MARILYN AND MADONNA WORE THEM, WILL YOU?

The bras are enjoying a renaissance prompted by the latest catwalk designs from fashion designers like Louise Goldin and Jean Paul Gaultier. According to John Lewis, sales of its Fantasie Belle, its best-selling conical bra, are up by 10 per cent last week on the previous week.


Elsewhere on the High Street, sales of the Triumph Doreen White are up by 33 per cent compared to the same time last year. Sales of the Triumph Doreen Powder are up 7 per cent on a year ago.
A spokesman for John Lewis said that the trend is indicative of a desire to celebrate women's curves that has followed previous periods of economic turmoil.

He said: "Throughout the last century the trend for feminine pointy shaped bras experienced a renaissance following times of a toughened economy, marking a return of unabashed femininity as women seek to have more fun with fashion as a form of escapism."

Eleri Lynn, the Curator of Fashion at the V&A Museum, and author of Fashion in Detail: Underwear, told the Daily Mail: "Pointed bras first stepped into the spotlight in the 1950s after the austerity of the Second World War.

"Women sought overt femininity and glamour embodied by Hollywood starlets such as Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. Several decades later, style pioneer Madonna brought the look back into fashion in the form of the cone shaped bra designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, and inspired by 1950s underwear.
"It was worn during her Blonde Ambition tour, following the Wall Street Crash of 1987 and the resulting recession of the late 1980s."

Fashion stylist at London's One Make Up, Crystal McClory, added: "The cone shaped bras of the 1950s and late 1980s are certainly back with a vengeance this summer.

"For Spring/Summer '10, the world's top designers are moving away from recession inspired 'less is more' and offering more playful collections as the economy begins to recover, with London designer Louise Goldin, and veteran designer Jean Paul Gaultier both heavily featuring cone shaped bras within their summer collections."