over a century ago provided more comfort than the fashionable shoes of today, even though corsets carry a reputation for constriction and discomfort.
What Undergarment History Reveals About Culture
The evolution of bras and corsets tells a story far larger than garment construction. Each silhouette represents a culture’s assumptions about what the female body should look like and how it should move. When a society suddenly demands smaller breasts (1920s-30s) and then larger curves (2010s), it is not because bodies changed—it is because cultural values shifted. Undergarments act as physical manifestations of these value systems, reshaping women’s bodies to match cultural ideals.
The misconception about World War I’s role in undergarment design reveals how historical narratives simplify complex social change. The tango, often treated as trivial entertainment, actually exerted more influence on practical garment design than a major war. Women’s increasing participation in sports and labor was what truly drove the demand for flexible, supportive undergarments that allowed movement. This reframing highlights how women’s social roles and activities shape fashion just as much as aesthetic preferences do.
Steele’s emphasis on quality construction over mass consumption offers a different model for thinking about beauty standards. Rather than pursuing an ever-shifting ideal through the purchase of new shapewear, custom construction ensures that an individual’s body is supported precisely as it exists. The comfort Steele experienced in a meticulously fitted 1880s corset—genuine enough to outweigh aching feet in fashionable heels—suggests that ideal body standards matter less than ideal fit. In focusing on personal comfort and durability, a well-fitted undergarment becomes an act of self-care rather than self-modification.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the mono boob and when was it the beauty ideal?
Around 1900, the mono boob was the desired silhouette, with the breasts pushed forward into one unified, prominent shape at the front of the body.
Why did tango dancing influence bra design?
Women could not bend backward while wearing rigid boned corsets, and as the tango gained popularity, undergarments were redesigned to allow the flexibility that the dance required.
What does Valerie Steele recommend for bra shopping?
She recommends owning three well-fitted bras rather than thirty mediocre ones, and notes that a custom-made bra would be more comfortable than even a sports bra.
