01/18/2025
Armed with nothing but two handkerchiefs and a burning desire to breathe freely at her debutante ball, Mary Phelps Jacob sparked a fashion revolution when she invented the modern bra! One evening in 1914, while preparing to attend the ball, the 19-year-old socialite found herself struggling with a whalebone corset that poked through her sheer evening dress. Using her quick wit and two silk handkerchiefs, she and her maid created the first modern brassiere by sewing together a simple, lightweight alternative that would allow her to move and breathe freely.
What began as a private innovation quickly caught the attention of other women, leading Mary to patent her "Backless Brassiere" design in November 1914. While Mary initially started a small business manufacturing her invention, she later sold the patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500 (equivalent to about $40,000 today). Warner went on to make millions from the design over the next thirty years.
Though she is best known for this invention, her later life was equally fascinating -- Mary, then known as Caresse Crosby, became a notable publisher, writer, and patron of the arts in Paris, where she and her second husband, Harry Crosby, established the influential Black Sun Press. The press was instrumental in publishing some of the early works of many authors who would later become famous, among them Anaïs Nin, Kay Boyle, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and D.H. Lawrence. Through her publishing venture, she helped shape the landscape of modernist literature just as significantly as she had transformed women's fashion years before.
To discover more true stories of brilliant female inventors throughout history, visit our blog post "Sisters in Innovation: 20 Women Inventors You Should Know" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12223
To introduce kids to more inspiring real-life female inventors, we recommend the picture books "Beulah Has a Hunch!" (https://www.amightygirl.com/beulah-has-a-hunch), "Sweet Dreams, Sarah" (https://www.amightygirl.com/sweet-dreams-sarah), and "Hedy Lamarr's Double Life" (https://www.amightygirl.com/hedy-lamarr-double-life), all for ages 5 to 9
For older kids, we recommend “Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women” for ages 8 to 13 at https://www.amightygirl.com/girls-think-of-everything
And for an inspiring book by Dr. Temple Grandin to to encourage kids to think and create like an inventor, we highly recommend "Calling All Minds" for ages 8 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/calling-all-minds
