Exquisite Form

The company was founded in 1945 in New York City. It was founded with the help of its head designer Lillian Hunau, who also had a special wiring and bust shaping{{cite patent|title=Woman's bust shaping and supporting garment|pubdate=1949-08-02|country=US|number=2478103|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US2478103|inventor-last=Hunau|inventor-first=Lillian}} patent which began featuring in bras the following year. 1945 was also the year Exquisite Form became one of the first major brassiere companies to advertise in Ebony Magazine.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtRbdACUkqgC&q=exquisite+form+1945&pg=PA106|title=Uplift: The Bra in America|last1=Farrell-Beck|first1=Jane|last2=Gau|first2=Colleen|date=2002-10-22|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0812218353|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=http://underpinningsmuseum.com/museum-collections/exquisite-form-circloform-floating-action-brassiere-advert/|title=Exquisite Form 'Circloform Floating Action' Brassiere Advert|work=The Underpinnings Museum|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en-US}}

With the growth in business came growth in marketing. By the end of the 1950s, Exquisite Form's advertising budget grew to over $2 million for television advertising.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyEEAAAAMBAJ&q=Exquisite+Form&pg=PA8|title=Billboard|date=1957-07-01|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en}} By 1959, the company was doing product placement in movies with a multimillion-dollar campaign for the movie Happy Anniversary.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw1vZcK73sIC&q=Exquisite+Form&pg=PA115|title=Product Placement in Hollywood Films: A History|last=Segrave|first=Kerry|date=2004-06-08|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786481637|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7VMAQAAIAAJ&q=Exquisite+Form|title=Seen any good films lately?|last=Zinsser|first=William Knowlton|date=1960|publisher=Hammond|language=en}}

Austrian-born American fashion designer Rudi Gernreich preferred that his designs should be worn braless.{{cite web|url=http://aeqai.com/main/2015/03/the-total-look-rudi-gernreich-peggy-moffitt-and-william-claxton-cincinnati-art-museum-through-may-24-2015|title="The Total Look: Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton", Cincinnati Art Museum, through May 24, 2015|date=March 24, 2015|access-date=October 5, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080908/http://aeqai.com/main/2015/03/the-total-look-rudi-gernreich-peggy-moffitt-and-william-claxton-cincinnati-art-museum-through-may-24-2015/|url-status=dead}} In October 1964, Gernreich collaborated with Exquisite Form to create "No Bra". The bra was made of sheer fabric without underwires or lining of any kind. Unlike contemporary bras, his design allowed breasts to assume their natural shape, rather than being molded into an aesthetic ideal.{{cite web|url=http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Fr-Gu/Gernreich-Rudi.html|title=Gernreich, Rudi|access-date=March 20, 2013}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtRbdACUkqgC&q=exquisite+form+1945&pg=PA106|title=Uplift: The Bra in America|last1=Farrell-Beck|first1=Jane|last2=Gau|first2=Colleen|date=2002-10-22|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0812218353|language=en}}

It was a soft-cup, light-weight, seamless, sheer nylon tricot and elastic bra only available for small-breasted women. It came in three sheer colors: powder puff, black, and white, and in sizes 32 to 36, A and B cups.{{cite web|url=http://aslipofagirl.net/2012/02/17/no-bra-no-way-vintage-rudi-gernreich-lingerie|title=No Bra, No Way? Vintage Rudi Gernreich Lingerie|date=February 17, 2012|access-date=October 12, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=http://the-bullet-bra-is-back.tumblr.com/post/19946450934|title=The Bullet Bra is Back|date=March 26, 2012|publisher=tumblr.com|access-date=May 30, 2015|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222153650/http://the-bullet-bra-is-back.tumblr.com/post/19946450934|url-status=dead}} It had a single hook in the back.

The No Bra was a big departure from the sculpted, bullet-shaped bosom of the previous decade. It was quite similar to the original bra of the 1920s and like the first modern bra invented by Mary Phelps Jacob, two handkerchiefs attached to a band and tied around the chest. Gernreich's no-bra was little more than that. Both the 1920s and the 1960s celebrated the stick-like figure of adolescence, and with that meant small, flat breasts.{{cite web|url=http://www.skooldays.com/categories/fashion/fa1679.htm|title=No-Bra (Rudi Gernreich)|publisher=Skooldays|access-date=March 19, 2013}}

His minimalist bra revolutionized brassiere design, initiating a trend toward more natural shapes and soft, sheer fabrics.{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O64190/the-no-bra-brassiere-bra-gernreich-rudi|title=The "No-Bra" Brassiere|date=1965 |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=March 18, 2013}}{{Cite book|url=http://www.american-buddha.com/gernreich.132.htm|title=The Rudi Gernreich Book|first1=Peggy|last2=Claxton|first2=William|publisher=Taschen|year=1999|isbn=978-3-822871-97-3|location=Köln|oclc=717817845|last1=Moffitt|author-link1=Peggy Moffitt|author-link2=William Claxton (photographer)|orig-year=1991|access-date=2017-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315165315/http://www.american-buddha.com/gernreich.132.htm|archive-date=2015-03-15|url-status=dead}}

The retail success of the No Bra was followed in 1965 with the next design, a "no-side" bra to accommodate dresses with deep armholes. It had a narrow stretch band around the torso that allowed women to wear open-sleeved garments without displaying a bra band. The sheer cups were cut part of the bias and part of the half-bias. He also produced a "No Front" maillot design with a deep, plunging front for slit-to-the-waist necklines, and a "No-Back" long-line version that was anchored using contoured stretch-waistband that allowed a woman to wear a backless dress.{{cite news|url=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/rudi-gernreichs-no-bra-bra-comes-in-threes-slightly-nsfw|title=Rudi Gernreich's 'No-Bra' Bra... Comes In Threes|date=October 1965|pages=32–35|newspaper=Playgirl|access-date=May 30, 2015}}

In 1970, Exquisite Form registered and launched their trademark "Fully" line of bras, focusing the brand on more full-figured products.{{Cite web|url=https://trademarks.justia.com/723/23/fully-72323281.html|title=FULLY Trademark of EXQUISITE FORM INDUSTRIES, INC. - Registration Number 0892926 - Serial Number 72323281 :: Justia Trademarks|website=trademarks.justia.com|language=en|access-date=2017-07-24}}

;Bestform Group

In 1996, following bankruptcy of Exquisite Form Industries, the Bestform Group purchased the Exquisite Form label.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

;VF Corporation

In 1998, VF corporation bought the Bestform Group, including the Bestform, Exquisite From and Lily of France brands. This bolstered their portfolio of intimates brands that, at the time, consisted of only Vanity Fair and Vassarette.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/vf-corporation-history/|title=History of VF Corporation – FundingUniverse|website=www.fundinguniverse.com|language=en|access-date=2017-07-24}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/26/business/company-news-vf-agrees-to-acquire-bestform-to-double-lingerie-sales.html|title=COMPANY NEWS; VF AGREES TO ACQUIRE BESTFORM TO DOUBLE LINGERIE SALES|date=1997-11-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.retailcareerhub.com/retailers/entry/vf-corporation|title=VF Corporation|website=www.retailcareerhub.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-16}}{{Cite news|url=http://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/article-1091782/|title=Article January 9, 1998|author=WWD Staff|date=1998-01-09|work=WWD|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en-US}}

;Fruit of the Loom

In 2007, in a cash deal valued at $350 million, Fruit of the Loom purchased the entire Vanity Fair Brands intimate apparel division from VF Corporation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/business/24loom.html|title=Fruit of the Loom Buys Some VF Lines|agency=Reuters|date=2007-01-24|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-07-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/business/24loom.html|title=Fruit of the Loom Buys Some VF Lines|agency=Reuters|date=2007-01-24|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://exquisiteform.com/}}
• [https://namnak.com/shaping-bra.p104888 Shaping Bra]

{{Berkshire Hathaway}}

Category:Lingerie brands

Category:Clothing companies established in 1945

Category:1945 establishments in New York City

Category:Berkshire Hathaway

Category:American companies established in 1945