The great undergarment success story of our time is the Wonderbra, which does not simply lift and separate, as did the brassieres of old, but literally tips the breasts into the face of the beholder, creating ebullient cleavage where otherwise there was none. The Wonderbra is clearly meant to allure but it is also bound to disappoint. Once a woman's Wonderbra has enticed a man into her arms she is faced with the dilemma of when to take it off. The Wonderbra removed, the bosom shrinks, the cleavage disappears as the released breasts obey the call of gravity and sag away from the sternum. The Wonderbra is one undergarment that must have been meant to stay on during sex, along with suspender-belts and black stockings and the rest of the tackle.
Underwear is now sportswear.
One of the mysteries of the twentieth century is how the brassiere conquered the world. You might think it was the great manufacturers who convinced women that they would not be real women until they tipped their breasts into a harness, but the dusty bras I've seen on display in the shopping lanes of ancient towns from China to Peru are locally made. The shape of the breasts might be international but the brand names are not. There is now no country in the world where women do not think it appropriate to strap their breasts into an immobile shape. The transformation of the useful breast into fetish object was accompanied by the marketing of synthetic babyfood, lipstick and high-heeled shoes, as the awesome imagery of the mother retreated in the face of the onward march of prostitution.