TRENDS come and go but some ideas — like the bra, the bikini, the zip and good old denim — had staying power and have transformed our lives. Anne-Maree Gale takes a look at the 10 inventions that changed fashion forever.

THE BRA

WHERE would women be without a bra?

Bust supporters were worn as early as the 1880s but it wasn’t until the empire-line silhouette of the 1910s that they began to make real fashion sense.

There were several patents put forward between 1890 and 1917. The best-known was American Mary Phelps Jacob’s 1914 design of two handkerchiefs held together by strips of ribbon. Her brassiere looked pretty but was by no means supportive.

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media_camera The bra ... an ingenious apparatus.

media_camera A copy of the first patent for the brassiere, filed on 12th February 1914, by Mary P Jacob. Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty

By the 1920s most women had adopted a bandeau-style bra that flattened the breasts for the desired flapper dresses of the day.

But it was the Hollywood starlets of the 1950s — think Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield — who embraced the increased support in bra design, inspiring a generation of women to adopt the “sweater girl” look.

The 1960s was a time of protest and fashions allowed women to go braless — some even burned their bras.

But by the 1990s full support was back and the Wonderbra — thanks to supermodel Eva Herzigova — became a bestseller.

Meanwhile, lingerie company Agent Provocateur, co-founded by Vivienne Westwood’s son Joseph Corre in 1994, helped to put sex back into smalls.

Today lingerie is big business. The bust supporter has come a long way.

TROUSERS

WOMEN today wear more trousers than skirts or dresses. Yet they did not become even remotely acceptable for women until the 1920s.

While women who embraced cycling and horse riding favoured divided skirts or culottes for practical reasons, it was French actress Sarah Bernhardt who first wore trousers on stage, in the late 19th century.

Coco Chanel introduced elegant but relaxed-leg white “yachting” pants, at first for herself and then for other women who admired her style.

media_camera Coco Chanel wearing sailor-inspired clothing circa 1930.

In the early 1920s trousers appeared as beachwear and loungewear, but only the very outrageous dared to wear them on the street.

But it was the feminists and several Hollywood stars of the day, namely Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, who started wearing more man-style trousers.

However, the trend of women wearing trousers didn’t really take off until the launch of Yves Saint Laurent’s female tux “Le Smoking” in 1966.

THE BIKINI

THE bikini was first unveiled by French engineer Louis Reard on July 5, 1946.

European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits in the 1930s — generally a halter top and high-waist, wide-leg shorts.

media_camera Designer Louis Reard was unable to find a 'respectable' model for his costume and the job of displaying it went to 19-year-old Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris. Picture: Keystone/Getty

In the US, the modest two-piece only made its appearance during WWII, when wartime rationing of fabric saw the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous material.

But at the end of the war Europeans celebrated and designers came up with fashions to match the liberated mood of the day.

Before long, young women in bikinis were causing a sensation on the beaches of Europe.

In prudish America the bikini was successfully resisted until the early 1960s, when a new emphasis on youthful liberation brought the swimsuit en masse to US beaches. Since then the popularity of the bikini has continued to grow.

Today the bikini is a staple in a woman’s summer wardrobe.

THE MINI SKIRT

THE popularity of the mini skirt peaked in swinging London in the 1960s.

Before then, short skirts were seen only in sport and dance clothing, such as skirts worn by female tennis players, figure skaters, cheerleaders and dancers.

The mini skirt is widely associated with UK fashion designer Mary Quant, who “created” the garment in 1964.

However, British fashion designer John Bates and Parisian Andres Courreges have also been linked to the mini skirt.

The style made headlines when British model Jean Shrimpton wore a short dress to Derby Day in 1965, the first day of the annual Melbourne Cup Carnival, where it caused a sensation.

media_camera British fashion model Jean Shrimpton, aka The Shrimp, caused a sensation in a dress above the knee in 1965 at the Melbourne Cup Carnival. Picture: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty

But all the brouhaha was as much to do with her not wearing a hat and gloves or even pantyhose — essential accessories in such conservative society.

HOSIERY

THE world’s first knitting machine was invented in 1589.Queen Elizabeth I believed that the knitting machine was a national treasure and imposed the death penalty for anyone who attempted to take one out of England.

In the 1930s the circular knitting machine was invented. It produced the first seamless stockings by knitting tubes of fabrics to which separate foot and toe pieces were later attached. .

One of the most significant advancements in hosiery was the advent of nylon in 1938. The first nylon stockings appeared in New York stores on May 15, 1940. More than 72,000 pairs of nylons were sold on that first day.

Before this, the majority of stockings were made of silk. As a consequence of the popularity of nylon stockings the Japanese silk market collapsed almost overnight.

In the first year on the market, 64 million pairs of nylon stockings were sold and manufacturers could not keep up with demand.

However, once the US joined World War II all production of nylon went into the war effort and nylon stockings became hard to obtain — during this time women drew “seams” on the back of their legs so it appeared as if they were wearing stockings.

After the war demand for nylon stockings soared.

But the shorter hemlines of the 1960s made stockings with their necessary suspenders, garters and garter belts difficult to conceal.

As a result, fashion designers attached the stockings directly to panties and created the pantyhose.

Nylon still remains the most widely used fibre in the production of hosiery. However, today, most hosiery is also made with Lycra, which gives the garment elasticity, durability and a better fit.

DENIM JEANS

DENIM originated in the French town of Nimes and owes its name to the location — de Nimes, which became “denim” abroad.

But jeans come from the French phrase “bleu de Genes” meaning the “blue of Genoa”.

Genoese navy sailors first wore jeans in the 1500s but it wasn’t until the gold rush boom of the 1870s that denim really took off.

Levi Strauss created a style of workman’s pants with rivets that was quickly adopted by Californian miners.

Originally made from hemp used in canvas tents, Strauss eventually discovered the twilled cotton cloth that came from Nimes. And denim, as we know it today, was born.

Worn largely by workers, jeans became popular in American pop culture as a symbol of protest.

The trend grew during the 1950s, largely due to movie stars of the time wearing them on screen.

Think James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause, Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits, and Marlon Brando in The Wild One and On The Waterfront.

media_camera Marlon Brando in the 1953 film The Wild One.

media_camera Marilyn Monroe inspired women to adopt the ‘sweater girl’ look in the 1950s.

By the 1970s jeans were identified as a fashion trend. The ’80s brought with it “designer jeans” and denim found its way onto catwalks.

Today jeans are a staple of everybody’s wardrobe and each season brings new cuts and treatments.

THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

WEDNESDAY marks 88 years since the little black dress was formally identified as the “shape of the future”.

On October 1, 1926, US Vogue featured a drawing of a long-sleeved, ­calf-length, simple black dress designed by Coco Chanel.

Vogue called it “Chanel’s Ford”. Like the Model T, the little black dress was simple and accessible for women of all social classes. Vogue also said that the LBD would become a “sort of uniform for all women”.

media_camera On October 1, 1926, US Vogue featured a drawing of a long-sleeved, ­calf-length, simple black dress designed by Coco Chanel.

Prior to the 1920s black was reserved for periods of mourning and considered indecent when worn outside such circumstances.

But owing to the number of deaths during World War 1 and the Spanish flu epidemic it became more common for women to wear black in public.

But perhaps more than any other piece of clothing the little black dress will take you practically anywhere. And it was Coco Chanel who made it ubiquitous.

She didn’t invent the concept, but the LBD has continued to be popular and is considered an essential to every woman’s wardrobe.

Fashion observers believe it is a “rule of fashion” that every woman should own a simple elegant black dress that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.

And because it is a staple of every woman’s wardrobe, the style of the LBD ideally should be as simple as possible.

A blank canvas of sorts.

THE WRAP DRESS

ALTHOUGH it is often claimed that Diane von Furstenberg “invented” the wrap dress 40 years ago, wrap dresses had, in fact, been designed by Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s and Clare McCardell in the 1940s.

However, it was von Furstenberg’s ­reinterpretation of the long-sleeved, knee-length wrap dress in jersey that was so popular and so distinctive that the style has generally become associated with her.

She has stated that her divorce inspired the design and also suggested it was “created in the spirit of enabling women to enjoy sexual freedom”.

But its real success lies in the fact that the wrap dress is most flattering for women of all shapes and sizes.

The diagonal wrap front gives the illusion of curves and draws the eye downwards away from a large bust. Or upwards away from large hips. The wrap dress should part of every woman’s wardrobe.

THE ZIP

IT was a long way up for the humble zipper.

The mechanical wonder passed through the hands of several inventors but it was nearly 80 years after its first appearance that it found its place in history.

Elia Howe, who invented the sewing machine, received a patent in 1851 for an Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure.

Perhaps it was the success of the sewing machine, but he failed to market his clothing closure.

Forty-four years later, Whitcomb Judson marketed a Clasp Locker, a device similar to the 1851 Howe patent based on interlocking teeth. Initially it was called the “hookless fastener” and was later redesigned to become more reliable.

However, it wasn’t until 1913 that the modern zipper took flight. Swedish-American engineer Gideon Sundback was responsible for developing the modern metal zipper.

The name “zipper” came from the B.F. Goodrich Company in 1923 when it decided to use Sundback’s fastener on rubber boots and renamed the device the zipper, a name that lasted.

Boots and tobacco pouches with a zippered closure were the two chief uses of the zipper during its early years.

But it took 20 more years to convince the fashion industry to seriously promote the novel closure on garments.

THE INTERNET

LOVE it or hate it, the internet has revolutionised shopping.

With the arrival of the internet in 1991, it wasn’t until 1995 that business-to-consumer sites started popping up — namely Amazon.com in 1995, which was quickly followed by eBay, also in 1995.

While many ventures launched and failed, others that stayed the distance are now financial powerhouses.

But online shopping is not without it’s problems.

Given the inability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are also at higher risk of fraud than face-to-face transactions.

Not to mention the concerns with policies of returning products that “just aren’t right”.

While many online e-tailers seem to have it right, others are still slow on the uptake.

But bricks and mortar stores are discovering that having an online shopping site is an absolute necessity as a virtual companion to their vertical business brand.

Online shopping is definitely here to stay.