Supporting Acts: Patents for Undergarments for Stout Women, 1891–1956

Abstract

Women’s support garments including corsets and brassieres have been intimately tied to health and a woman’s outward appearance. Manufacturers strongly urged stout women to wear corsets well into the 1930s when many women had already discontinued their use. Stout women often had different requirements in regard to comfort and fit for their clothing and support garments. Stout women were an important consumer group in the first half of the century (1891–1956), though little research has been conducted. The purpose of this study was to better understand, through patent research, the ways in which inventors sought to solve clothing ills for the stout woman. To explore this topic, a content analysis approach was utilized using patents found through Google Patents. Patents for stout women focused on supporting and improving the body through corsets, brassieres, menstrual products, support devices, and combinations of corset and brassieres.

Introduction to Focused Issue: History of Textiles and Fashion

“…Two examples in the same issue of CTRJ , Volume 37, Number 3, illustrate the difference between an article in the standard social science format and an article in a more historic-oriented format. Carmen N. Keist and Sara B. Marcketti (2019) follow the social science structure to report research on patents for undergarments for stout women, organizing their manuscript to include a methods section that explained application of content analysis to patents available through Google Patents . The authors listed the primary and secondary sources together in one reference list.…”