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Answering the question, ‘Who invented the bra?’ is easier said than done. History shows that there have been a multitude of variations on the garment used to harness women’s attributes since before the time of Christ. But, by most accounts, Mary Phelps Jacob is credited with liberating generations of Scarlet O’Hara-types, from the grip of the steel-rodded corset. Jacob found an interested market and set up shop but later sold her patent to Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500. Over the next 30 years alone, Warner Brothers made $15 million on the bra. Inventor In-depth:
Mary Phelps Jacob, or Polly as she liked to call herself, was born April 20, 1891 in New Rochelle, New York. She was the daughter of a prominent family with ancestry that included the first governor of the Plymouth Colony and the inventor of the steamboat. But truth be told, her charmed life reads something like a dime store novel. One evening in 1910, while dressing to attend a social function, the New York socialite discovered that her corset was visible through her sheer evening gown. With the help of her French maid, Marie, Jacob quickly sewed two handkerchiefs together, tied the contraption on with a pink ribbon and a new generation of undergarment was born – the brassiere.
Up to this point, women had been subject to the torture of minimizing their waists (often to 13 inches) and raising their busts with stiff corsets made with whaleback bones and steel rods. Jacob quickly discovered a demand for her garment and spent the next few years sewing bras for family, friends and even strangers who offered to buy them for a dollar each. This inspired Jacobs to pursue a patent, which she was granted in November of 1914. She called her new company Caresse Crosby. It is unclear whether Jacob disliked the business or whether she did not market the bra aggressively enough. One way or the other, her sales slumped and she made the unfortunate business decision to sell her patent to Connecticut-based Warner Brothers Corset Company for a mere $1,500. Soon after, World War I forced many women into factory jobs requiring cool, comfortable clothing. And, in 1917 the U.S. War Industries requested that women stop buying corsets all together in an effort to conserve steel needed for the war effort. Over the course of the next 30 years alone, Warner Brothers made $15 million on the bra. After selling her patent, Jacob had two children (William and Polly) with Richard Peabody, who she had married in 1915. He was also from a prominent New England family. However, the horrors of World War I took their toll on Peabody who fell deeply into alcoholism and the couple divorced. On September 9, 1922, she remarried to Harry Crosby, a wealthy and prominent Bostonian. Initially Crosby worked as a banker, but he tired of working and the couple traveled to France where they enjoyed a luxurious life as wealthy American ex-patriots. They traveled extensively, experimented with drugs, indulged in an open marriage and signed a suicide pact. The Crosbys began the Black Sun Press Publishing Company, known for publishing beautifully bound books containing literary pieces from the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, D.H. Lawrence and Ernest Hemingway. Harry began a long-term and clandestine affair with Josephine Bigelow, with whom he also shared a suicide pact. After years of an on-again-off-again romance, the two were found dead in each other’s arms on December 10, 1929. In her later years, Jacob married again to Selbert Young. And, in addition to renovating her mansion in Bowling Green, Virginia, she also purchased homes in Washington D.C., New York and Rome. She opened a Washington art gallery, started Portfolio Magazine, and reportedly wrote some freelance pornography pieces for an Oklahoma oil baron. She died in relative obscurity in 1970 at the age of 79.
Sources for this biography and links for learning more about Mary Phelps Jacob:Source: Lemelson – MIT Program, Inventor of the Week Archive of Mary Phelps Jacob, November 2001. Massachusetts Institute of technology, MIT School of Engineering. www.web.mit.edu
Source: Mary Phelps Jacob, Inventor of the Modern Brassiere from Bartle Family History in America; Selected Short Biographies of Famous Phelps in History. Copyright 1997-2005 Brian Phelps
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