07-26-2012, 05:05 PM
15th century
Austria
![[Image: bra20n-1-web.jpg]](http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1118172.1342749034!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/bra20n-1-web.jpg)
![[Image: bra20n-2-web.jpg]](http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1118173!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/bra20n-2-web.jpg)
While excavating Lengberg Castle in 2008, a group of archaeologists led by the University of Innsbruck’s Dr. Harald Stadler unearthed a sack from a recess in the floor. Inside, they found underwear, shoes and four linen pieces that looked like bras.
Many people believe the modern bra was invented after corsets, and was a revolutionary result of late 19th and early 20th century style and engineering. But the "treasure chest" of chest wear suggests that the bra as we know it is just the most recent overhaul in a long line of similarly shaped breast supports.
"(The find) reminds people not to assume we already know everything, and to keep an open mind to possible new discoveries about our history," said Beatrix Nutz, a member of Stadler's team who he commissioned to research the textiles in 2009.
“I don’t think they quite revolutionize the history of underwear, but this find certainly will modify it,” says Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the research. “I think it means people should go back and look a bit more carefully at other garments and images in antiquities collections, to focus on something that may be more ignored."
The four newly discovered bras include two that resemble crop tops with bag-like cups, a decorated piece with thick shoulder straps and bags, and one that surprised Nutz with its similarity to lingerie in the 20th century.
“The one that I myself like to compare to a modern ‘long-line bra’ does look as if it could have been fashioned not 100 years ago,” Nutz said of the bra, which has thin straps and minimal cups. “The radiocarbon dates proved otherwise.”
Two of bras – in addition to a pair of underpants, a girls dress and a shirt fragment – have been carbon dated to the 15th centuries, Nutz said.
Austria
While excavating Lengberg Castle in 2008, a group of archaeologists led by the University of Innsbruck’s Dr. Harald Stadler unearthed a sack from a recess in the floor. Inside, they found underwear, shoes and four linen pieces that looked like bras.
Many people believe the modern bra was invented after corsets, and was a revolutionary result of late 19th and early 20th century style and engineering. But the "treasure chest" of chest wear suggests that the bra as we know it is just the most recent overhaul in a long line of similarly shaped breast supports.
"(The find) reminds people not to assume we already know everything, and to keep an open mind to possible new discoveries about our history," said Beatrix Nutz, a member of Stadler's team who he commissioned to research the textiles in 2009.
“I don’t think they quite revolutionize the history of underwear, but this find certainly will modify it,” says Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the research. “I think it means people should go back and look a bit more carefully at other garments and images in antiquities collections, to focus on something that may be more ignored."
The four newly discovered bras include two that resemble crop tops with bag-like cups, a decorated piece with thick shoulder straps and bags, and one that surprised Nutz with its similarity to lingerie in the 20th century.
“The one that I myself like to compare to a modern ‘long-line bra’ does look as if it could have been fashioned not 100 years ago,” Nutz said of the bra, which has thin straps and minimal cups. “The radiocarbon dates proved otherwise.”
Two of bras – in addition to a pair of underpants, a girls dress and a shirt fragment – have been carbon dated to the 15th centuries, Nutz said.