Just a Couple of Pink Handkerchiefs and a Pink Ribbon

Providing comfort, support, and even sex appeal, brassieres have always been one of a woman's tools for looking and feeling good. Although most say it's a love-hate relationship, women and lace bras still keep it close. In fact, women have been using brassieres for over a hundred years.

Although the first patented brassiere was registered in 1913 by Mary Phelps Jacob, the term “brassiere,” which meant 'upper arm' in French, was coined by the American Vogue in 1907 and appeared in the English Dictionary in 1911.

Before there were brassieres, corsets were the “In” thing that gave shape to women's bodies. The invention of the corset is attributed to the wife of King Henri II of France, Catherine de Medicis. She banned women from having thick waists and therefore wanted them to wear really tight corsets that had whalebones and steel rods that kept their shape together.