A Woman to Know: Caresse Crosby
I can't say the brasssiere will ever take as great a place in history as the steamboat, but I did invent it. — Caresse
(Caresse Crosby and her pet whippet)
I started writing an intro today but honestly, subscriber Mileva Brunson already wrote the *best* kind of intro when she recommended Caresse for this newsletter. Read on:
Too often do I stumble upon awesome women and the cliff note versions of their stories tucked into shows, films, etc. and think angrily to myself, "How am I only hearing about you NOW?!"
One such lady is Caresse Crosby.
Inventor of the first US-patented modern bra, because she wanted to wear this gorg dress but was so done with whalebone corsets and the giant monoboob it created so she sewed together some handkerchiefs with ribbon straps and boom: the BRA! She eventually sold to the Warner Brothers Corset Company, which proceeded to market the most popular bra in the country over the next 30 years.
She was also revered as the "literary godmother" and publisher of great works the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Anais Nin, while she lived that reckless, high society life in expat '20's Paris. She also dabbled in pornographic writing and towards the end of her life, she lived in a Renaissance-era Roman castle.
Basically all the life goals. I mean, she had her fair share of scandal (when your husband wants you to change your name to CLYTORIS, you are bound to lead a scandalous life) but still, she sounds wildly fascinating.
Alright, back to the black hole of the internet I go.
Mileva
Thanks, Mileva. And thank you, Caresse, because I mean, seriously.
(US Patent and Trademark Office)
Add to your reading list:
The Passionate Years (Caresse Crosby)
Inventing Beauty: A History of the Inventions that Have Made Us Beautiful (Teresa Riordan)
Read more:
Caresse Crosby, who claimed the invention of the bra, was better known for her wild life (The Washington Post)
The 100-year history of the modern bra is also the history of taking off bras (TIME)
Caresse Crosby, brazen inventor of the brassiere (Mental Floss)
The Crosbys: Literature's Most Scandalous Couple (The Telegraph)
Thank you to Mileva Brunson for recommending today's woman to know! And also for basically writing my entire intro for me, I mean really Mileva, you saved my thumbs some ache.
*~Send your recommendations for women to know! Reply to this newsletter with your lady and she could be featured in an upcoming edition.~* You can browse the archive here.