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Materials: Bust improver: Cream cotton
coutil, woven celluloid with cotton threads, brass eyelets, cotton
lacing with brass ends, raw cotton batting; Covering: white cotton,
bobbin lace.
Condition: Bust Improver: Perfect;
Covering: Excellent; one small brown stain.
Measurements: Each circular cup is
5.5" across; 3" high.
Comments: In the early 1890s a woven
material made from threads of flexible celluloid replaced the
earlier wire form bust improvers. The bust improver offered here is one
of the rare surviving examples made from celluloid threads. The
tan cups are laced like a corset and have a basted-on simple cloth cover.
It would have been worn inside the corset. An identical bust
improver can be seen on the 1891 page of R.L Shep's Corsets. An 1884
Ladies Magazine announced: "...devices of all kinds to improve the
defects of nature have from time immemorial been in use by our sex,
always striving to arrive at perfection. The latest, and amongst the
most necessary aids of the kind I have seen, are the Bust Improvers
introduced by Messers. Worth et Cie." (Norah Waugh, Corsets and
Crinolines). I believe the bust improver is important
historically. It is a transitional undergarment, bridging the
centuries old corset to the modern 20th century bra. The structure of
bust improvers may well have been the inspiration for the earliest
brassieres. Toss out the restrictive corset, add back and shoulder straps
to the bust improver and voila - revolution in dress!
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