National Lingerie Day

The history of lingerie is not primarily about fashion. It is a record of how societies have tried to control and then liberate the human body. For centuries, intimate apparel was designed to reshape women's figures to match prevailing ideals: the corset compressed the waist, the bustle exaggerated the hips, the bullet bra defined the 1950s silhouette. Each era's undergarments were engineering projects built to enforce a specific shape.

That history makes the modern lingerie industry's turn toward comfort, inclusivity, and individual choice a significant shift. The global market, valued at over $90 billion in 2024, is now shaped more by what consumers demand than by what designers dictate. National Lingerie Day recognizes both the craftsmanship behind intimate apparel and the centuries of social history embedded in every design decision.

The story of lingerie begins long before the word existed. Ancient civilizations used linen bands to bind or support the chest, and variations of corset-like garments appear in artwork from Minoan Crete dating to approximately 1600 BCE. But the modern history of intimate apparel starts with the corset, which dominated Western fashion for nearly 400 years.

By the 1830s, the corset had become the essential undergarment for women across all social classes. Steel boning replaced earlier whalebone, metal clasps allowed for increasingly tight lacing, and the garment enforced the hourglass silhouette that Victorian society demanded. Beneath the corset, women wore layers of chemises, drawers, and petticoats, each designed to support the structure above it. The mid-19th century ideal required a waist so narrow that some women had ribs removed to achieve it, a practice that became a lasting symbol of the era's extremes.

The bra replaces the corset

The term "brassiere" first appeared in Vogue magazine in 1907 and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary by 1911. But it was Mary Phelps Jacob (later known as Caresse Crosby) who created the first commercially viable alternative to the corset. In 1914, she patented a "backless brassiere" made from two handkerchiefs and pink ribbon, a design so simple that it transformed the industry. Jacob sold the patent to Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500, a sum equivalent to roughly $46,000 today. Warner went on to earn over $15 million from the design.

World War I accelerated the transition. The U.S. War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets, reportedly saving an estimated 28,000 tons of metal for the war effort. By the 1920s, the flapper era embraced a straighter silhouette, and bandeau-style bras that flattened the chest replaced the hourglass corset. In 1932, S.H. Camp and Company introduced the A through D cup sizing system, the first standardized method for fitting bras by breast size.

Lingerie becomes an industry

The 1950s celebrated a return to defined curves, with the bullet bra and stiff foundation garments reshaping the silhouette once more. The invention of spandex in 1959 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont changed everything: stretch fabrics could now conform to the body without rigid boning.

In 1977, Roy Raymond opened the first Victoria's Secret store in San Francisco, creating a retail environment designed to make men comfortable buying lingerie. The brand grew to dominate American intimate apparel, reaching a 33% share of the North American market by 2016. But consumer expectations shifted: demand for inclusive sizing, diverse representation, and comfort-first design caused Victoria's Secret's share to decline to approximately 20% by 2024, as smaller brands built around body positivity gained market share.

The observance

National Lingerie Day was first observed on April 25, 2014, promoted through social media campaigns by lingerie retailers. No single founder has been identified; the observance emerged from the industry itself as a celebration of intimate apparel's history, craftsmanship, and evolving role in self-expression.