Hoorah for the bra!

In 2014 the bra celebrated its 100 year birthday - HARA was just at its earliest inception then so we're celebrating it today!

Bra, brassiere, over shoulder boulder holders, whatever you call them, we love bras. We especially love the simple ones - the ones that are comfortable and embrace our natural shape. We've got two of our favourites, Stella and Leo in the shop but how did the modern bra come to be?

We owe our thanks to Mary Phelps Jacob who at 19 patented the first bra in 1914 - which was really just 2 handkerchiefs connected by ribbons - what humble beginnings! We like keeping things simple here at HARA too.

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The modern bra became popular in part due to a metal shortage during World War I. Prior to this Victorian corsets were mostly made of metal. The "U.S. War Industries Board asked American women in 1917 to stop buying them. Around the same time, the modern-day bra emerged, freeing up wartime steel and women alike." It freed up more than 28000 tons of steel - enough to build to battleships!

It was Vogue who first used the word 'brassiere' in 1907. "The word "brassiere" was once a military term meaning "arm protector" ( bras being French for arm), and, by extension, " breastplate". It first appeared in the English Oxford Dictionary in 1911.

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 80% of us wear the wrong size bra according to a 2008 study But did you know the Cup Size system as we know it only came about in the 1920s, before that the bandeau style was the most fashionable option.

You can pay homage to the bra down under! In New Zealand you can visit the Cardrona Bra Fence, between Wanaka and Queenstown.

Four bras "mysteriously appeared overnight on a fence" in 1999  but it wasn't until "an unknown bra thief began cutting them away under the shadow of the night that the fence gained its notoriety. Every time they were cut away, even more were added!"It's since gone on to be quite the alternative tourist stop! 

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