A Very Old Bra

If you've ever wondered what a 600-year-old bra looks like -- personally, I'm still trying to forget my first training bra -- here it is, discovered in some funky Austrian castle, along with other ancient undie garments. This weird discovery, which will no doubt lead to a weird exhibit somewhere, sponsored by Victoria Secret -- "You've come a long way, boobie!" -- makes me think of the late great Nora Ephron, who wrote the hilarious Esquire piece, "A Few Words About Breast," in 1972:

"I started with a 28 AA bra. I don’t think they made them any smaller in those days, although I gather that now you can buy bras for five-year-old  that don’t have any cups whatsoever in them; trainer bras they are called. My first brassiere came from Robinson’s Department Store in Beverly Hills. I went there alone, shaking, positive they would look me over and smile and tell me to come back next year. An actual fitter took me into the dressing room and stood over me while I took off my blouse and tried the first one on. The little puffs stood out on my chest. “Lean over,” said the fitter. (To this day I am not sure what fitters in bra departments do except to tell you to lean over.) I leaned over, with the fleeting hope that my breasts would miraculously fall out of my body and into the puffs. Nothing."

The SJG can relate.