Uplift: The Bra in America

by Jane Farrell-Beck, Colleen Gau

Over the years the bra has been stereotyped as an object of seduction, glamour, and even oppression. In A History of the Bra in America Jane Farrell-Beck and Colleen Gau use this item of clothing to gauge the social history of women and to understand the business history of fashion. Viewing fashion as a means to entertainment, self-creation, and everyday art, the authors illuminate the effect the brassiere has had on women's lives—their style, health, and economic opportunity. Rich in examples from advertising, movies, and other areas of popular culture, Uplift moves beyond featherbones and fiberfill to provide a sense of the dynamic relationship of the bra to wider issues in society.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Historical, History

264 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Carina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Friendly reminder that no matter how good your research is, if your agenda and prejudices are clear from the first sentence and paragraph of the Introduction (!), then your work is not worth the paper it's printed on. Gave up around page 40 with absolute disgust.

[Erika Mulvenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping for a good book that would take me through a timeline history of the bra in America, but unfortunately I can't even get through the whole book. It is hard to read and get a sense of what is going on, as the author pings back and forth between talking about period fashions and silhouettes, history, bra makers/inventors, and completely random stuff. At least some of the illustrations are interesting to look at.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

SWE book club April/May 2009

It was okay. Some parts were pretty dry reading. It was pretty disorganized regarding the chronology of events, and although they tried to put the evolution of the bra in a historic context regarding fashion/current events for different time periods, it ended up being more confusing than anything.

[Allison Thurman]

Readable history of bra invention, design, and sale in the U.S.