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The 1950s had a lot of really top notch historical flicks that are worth watching, but of all the modernisms from that decade that crept into the costuming, bullet bras have to be one of the most distracting. No shape defines this era as strongly as the bullet bra, and like many film productions to this day, wardrobe teams were under immense pressure to preserve as much of the fashionable 1950s shape as they could get away with and still call it historical.
Elizabeth Taylor’s rigging was the height of bullet bra technology in 1957 when the film Raintree County came out.
My Cousin Rachel (1952) is set in the 1830s but Olivia de Havilland’s bust is straight-up 1950s.
Janet Leigh’s bullet bra was so distracting in The Vikings (1958) that she became a Snark Week meme a couple years back.
Sissi (1955) had some gorgeous gowns, but they were very obviously engineered over bullet bras.
The lavishly costumed Diane (1956) was actually pretty good overall for a mid-20th-century costume flick, but you were liable to put someone’s eye out on Lana Turner’s pointy bust.
Do you have any notably out of place bullet bras in historical flicks? Share them with us in the comments!
Reflected in the automobile bumpers of the time. I wonder which came first? I lived through that era, often risking blindness.
Looking at all those pictures, all I can think of is the classic line from A Christmas Story “You’ll shoot your eye out.” (though in this case maybe ‘you’ll put your eye out’ is more appropriate?)
That picture from “The Vikings” just makes me wince. We have so little evidence for undergarments in that era as it is, and a well-fitted undergown/chemise was probably what most women relied on for breast support. There’s documentation for a bra-like wrap in ancient Greece and something like that certainly could have been an option for women who needed more support in the Viking era, but that’s still speculation.
Love Me or Leave Me was set in the 20s but Doris Day is wearing 50s cone bras
The 1952 Ivanhoe is also a prime example!
I can’t help thinking that for Liz Taylor and Lana Turner the bullet bra might have been a contractual obligation by the studio.
I was too busy falling in love with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County to notice Elizabeth Taylor’s breasts!
Prince Valient starring Tony Curtis, June Allyson’s Little women, 7 brides for 7 brothers, the list could go on and on and on.