Ida Rosenthal
By Taylor Smith
The story of the modern-day bra actually begins in the early 1920s in New York and New Jersey.
On Manhattan’s West 57th Street, dress shop owners Enid Bisset and Ida Rosenthal were critical of the flapper physique, which celebrated a narrow look and prompted many women to wear vests under their garments to give them a flat-chested look. Bisset and Rosenthal felt the “boyish” look was unnatural for women, and wanted to create an undergarment that emphasized a woman’s natural curves rather than diminished them. more
In the annals of the accomplished whose work has gone largely unrecognized because of their race, Ann Lowe occupies a prominent spot. Lowe was an African American fashion designer whose lavish creations were coveted by the rich and socially prominent. While she earned such distinctions as Couturier of the Year and made the Who’s Who in American Women list, she rarely received the attention she deserved.
My only problem with a ceremonial institution like last month’s celebrating black history is in the way “history” implicitly detracts from the ongoing immediacy of the African American experience. “Lives” in my title can be read both as a reference to the lives of people and to the force that lives in the present, which happens when we listen to Charlie Parker or Billie Holiday, read James Baldwin or Frederick Douglass, admire a painting by Jacob Lawrence or a photograph by Gordon Parks, or go online to watch First Lady Michelle Obama’s stirring speech at the 2016 Democratic Convention.
