1950’s-1970: Hollywood's Golden Age of Lingerie and Its Backlash

The 1950s brought engaging and amusing bras due in part to the film industry. Stars such as Lana Turner became known as the “Sweater Girl” because of her famous cone-shaped brassieres. Jane Russell even had a bra designed by aeronautical engineer Howard Hughes that famously accentuated her bust. The glamor of the 1950s once again valued the hourglass figure, and lingerie manufactures began to flourish and were soon launching their own brand names to build customer loyalty (Ewing 1972).

But the feminist and hippie movements of the 1960s and 1970s denounced lingerie as conformist and artificial. Bras in particular were seen as restrictive, uncomfortable, and mendacious and, famously, bra burning became a symbol of women’s liberation. The 1960s brought back the young, free, androgynous figure of the 1920s with women often wearing skimpy briefs and little else which allowed them to wear mini skirts and jeans

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