The History of Our Fascination with Cleavage
By Kate Sullivan
Breasts have many functions that aren’t sexy in the least. Cleavage, however, has been seductive since the beginning of time (or, say, 5,000 years ago). Here are 17 numbers from cleavage’s history that prove the world has always been agape and in awe of the gaping phenomenon.
5,000
Number of years ago that Minoan women wore a cupless corset-like garment made of fabric bands that supported breasts while exposing them entirely.
1809
The year Dolly Madison’s low-cut gowns—including a velvet one she wore to the inauguration of her husband, President James Madison—stirred controversy; critics called her style too regal. Madison was raised a Quaker and made to dress modestly, and when she left the faith, she embraced flimsy, revealing clothes, according to her nieces.
37
The number of scenes the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (also called the Hays Office) cut from the 1943 film The Outlaw for indecently exposing Jane Russell’s cleavage.
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1945
Year the Hays Office coined the term “cleavage” to describe décolletage.
1950s
Decade underwire bras replaced the conical designs of the ‘40s, after the end of World War II freed up metal for domestic use. Lower necklines also became stylish, and, accordingly, Christian Dior produced a line of costume jewelry specifically to enhance the d´colletage.
135
Estimated age in years of a padded bra found in storage at the Science Museum in London, making it the world’s oldest push-up bra.
1
Number of Wonderbras sold every 15 seconds in the United States and Europe in 1994. The padded bra was a revival of a 1964 design.
43
The ercentage of sales of all push-up bras increased in America in 1994, with Playtex and Victoria’s Secret creating their own versions.
2000
Year Jennifer Lopez wore a Versace dress cut to the navel to the Grammy Awards.
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2007
Year New York senator Hillary Clinton wore a V-neck top under a rose-colored suit on the Senate floor. Washington Post staff writer Robin Givhan called Clinton’s clothes that day a change from her “desexualized uniform,” noting, “there wasn’t an unseemly amount of cleavage showing, but there it was. Undeniable.”
7
Number of days later that Clinton’s presidential campaign sent supporters an email with the subject line “Cleavage.” In it, Clinton adviser Ann Lewis wrote, “Frankly, focusing on women’s bodies instead of their ideas is insulting.”
$850,000
The price of the Chopard diamond bracelet that Christina Hendricks stashed in her cleavage during the 2011 Golden Globes after almost losing it on the red carpet.
$3,050
The price paid for the custom-made silicone push-up bra and matching panties that Julia Roberts wore in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich. The set was sold by a Los Angeles-based auction house, Nate D. Sanders, 14 years after the film’s release.
2013
Year in which a Cincinnati high school made national news for sending two students home from their prom for having “curvature of the breasts showing.”
3
Times more often that waitresses in restaurants in New York are told by managers to show cleavage than waitresses in California, according to a 2014 study of American restaurant workers.
$2,250
Amount a Canadian judge ordered Google to pay a woman after her cleavage appeared in a Street View image taken of her home for Google Maps. The woman, who initially demanded $45,000 for emotional damage, said she suffered “shock and embarrassment” from the photo, despite her face being blurred out.
(Photos: Getty Images)
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