Source unknown 'Royal Worcester Kidfitting Corsets', printed advertisement, 1911.

Source unknown Miss Camille Clifford, photograph, c.1906.

The Symington Corsetry Collection. 'Lemon cup' bust improver, c.1890. Museum Ref. B200.

Various methods were tried and tested to achieve a full and swelling bosom, as portrayed in the photograph of Miss Camille Clifford. Artificial aids to increase the size of the breast were in theory not new. Cotton wadding and pads had been for a long time sewn inside the dress to help build up the figure and during the 1860s bust pads made of celluloid and rubber helped give an impression of curvaceousness where nature failed.

Even more unusual was the ingenious 'lemon cup' bust improver of the 1890s. Each cup is packed with bleached horsehair supported by a whalebone lining. The light coiled spring helped to give the desired shapely effect. What was new about the 1900s was the range of inventions available, and also the fact that artificial beauty aids had become much more acceptable. For many women the superb physical proportions and statuesque curves dictated by fashion simply had to be achieved no matter what the methods.

The Symington Corsetry Collection. Bust bodice, c.1902. Museum Reference C.200.

V&A Bust bodice, pale blue satin and machine lace and ribbon. Cups supported by a whalebone structure. French, c.1905. T.340-1978.

Women's journals of the time were replete with advertisements for pills and potions to correct flaws in the female appearance. Bust cream applied as a massage, claimed to 'permanently develop and enlarge the bust, cause it to fill out to nature's full bearing, give that swelling, rounded, firm white bosom, that queenly bearing, so attractive to the opposite sex'. Widely advertised in France, 'pillules orientales' were supposed to have a similar effect. If pills and potions failed there was always the 'Princess Bust Developer' which exercised the muscles of the bust by suction, restoring the capillary action and getting rid of flabby tissue.

V&A

Summer day dress, white lace and embroidered lawn with macramé fringe and bobble trim. Worn with a black ribbon belt, c.1910, French. T.465-1974

Bust bodices were less intimidating and also became more common. These were lightly boned and tended to conceal the cleavage, creating the monobosom, a long, sloping sine-curve. Some could be worn over the corset to complement the structure of the dress and create the desired silhouette. Padded camisoles were also popular and 'Pneumatic bust forms' are also referred to which claimed to be as light as air and promised to give the wearer 'the admirable and superb proportions of the ideal figure'.

These devices probably led to the development of the brassiere a few years later, as the basic concept and design is quite similar. The bust bodice you see above, for example, is styled like a bra beneath its frilly flounces. Although it is laced up the back like a corset, vertical whalebone strips run down the inside of the front section, creating two cups.

By 1910 designers were beginning to reject what had been the starting point for dress design--the full figure with a constricted waist. Leading new lights of the fashion world such as Paul Poiret, Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon) and Doucet reacted against the artificially exaggerated Edwardian curves, promoting a slimmer, less restricted silhouette. They designed clothes that defined the more natural contours of the body. Blouses and high-waisted dresses made of delicate, soft, flowing materials did not require rigid corsets, steel hoops and bustles to give them their shape.