cleavage (breasts)

File:Jane Russell in The Outlaw cropped.jpg in The Outlaw (1943). Director Howard Hughes' overemphasizing of her cleavage prompted the Motion Picture Association of America to take actions against the film and make the first use of the term cleavage in association with breasts.{{Cite magazine |date=August 5, 1946 |title=Cleavage & the Code |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,777076,00.html |magazine=Time |page=98 |volume=48 |issue=6}}{{Cite news |last=Waters |first=Florence |date=2011-03-01 |title=Jane Russell: the poster controversy that made a star |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8354765/Jane-Russell-the-poster-controversy-that-made-a-star.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304140344/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8354765/Jane-Russell-the-poster-controversy-that-made-a-star.html |archive-date=2011-03-04 |access-date=2020-10-15 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} Hughes and Russell are considered pioneers of exaggerated cleavage in movies.{{Cite book |last=Schumach |first=Murray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYPgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA61 |title=The Face On The Cutting Room Floor |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1964 |isbn=978-0306706035 |page=61 |access-date=2020-10-15}} For the film, Hughes designed a prototype for an underwire bra to give Russell "five and one-quarter inches" long cleavage.{{Cite news |last=Merkin |first=Daphne |author-link=Daphne Merkin |date=August 28, 2005 |title=The Great Divide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/style/tmagazine/the-great-divide.html |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times}}]]

The word cleavage was first used in the early 19th century in geology and mineralogy to mean the tendency of crystals, minerals, and rocks to split along definite planes. By the mid-19th century, it was generally used to mean splitting along a line of division into two or more parts.{{cite web |title=Cleavage |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/cleavage |website=Etymology Online}}{{Unbulleted list|{{cite web |date=May 16, 2023 |title=cleavage |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cleavage |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary online}}|{{cite web |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cleavage |title=cleavage |website=Cambridge Dictionary online}}}} In the 1940s, Joseph Breen, head of the U.S. Production Code Administration, applied the term to breasts in reference to actor Jane Russell's costumes and poses in the 1943 movie The Outlaw. The term was also applied in the evaluation of the British films The Wicked Lady (1945), starring Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Roc; Bedelia (1946), also starring Lockwood; and Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945), starring Googie Withers. This use of the term was first covered in a Time article titled "Cleavage & the Code" on August 5, 1946, as a "Johnston Office (the popular name for Motion Picture Association of America office at the time{{Cite journal |last=Ruth A. Inglis |year=1947 |title=Need for Voluntary Self-Regulation |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=254 |pages=153–159 |doi=10.1177/000271624725400124 |jstor=1026154 |s2cid=143679258}}) trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections."{{Cite book |last=Dunkling |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Dunkling |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x79BW0kS_IIC&pg=PA55 |title=When Romeo Met Juliet |publisher=Trafford Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1412055437 |page=55}}{{Cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Slide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zOp2WxH5yscC |title=Banned in the U.S.A.: British Films in the United States and Their Censorship, 1933–1960 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=1998 |isbn=978-1860642548}} The word cleavage is made of the root verb cleave 'to split' (from Old English {{lang|ang|clifian}} and Middle English {{lang|enm|clevien}}; cleft in the past tense) and the suffix -age 'the state of, the act of'.{{unbulleted list|{{cite web |title=cleave |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cleave |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary online}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/age |title=-age |work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary online |date=18 May 2023}}}}

While the division of the breasts is a cleavage, the opening of a person's garments to make the division visible is called a décolletage, a French word that is derived from {{lang|fr|décolleter}} 'to reveal the neck'.{{Cite web |title=décolleté |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/d%C3%A9collet%C3%A9 |website=The Free Dictionary}} The term was first used in English literature before 1831{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/barnhartconcised0000unse |title=Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1994 |isbn=978-0062700841 |editor-last=Barnhart |editor-first=Robert K. |editor-link=Robert Barnhart |edition=1st |location=New York |url-access=registration}} and was the preferred term among educated people in the English-speaking world before cleavage became the popular term. Décolletage (or décolleté in adjectival form) refers to the upper part of the female torso, consisting of the neck, shoulders, back and chest, which is exposed by the neckline, the edge of a dress or shirt that goes around the neck, especially at the front of a woman's garment.{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite web |title=neckline |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/neckline |website=Cambridge Dictionary online}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/neckline |title=neckline |work=Collins Dictionary online}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/neckline?s=t |title=cleave |work=Dictionary.com}}}} The neckline and collar are often the most attention-grabbing parts of a garment, effected by bright or contrasting colors, or by décolletage.{{Cite book |last=Kefgen |first=Mary |title=Individuality in Clothing Selection and Personal Appearance |last2=Touchie-Specht |first2=Phyllis |publisher=Macmillan |year=1971 |isbn=978-0023621901 |page=167}}{{Cite book |last=Ironside |first=Janey |author-link=Janey Ironside |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ts4vAAAAYAAJ |title=A fashion alphabet |publisher=Joseph |year=1968 |isbn=978-0859655514 |page=48}} The term is most commonly applied to a neckline that reveals or emphasizes cleavage{{Cite book |title=Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1994 |isbn=978-0062700841 |editor-last=Barnhart |editor-first=Robert K. |editor-link=Robert Barnhart |edition=first |location=New York}} and is measured as extending about two hand-breadths from the base of the neck down; both in the front and the back.{{Cite book |last=Rudofsky |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Rudofsky |title=The Unfashionable Human Body |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. |year=1984 |isbn=978-0442276362 |edition=Repr. d. Ausg. |location=New York}} In anatomical terms, the cleft in the human body between the breasts is known as the intermammary cleft or intermammary sulcus.{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Keith |title=Clinically oriented anatomy |date=2018 |publisher=Wolters Kluwer |isbn=978-1496347213 |edition=eighth |pages=318–321}}

While there has been much work done to classify breasts based on their shapes, contours and sizes, there has not been much work done to classify their cleavage,{{Cite journal |last=D. v. Heimburg |last2=K. Exner |last3=G. Lemperle |year=1996 |title=The tuberous breast deformity: classification and treatment |url=https://www.jprasurg.com/article/S0007-1226(96)90000-4/pdf |journal=British Journal of Plastic Surgery |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=339{{ndash}}345 |doi=10.1016/S0007-1226(96)90000-4 |pmid=8881778 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Muhammad Adil Abbas Khan |last2=Ammar Asrar Javed |last3=Nigel Mercer |date=15 January 2016 |title=Cleavage classification: categorizing a vital feminine aesthetic landmark |url=https://parjournal.net/article/view/1262#B3 |journal=Plastic and Aesthetic Research |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=36 |doi=10.20517/2347-9264.2015.84 |doi-access=free}} despite its prominence in aesthetic determination.{{Cite journal |last=Adam R. Kolker |last2=Meredith S. Collins |year=2015 |title=Treatment Strategy for Improving Consistency in Aesthetic Correction |journal=Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery |volume=136 |issue=2 |pages=269e–270e |doi=10.1097/PRS.0000000000001429 |pmid=25909297 |s2cid=22386643 |doi-access=free}}

{{see also|Dress code|Breast fetishism|Modesty|Voyeurism}}

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In most cultures, men typically find female breasts attractive.{{Cite book |last=Buss |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sn6JDwAAQBAJ |title=Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0429590061 |edition=Sixth |chapter=Men's Long-Term Mating Strategies}}{{Cite journal |last=Jan Havlíček |last2=Vít Třebický |last3=Jaroslava Varella Valentova |last4=Karel Kleisner |last5=Robert Mbe Akoko |last6=Jitka Fialová |last7=Rosina Jash |last8=Tomáš Kočnar |last9=Kamila Janaina Pereira |last10=Zuzana Štěrbová |last11=Marco Antonio Correa Varella |last12=Jana Vokurková |last13=Ernest Vunan |last14=S Craig Roberts |year=2017 |title=Men's preferences for women's breast size and shape in four cultures |url=https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/24421/1/EHB-15-265R1.pdf |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=217–226 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.002 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1893/24421}}{{Cite journal |last=Barnaby J Dixson |last2=Paul L Vasey |last3=Katayo Sagata |last4=Nokuthaba Sibanda |last5=Wayne L Linklater |last6=Alan F Dixson |year=2011 |title=Men's preferences for women's breast morphology in New Zealand, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46404564 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=1271–1279 |doi=10.1007/s10508-010-9680-6 |pmid=20862533 |s2cid=34125295}}{{Cite journal |last=Frank W. Marlowe |year=2004 |title=Mate preferences among Hadza hunter-gatherers |url=https://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/readings/Marlowe-hadza-mate-selection-criteria.pdf |journal=Human Nature |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=365–376 |doi=10.1007/s12110-004-1014-8 |pmid=26189412 |s2cid=9584357}} Women sometimes use décolletage that exposes the cleavage to enhance their physical and sexual attractiveness, and to improve their sense of femininity. Display of cleavage with a low neckline is often regarded as a form of flirting or seduction, as much as for its aesthetic or erotic effect. According to Kinsey Reports, most men derive erotic pleasure from seeing a woman's cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Alfred C. Kinsey |title=Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male |last2=Wardell B. Pomeroy |last3=Clyde E. Martin |publisher=Saunders |year=1948 |isbn=978-0253334121}} When designing costumes, creating shapes that draw attention to the face or the chest helps distract the gaze from body parts that are considered less desirable.{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=Holly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nenbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA81 |title=Costuming for Film: The Art and the Craft |last2=Burke |first2=Kristin |publisher=Silman-James Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1879505803 |page=81}} Male cross-dressers and trans women often want female-like cleavage to make their bodies look more feminine. Convincing cleavage may distract attention from less-feminine aspects of the appearance and improve the ability to pass.{{Cite web |year=2007 |title=Creating Cleavage |url=http://www.malebreastenlargement.net/howtocreatecleavage.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017114351/http://malebreastenlargement.net/howtocreatecleavage.html |archive-date=2007-10-17 |website=Male Breast Enlargement}}{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Helen |author-link=Helen Boyd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NsM_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 |title=She's Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband |publisher=Basic Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1580051934 |pages=126}}

The amount of cleavage exposure that is acceptable in public differs significantly between cultures and societies.{{Cite web |last=Salmansohn |first=Karen |author-link=Karen Salmansohn |date=October 29, 2007 |title=The Power of Cleavage |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-salmansohn/the_power_of_cleavage_b_70260.html |website=The Huffington Post}} In contemporary Western society, the extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on the social and cultural context. Displaying any part of the female breast may be considered inappropriate and may be prohibited in some settings, such as workplaces, churches, and schools, while in other spaces, such as parties, beaches and pools, it may be permissible to show as much cleavage as possible.{{Cite book |last=Leder |first=D. |title=The Body in Medical Thought and Practice |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |year=1992 |isbn=978-0792316572 |page=223}}{{Cite book |last=Stuart Macadam |first=Patricia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7esQgAACAAJ&pg=PA175 |title=Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives |last2=Dettwyler |first2=Katherine A. |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0202011929 |page=175}} Art historian James Laver noted the changing standards of cleavage are mostly applicable to evening wear rather than to day wear.{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7esQgAACAAJ&pg=PA732 |title=Fashion classics from Carlyle to Barthes |publisher=Berg Publishers |year=2003 |isbn=1859736068 |page=732}} The exposure of nipples and areolae is almost always considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as indecent behavior.

File:Femme de Somono-Pêcheurs du Niger (AOF).jpg women of Mali do not consider breasts to be sexual]]

The fascination with female breasts and cleavage is widespread but not universal. It is more prevalent in Western and Westernized cultures, particularly in the U.S. and countries that are heavily influenced by the U.S.{{Cite book |last=Morrison |first=D.E. |title=The Burning Bra: The American Breast Fetish and Women's Liberation |last2=Holden |first2=C.P. |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1971 |editor-last=Manning |editor-first=P.K. |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |chapter=Deviance and Change}}{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Laura |title=Beauty Up: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0520245099 |page=74}}{{Cite book |last=Latteier |first=Carolyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xBr0X5BNtG0C |title=Breasts: The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession |publisher=Haworth Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0789004222}}{{Cite book |last=Joseph W. Slade |title=Pornography and Sexual Representation: A Reference Guide |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2000 |isbn=978-0313315206 |page=402}} Many people in Western culture, both male and female, consider breasts to be an important female secondary sex characteristic{{Cite web |title=Secondary Characteristics |url=http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/secondary_characteristics.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927075821/http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/secondary_characteristics.html |archive-date=2011-09-27 |website=HU-Berlin.de}} and an aspect of femininity. The flaunting of cleavage became an aggressive statement of gender.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Films like Erin Brockovich, in which Julia Roberts was required to wear a silicone gel-filled bra to increase her cleavage,{{Cite book |last=Dennis Bingham |title=Whose Lives Are They Anyway? |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0813549309 |page=341}} demonstrated cleavage as a woman's right and an application of feminine attributes as "a source of power".{{Cite book |last1=Sommers-Flanagan |first1=John |title=Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice |last2=Sommers-Flanagan |first2=Rita |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2012 |isbn=978-1118289044 |page=426}}

Across history and cultures, other parts of women's bodies have sometimes been viewed as more enticing than breasts, including buttocks, legs, necks, ankles, hair, and feet.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Michelle |date=2016-02-01 |title=No, you're not 'hardwired' to stare at women's breasts |url=https://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-hardwired-to-stare-at-womens-breasts-53449 |work=The Conversation}} American anthropologist Clellan S. Ford and ethologist Frank A. Beach said in their 1951 book Patterns of Sexual Behavior that only 13 of 130 cultures in a cross-cultural survey perceived female breasts as sexually attractive.{{Cite book |last=Patricia Stuart Macadam |title=Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives |last2=Katherine A. Dettwyler |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0202011929 |page=179}}{{Cite book |last=K. Kammeyer |title=A Hypersexual Society: Sexual Discourse, Erotica, and Pornography in America Today |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=978-0230616608 |page=96}} In some cultures, for example in African communities, it is not unusual to see uncovered breasts, which are not considered titillating.{{Cite book |last=Richard D. McAnulty |title=Sex and Sexuality: Sexual function and dysfunction |last2=M. Michele Burnette |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=978-0275985837 |page=9}}

Documentarian Carolyn Latteier said in Jennifer and Laura Berman's TV program All About Breasts, "I interviewed a young anthropologist working with women in Mali, a country in Africa where women go around with bare breasts. They're always feeding their babies. And when she told them that in our culture men are fascinated with breasts there was an instant of shock. According to Rosie Sayers, "Breasts have retained their primary biological function [in Mali] and hold no sexual connotations or stimulus."{{Cite journal |last=Rosie Sayers |year=2014 |title=Breast is best: just maybe in private? |journal=British Journal of General Practice |volume=64 |issue=618 |pages=44{{ndash}}45 |doi=10.3399/bjgp14X676573 |pmc=3876160 |pmid=24567571 |doi-access=free}}

Evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss observed that "Americans are probably the most extreme in viewing the breast as a sexual signal."{{Cite news |last=Kathleen Kelleher |date=1997-07-28 |title=It's Legal, So Why Isn't It Accepted? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-28-ls-16967-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times}} American cultural anthropologist Katherine Ann Dettwyler, editor of Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, found parallels between the modern American practice of breast enlargement and the past Chinese practice of foot binding. She suggests that both are "culturally sanctioned mutilations of the female body" for the purpose of "male sexual pleasure", and both "compromise a woman's health" and make her body "nonfunctional".{{Cite journal |last=Anne L. Wright |year=1998 |title=Review of Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives |journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly |volume=12 |page=397 |jstor=649695 |number=3}}{{Cite book |last=Katherine Dettwyler |title=Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives |last2=Patricia Stuart-Macadam |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |isbn=978-1351530743 |pages=177{{ndash}}179}}

During adolescence, some girls become obsessed with breast shape and cleavage,{{Cite book |last=Ashlea Worrel |title=An Examination of Women's Body Image and Sexual Satisfaction |date=2008 |isbn=978-0549651444 |page=15}} while others try to resist the growth of their breasts during puberty by binding down their breasts, wearing loose clothes that disguise them or adopting a hunched or stooped posture.{{Cite book |last=Furnham |first=Adrian |title=Body Language At Work |publisher=Universities Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-8173713187 |page=27}} A study found that girls whose breasts develop early may be ashamed and embarrassed because of unwanted staring.{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Carla |title=Becoming Women: The Embodied Self in Image Culture |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1442668263 |page=205}} There is historical evidence that some cultures, including classical antiquity, strongly discouraged cleavage or any hint of a bosom.{{Cite book |last=Herbert Harari |title=Social Psychology: Basic and Applied |last2=Robert Malcolm Kaplan |publisher=Brooks/Cole Publishing Company |year=1982 |isbn=978-0818504815 |page=271}} During the Middle Ages and up to the Renaissance, a woman's stomach was often the central symbol of her sexuality, rather than the breasts. Early English Puritans used a tight bodice to completely flatten breasts, while 17th-century Spaniards put lead plates across the chests of pubescent girls to prevent their bosoms from developing.

In India, women's traditional clothing (saris and cholis) generally exposes more midriff than cleavage.{{Cite book |last=A. Biswas |title=Indian Costumes |publisher=Indian Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Publications Division |year=2017 |isbn=978-8123025643}}{{Cite report |title=Census of India |publisher=Manager of Publications, Office of the Registrar General |issue=6 |volume=8 |at=Part 8, page 9 |year=1966}} Gagra choli, a dress taken as very chaste in India, also exposes significant amount of midriff and cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Stella Bruzzi |title=Fashion Cultures: Theories, Explorations and Analysis |last2=Pamela Church Gibson |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1136295379 |page=184}} Cholis customized for Bollywood movies have particularly deep décolletage.{{Cite book |last=Stella Bruzzi |title=Fashion Cultures: Theories, Explorations and Analysis |last2=Pamela Church Gibson |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1136295379 |page=47}} Women of the Bishnoi people wear kanchli blouses with very deep necklines that are embellished with frills and bells to draw attention to their cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Bhandari |first=Vandana |title=Costume, Textiles and Jewellery of India: Traditions in Rajasthan |publisher=Mercury Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-1904668893 |page=163}} Other women wear angia, a small, bikini-like top that is tied at the back with a string, often with the front open enough to show deep cleavage.{{Cite web |date=14 January 2019 |title=This 'Indian Bra' Is What Your Boobs Need |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/gy74k9/indian-bra-alternative-angia |access-date=4 July 2021 |website=Vice}} In late 20th-century India, cleavage became a staple point of attraction in Bollywood movies.{{Cite news |last=Vasudev |first=Shefalee |date=30 November 2013 |title='Choli' politics |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/tHNMSYTfy8Kp9LjJfw3EMN/Choli-politics.html |work=Live Mint}}

In a 2006 study conducted among young people in Mumbai,{{Cite news |last=Lakshmi |first=Rama |date=14 April 2011 |title=New millionaires hope to serve as role models for India's lower castes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-millionaires-emerge-as-role-models-for-indias-lower-castes/2011/04/03/AFesUMfD_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623215214/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-millionaires-emerge-as-role-models-for-indias-lower-castes/2011/04/03/AFesUMfD_story.html |archive-date=23 June 2015 |access-date=23 June 2015 |work=The Washington Post |location=Mumbai}}{{Cite news |date=20 July 2011 |title=Mumbai, a land of opportunities |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Mumbai-a-land-of-opportunities/articleshow/9292526.cms?referral=PM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140804070300/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Mumbai-a-land-of-opportunities/articleshow/9292526.cms?referral=PM |archive-date=4 August 2014 |access-date=22 July 2011 |work=The Times of India}} both male and female respondents believed that women wearing cleavage-revealing filmi (movie-like) clothes may be more prone to become victims of sexual violence.{{Cite book |last=Chakraborty |first=Kabita |title=Young Muslim Women in India: Bollywood, Identity and Changing Youth Culture |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1317378495 |page=21}} By the 2010s, Indian men and women wearing décolleté clothes was seen as a fashion statement and not, as in the past, a sign of desperation.{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=Dheeraj |title=Consumer India: Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2011 |isbn=978-0470826324 |page=49}} At the same time, the allure of on-screen cleavage waned as cleavage-revealing clothes became more commonplace.{{Cite book |last=Panjwani |first=Narendra |title=Emotion Pictures: Cinematic Journeys Into the Indian Self |publisher=Rainbow Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=978-8186962725 |page=278}}

File:750 - Jeune femme arabe (cropped).jpg, Muslim women are required to cover their bosoms.]]

The Muslim religious dress code for a woman's cleavage is derived from two Quranic verses ({{lang|ar-Latn|ayat}}) – verse 31, Sura 24 (An-Nūr; {{langx|ar|الْنُّور|links=no}}; "The Light") and verse 59, Surah 33 (Al-Aḥzāb; {{langx|ar|الأحزاب}}; "The Clans").{{Cite journal |last=Dabbous-Sensenig |first=Dima |year=2006 |title=To Veil or Not to Veil: Gender and Religion on Al-Jazeera's Islamic Law and Life |journal=Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture |publisher=University of Westminster |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=66{{ndash}}67 |doi=10.16997/wpcc.31 |issn=1744-6708 |eissn=1744-6716 |doi-access=free}} Verse 31 of Sura 24 says, "Say to the believing women [...] that they should draw their veils (khumur, {{abbr|s.|singular}} khimar) over their bosoms (juyub, {{abbr|s.|singular}} jayb) and not display their beauty".{{cite Quran|24|31 |end=32 |translator=y}} Only the mahram (unmarriageable) relatives are exempt from this strict code.{{Cite book |last=Taqī al-Dīn Nabhānī |title=The Social System in Islam |publisher=Milli Publications |year=2001 |isbn=978-8187856023 |page=36}}{{Cite book |last=Saleh Fauzan Al Fauzan |title=Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women |publisher=Darussalam Publishers |year=2003 |isbn=978-9960347295 |page=55}} Verse 59 of Sura 33 says, "Tell [...] the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments (jalabib, s. jilbāb) over their persons".{{cite Quran|33|59 |end=60 |translator=y|link=no}} Jilbab and khimar are the only two women's clothing items mentioned in the Quran.{{Cite book |last=Moghissi |first=Haideh |title=Women and Islam: Social conditions, obstacles and prospects |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2005 |isbn=978-0415324205 |pages=77{{ndash}}79}} Women used to wear clothes that were parted at the front to expose the breasts when the verses were revealed.{{Cite book |last=L.S. Cahill |title=Embodiment, Morality, and Medicine |last2=M.A. Farley |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |year=1995 |isbn=978-0792333425 |page=47{{ndash}}48}}{{Cite book |last=Sardar |first=Ziauddin |author-link=Ziauddin Sardar |title=Reading the Qur'an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0199911493 |page=332{{ndash}}333}}

These verses were later interpreted as requiring the complete covering of women's bodies.{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Reina |author-link=Reina Lewis |title=Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader |last2=Mills |first2=Sara |author-link2=Sara Mills (linguist) |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-0415942744 |pages=589–590}} Some Islamic clerics and scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah, argued that the entire female body is "a shameful part" (awrah) and therefore is to be covered entirely, with a niqab or burqa, centuries after the time of Muhammad. According to Egyptian historian Sayyid-Marsot, male Islamic scholars (ulama, s. alim) since the 18th century started interpreting that a woman's whole body needs to be entirely covered. But as late as in the 1980s, women of the Al-Akhdam (servant) class in Yemen and baladi (folk) women of Egypt still wore cleavage revealing clothes as the Islamic dress codes were not universally applied. In the early 21st century Muslim world, there is a popular consensus that modesty requires coverage of any cleavage.{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2017 |title=Hijab |encyclopedia=Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSHFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA596 |editor-last=Çakmak |editor-first=Cenap |isbn=978-1610692175 |author-last=Haqqani |author-first=Shehnaz}}

{{Further|Breastfeeding in public}}

Breastfeeding advocate Maria Miller argued that the American obsession with breasts is caused by American men's and women's unfamiliarity with the extraordinary variety of normal breasts and their ignorance of "what the breast is really for".{{Cite book |last=Cristina L. H. Traina |title=Erotic Attunement: Parenthood and the Ethics of Sensuality Between Unequals |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0226811383 |page=257}} In Alexandre Guillaume Mouslier de Moissy's 1771 play La Vraie Mère ("The True Mother"), the title character rebukes her husband for treating her as an object for his sexual gratification; "Are your senses so gross as to look on these breasts—the respectable treasures of nature—as merely an embellishment, destined to ornament the chest of women?".{{Cite book |last=Schama |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Schama |title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. |year=1989 |isbn=0394559487 |page=147}} In the 18th century, biologists and philosophers like Carl Linnaeus and Jean-Jacques Rousseau attempted to popularize the idea of breastfeeding of one's own children as natural and fashionable.

According to Valerie Steele, director of Fashion Institute of Technology, "For centuries (even in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic worlds), the sight of a woman nursing was accepted as normal. This factor contributed to the fairly rapid acceptance of dresses with low necklines, which were introduced in the fifteenth century."{{Cite book |last=Claudia Brush Kidwell |title=Men and Women: Dressing the Part |last2=Valerie Steele |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0874745597 |page=59}} Since emerging in the Christian West, the early décolleté dresses—which were termed by French court historian Jean Froissart as "the smile of the bustline"—had increasingly plunging necklines because the Renaissance celebrated the beauty of the unclothed human body. Moralists, who blamed any number of chest illness on bare cleavage, were shocked by the development.{{Cite book |last=Piveteau |first=Elodie |title=Underdressed |last2=Vaurès |first2=Philippe |publisher=Silverback Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-2752801500 |page=116}}

"Downblouse" is the act of looking down a woman's dress or top to observe or photograph her cleavage or breasts. It may occur as a form of voyeurism or sexual fetishism. In some jurisdictions it is a sexual offense. The issue has been publicly discussed during the 21st century,{{Cite book |last=Luppicini |first=Rocci |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC5gYV80HtAC&q=upskirt&pg=PA87 |title=Ethical Impact of Technological Advancements and Applications in Society |publisher=IGI Global |year=2012 |isbn=978-1466617742 |page=87}}{{Cite book |last=Dalzell |first=Tom |title=Sex Slang |last2=Victor |first2=Terry |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-1134194926 |page=51}}

Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, Sex Slang, page 51, Routledge, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1134194926}} although the term downblouse has been used in English since 1994.{{Cite book |last=Eric Partridge |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2009 |isbn=978-0415371827 |page=314}} The popularity of covert downblouse and upskirt photography has increased with the proliferation of camera phones since 2000.{{Cite web |date=August 11, 2013 |title=From J-Phone to Lumia 1020: A complete history of the camera phone |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/camera-phone-history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914020601/https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/camera-phone-history/ |archive-date=14 September 2019 |access-date=15 September 2019 |website=Digital Trends}}{{Cite book |last=Guerin |first=Lisa |title=Smart Policies for Workplace Technologies |publisher=Nolo |year=2013 |isbn=978-1413318432 |page=215}} NASUWT, a UK teachers' union, reported an upward trend in such pictures at schools in 2018.{{Cite news |last=Gogarty |first=Conor |date=2018-04-02 |title=Schoolchildren humiliate teachers and post 'upskirt' images online in alarming new 'craze' |url=https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/schoolchildren-humiliate-teachers-post-upskirt-1410538 |work=Gloucestershire Live}}{{Cite news |last=Vaughan |first=Richard |date=2018-03-31 |title=Teachers suffer 'groping, upskirting and being propositioned for sex' at school |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/education/teachers-suffer-groping-upskirting-propositions-school-140351 |work=The i Online}}

Many of these covertly taken pictures are uploaded to websites,{{Cite book |last=Aggrawal |first=Anil |title=Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices |publisher=CRC Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1420043099 |page=134}}{{Cite news |last=Paul Wright |date=2018-01-26 |title=Upskirting: Porn sites are hosting videos of women secretly filmed in public |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/education/teachers-suffer-groping-upskirting-propositions-school-140351 |work=i}} as well as subreddits like r/CreepShots.{{Cite news |last=Maenzanise |first=Joyline |date=21 February 2018 |title=Involuntary Porn Stars, Upskirt And Downblouse Photography: Are They Huge Problems In Zimbabwe? |url=https://www.techzim.co.zw/2018/02/involuntary-porn-stars-upskirt-downblouse-photography-huge-problems-zimbabwe/ |work=TechZim}}{{Cite news |last=Merino |first=Faith |date=2013-06-12 |title=5 tech trends that are more intrusive than the NSA |url=https://vator.tv/news/2013-06-12-5-tech-trends-that-are-more-intrusive-than-the-nsa |work=VatorNews}} Some websites host tutorials on taking downblouse and upskirt pictures.{{Cite journal |last=Mills |first=Brian |date=2000 |title=Video Voyeurism: Are You Being Watched? |journal=Loyola Intellectual Property & High Technology J. |volume=3 |issue=11 |page=17}}

As early as 2004, Google listed about four million websites that were tagged with "upskirt" and "downblouse".{{Cite news |last=Kleinhubbert |first=Guido |date=2007-02-23 |title=Unwilling Cyber-Porn Stars |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/peeping-tom-porn-unwilling-cyber-porn-stars-a-467422.html |work=Spiegel International}} Some jurisdictions, including the UK, Germany, and a number of American and Australian states, have statutes that prohibit such covert photography.{{Cite journal |last=Lance E. Rothenberg |title=Re-thinking privacy: Peeping Toms, video voyeurs, and the failure of criminal law to recognize a reasonable expectation of privacy in the public space |url=http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/lawrev/49/vol49-5rothenberg.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=American University Law Review |publisher=Washington College of Law |volume=49 |pages=1128{{ndash}}1165 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003064346/https://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/lawrev/49/vol49-5rothenberg.pdf |archive-date=2015-10-03}} In the UK, people who take such pictures and post them online can be listed on the sex offender registry, and in Japan the government has pressured mobile phone manufacturers to make their phones produce a warning sound whenever such pictures are taken. These types of offenses "largely [go] unreported" and, according to Maria Miller, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, the legal provisions are inadequate.{{Cite news |last=Dearden |first=Lizzie |date=2018-02-20 |title='Upskirting' must be made a criminal offence as girls as young as 10 are photographed, campaigners say |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/upskirt-photos-law-illegal-criminal-offence-needed-campaigners-statistics-10-girls-children-police-a8218491.html |work=The Independent}}

Despite a long history, display of cleavage can still be controversial.{{Cite news |last=Stinson |first=Lashonda |date=2007-08-03 |title=Cleavage seems to be spilling over into everyday fashion |url=https://www.ocala.com/story/news/2007/08/03/cleavage-seems-to-be-spilling-over-into-everyday-fashion/31213481007/ |work=Ocala StarBanner}} UK women's magazine Stylist in 2017 and Indian newspaper Mid-Day in 2019 reported "cleavage shaming" was commonplace in news and social media.{{Cite news |last=Dray |first=Kayleigh |year=2017 |title=Susanna Reid's absolutely flawless response to "cleavage-shaming" headlines |url=https://www.stylist.co.uk/people/susanna-reid-good-morning-britain-cleavage-shaming-piers-morgan-dress-boobs-breasts/34669 |work=Stylist}}{{Cite news |last=Shiware |first=Shweta |date=2019-11-10 |title=To Show And Tell |url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/to-show-and-tell/22063165 |work=Mid-Day}} Bollywood actresses Disha Patani, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Nargis Fakhri and others were trolled and shamed for wearing cleavage-baring outfits in social and new media, including in The Times of India.{{Unbulleted list

|{{Cite news |last=DNA Web Team |date=2018-02-10 |title=Not just Priyanka Chopra, here are other actresses who were dragged into controversy over a little cleavage-show |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-not-just-priyanka-chopra-here-are-other-actresses-who-were-dragged-into-controversy-over-a-little-cleavage-show-2586853 |work=DNA}}

|{{cite news |title=Disha Patani, Deepika Padukone and now Priyanka Chopra has courted cleavage controversies |author=News Desk |work=Asianet Newsable |date=2018-03-31 |url=https://newsable.asianetnews.com/entertainment/disha-patani-deepika-padukone-and-now-priyanka-chopra-has-courted-cleavage-controversies}}

|{{cite news |title=Disha Patani's epic answer to slut shaming, says her idea of 'Indian girl' is different |author=Express Web Desk |work=The Indian Express |date=2017-02-23 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/disha-patani-slut-shamin-4540354/}}

|{{cite news |title=Dear TOI, it's 2014: Slut-shaming Deepika Padukone over her cleavage is so passe |last=Dasgupta |first=Piyasree |work=First Post |date=2014-10-23 |url=https://www.firstpost.com/living/dear-toi-its-2014-slut-shaming-deepika-padukone-over-her-cleavage-is-so-passe-1724023.html}}

|{{cite news |title=Priyanka Chopra looks super hot in bold dress, but Twitteratti can't stop laughing |author=News Desk |work=Deccan Chronicle |date=2018-05-05 |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/bollywood/050518/priyanka-chopra-dress-blazer-trolled-twitter-cut-out-breast-funny-meme.html}}}} Extraordinary attention was generated when politicians Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton and Jacqui Smith wore cleavage-revealing outfits, even from media outlets The Washington Post and The New York Times.{{Cite news |date=15 April 2008 |title=Merkel 'Surprised' by Attention to Low-cut Dress |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,547512,00.html |work=Der Spiegel}}{{Cite web |date=15 April 2008 |title=Angela Merkel Raises Eyebrows with Cleavage Display |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3269347,00.html |publisher=Deutsche Welle}}{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Barbara |title=Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections |last2=Simon |first2=Dennis |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-1135891756 |page=138}}

As late as the 2010s, reports from many different states and countries showed female students, especially non-white students, had been expelled and banned from schools, and punished for wearing dresses that reveal cleavage and legs.{{Cite news |last=Austin |first=I. |last2=Bell |first2=S. |date=1999-06-01 |title=Student's challenge of dress code not over yet: Too much cleavage: 15-year-old allowed back after sent home in revealing top |work=National Post |page=A4}}{{Cite news |last=Newcomb |first=Alyssa |date=March 9, 2020 |title=Principal asked to see pics of prom dresses to avoid 'excess cleavage or skin |url=https://www.today.com/style/principal-asked-see-pics-prom-dresses-avoid-excess-cleavage-or-t175612 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310103805/https://www.today.com/style/principal-asked-see-pics-prom-dresses-avoid-excess-cleavage-or-t175612 |archive-date=March 10, 2020 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |work=Today.com}}{{Cite news |last=Nittle |first=Nadra |date=May 7, 2019 |title=A high school's dress code for parents sparked backlash. The principal is standing by it |url=https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/7/18532416/james-madison-high-school-dress-code |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507142341/https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/7/18532416/james-madison-high-school-dress-code |archive-date=May 7, 2019 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |work=Vox}}{{Cite news |last=Earley |first=Melanie |date=July 7, 2019 |title=Strict dress code at Kerikeri High School ball sees dresses above ankle banned |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/114056991/strict-dress-code-at-kerikeri-high-school-ball-sees-dresses-above-ankle-banned |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707030949/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/114056991/strict-dress-code-at-kerikeri-high-school-ball-sees-dresses-above-ankle-banned |archive-date=July 7, 2019 |work=Stuff}} At the same time, there also has been reports of passengers of airlines, including Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and EasyJet, were instructed against and evicted for showing "too much cleavage".{{Unbulleted list

|{{cite magazine |title=Southwest Airlines to Women: Stow Your Tray Tables... and Your Cleavage? |last=Traywick |first=Catherine |magazine=Time |date=2012-06-18 |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/18/southwest-airlines-to-women-stow-your-tray-tables-and-your-cleavage/}}

|{{cite news |title=Travelers Are Getting Really Steamed Over Airline Dress Codes |agency=Associated Press |work=Business Insider |date=2012-08-27 |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/airlines-ban-passengers-over-clothing-2012-8}}

|{{cite news |title=Woman who claimed she was kicked off Spirit Airlines flight for displaying too much cleavage speaks out: 'I feel awful' |last=Schroeder |first=Jessa |work=New York Daily News |date=2017-02-04 |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-claimed-kicked-flight-cleavage-speaks-article-1.2964233}}

|{{Cite web |last=Gebicki |first=Michael |date=2019-10-10 |title=The rules of what you can and can't wear on a plane |url=https://www.traveller.com.au/the-rules-of-what-you-can-and-cant-wear-on-a-plane-h1iq96 |website=Traveller}}}} In 2014, a television series called The Empress of China was taken off-air in China days after its premier because of too much cleavage; the show was aired again after much censorship.{{Unbulleted list

|{{Cite web |last=Qin |first=Amy |date=2015-01-02 |title=A Historical Drama Shows Too Much Cleavage for China's Censors |url=https://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/a-historical-drama-shows-too-much-cleavage-for-chinas-censors/ |website=The New York Times Sinosphere}}

|{{Cite news |date=2015-01-04 |title=TV show 'The Empress of China' returns |url=http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2015-01/04/content_34467817.htm |work=China.org |agency=Xinhua News Agency}}

|{{Cite news |last= |date=2015-01-13 |title=This Culture Has Not Yet Been Rated |url=https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/culture-has-not-yet-been-rated |work=China File}}}} In the next year, organizers of ChinaJoy, the largest gaming and digital entertainment exhibition held in China,{{Unbulleted list

|{{cite news |url=http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/chinese-online-gaming-lures-more-foreign-faces-901300?quicktabs_2=2 |title=ChinaJoy, China's biggest gaming expo attracts foreign investors |publisher=CNN International |access-date=9 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314205300/http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/chinese-online-gaming-lures-more-foreign-faces-901300?quicktabs_2=2 |archive-date=14 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}

|{{Cite news |title=Online games in China: A hundred million happy geeks – But please, no sex or subversion |url=http://www.economist.com/node/16744132?story_id=16744132&fsrc=rss |access-date=24 August 2010 |newspaper=The Economist |date=5 August 2010}}

|{{Cite web |last=snowball |date=2010-08-08 |title=2010 ChinaJoy Shows Direction of China's Gaming Industry in the Next 10 Years |url=http://www.chinadecoded.com/2010/08/08/2010-chinajoy-shows-direction-of-china%E2%80%99s-gaming-industry-in-the-next-10-years/ |access-date=2012-11-03 |publisher=China Decoded}}}} levied a fine of US$800 on women who revealed "more than two centimeters of cleavage".{{Cite news |last=Lu |first=Shen |last2=Hunt |first2=Katie |date=2015-05-22 |title=China cracks down on cleavage at cosplay convention |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/22/asia/chinajoy-cleavage-crackdown/index.html |publisher=CNN}}

{{As of|2011}}, women in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan were required to completely cover their bodies;{{Cite book |last=Stange |first=Mary Zeiss |title=Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World |last2=Oyster |first2=Carol K. |last3=Sloan |first3=Jane E. |publisher=Sage |year=2011 |isbn=978-1412976855 |volume=1 |page=235}} Iranian law required the wearing of a chador (over-cloak) or a hijab (head scarf),{{Cite book |last=Hume |first=Lynne |title=The Religious Life of Dress: Global Fashion and Faith |publisher=A&C Black |year=2013 |isbn=978-1472567475 |page=71}} and in Egypt, the exposure of cleavage in the media was considered to be nudity.{{Cite book |last=Tamale |first=Sylvia |author-link=Sylvia Tamale |title=African Sexualities: A Reader |publisher=Fahamu/Pambazuka |year=2011 |isbn=978-0857490162 |page=229}} Various other presentation of clothed breasts, like side cleavage and bottom cleavage, are also regulated by law in some U.S. counties. Both were banned by CBS as "bare sides or under curvature of the breasts is also problematic" at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013. Underboob was banned in Springfield, Missouri in 2015 after a Free the Nipple rally.{{Cite magazine |last=Brown |first=Elizabeth Nolan |date=2015-09-30 |title=Underboob Banned in Springfield, Missouri, After Rally Seeking to 'Free the Nipple' |url=https://reason.com/2015/09/30/underboob-ban-in-missouri/ |magazine=Reason}} Thailand banned selfies showing underboob with provisions for up to five years in jail in 2016. Amazon subsidiary Twitch, a live video streaming service, banned underboobs and instructed on the amount of cleavage permissible in 2020.{{Unbulleted list

|{{Cite news |last=Kimball |first=Whitney |date=2020-04-08 |title=Twitch Overhauls Its Vague Attire Policy With Further Specificity on Underboob |url=https://gizmodo.com/twitch-updates-its-vague-attire-policy-with-further-spe-1842751357 |work=Gizmodo.com}}

|{{cite news |title=Twitch Clarifies Nudity and Attire Policy to Say How Much Boob You Can Show |last=Jackson |first=Gita |website=Vice |date=2020-04-08 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3b9je/twitch-clarifies-nudity-and-attire-policy-to-say-how-much-boob-you-can-show}}}}

{{See also|Evolutionary psychology}}

File:Fertility and cleavage.png

Hypothetically, non-paraphilic sexual attraction to breasts is a result of their function as a secondary sex characteristic. The breasts play roles in both sexual pleasure and reproduction.{{Cite book |last=Lehmiller |first=Justin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXJGDwAAQBAJ |title=The Psychology of Human Sexuality |date=2018 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons Ltd. |isbn=978-1119164739 |edition=Second |pages=74–75}} According to the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5, sexual attraction to breasts is normal unless it is highly atypical and is therefore a form of partialism.{{Cite book |last=Association |first=American Psychiatric |url=https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse |title=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders American Psychiatric Association – 5th edition. |publisher=American Psychiatric Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=978-0890425558 |edition=5th |location=Arlington |url-access=registration}} According to psychiatrist Larry Young, attraction to breasts "is a brain organization effect that occurs in straight males when they go through puberty." According to sociologist Anthony Joseph Paul Cortese, the cleavage area between the breasts is "perhaps the epicentre" of display of female sexual attractiveness and stimulation of male sexual interest.{{Cite book |last=Cortese |first=Anthony Joseph Paul |title=Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2004 |isbn=978-0742524989 |pages=28{{ndash}}29}} According to social historian David Kunzle, waist confinement and décolletage are the primary sexualization devices of Western costume.{{Cite book |last=Craik |first=Jennifer |title=The Face of Fashion |publisher=Routledge |year=1993 |isbn=0203409426 |page=122}} According to music writer Ben Watson in Art, Class and Cleavage (Quartet Books, 1998), the deployment of cleavage punctures through art's "spiritual pretensions" and alerts about the bodily roots of all culture.{{Cite book |last=Bounds |first=Philip |title=British Marxism and Cultural Studies: Essays on a living tradition |last2=Berry |first2=David |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1317171829 |page=14}}

Vincenz Czerny, one of the early surgeons to perform a breast surgery, believed the aesthetics of cleavage to be a sign of symmetry and hence beauty.{{Cite book |last=Jacobson |first=Nora |title=Cleavage: Technology, Controversy, and the Ironies of the Man-made Breast |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0813527154 |page=48}} A study published in 2020 found intermammary distance (IMD), or cleavage gap, is one of the major influences on people's perception about a woman's fertility, health and age; accordingly, surgeon Gregory Evans recommends an intermammary distance between {{Convert|2|and|3|cm|inch|abbr=out}}.{{Cite book |last=Hall-Findlay |first=Elizabeth |title=Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Breast |last2=Evans |first2=Gregory |publisher=Elsevier Health Services |year=2010 |isbn=978-0702050091 |page=360}} Another study found women who display cleavage are more often identified as "voluptuous" than women who do not.{{Cite book |last=Reichart |first=Tom |title=Sex in Consumer Culture: The Erotic Content of Media and Marketing |last2=Lambiase |first2=Jacqueline |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1136684050 |page=57}}

Zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape, theorized that female human breasts as a sexual signal imitates the cleft between the buttocks that is a prevalent signal among other apes.{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Desmond |author-link=Desmond Morris |title=The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal |date=1967 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0070431744 |page=70}} Evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss explains that female humans evolved to have permanently enlarged mammary glands, unlike all other 222 primates. Functional anatomist Owen Lovejoy ("The origin of man", 1981) suggests, partly based on speculations by Morris, that prominent breasts among female Australopithecines helped attract males and cement the pair-bond necessary for further physical and cultural evolution toward modern humanity.{{Cite book |title=Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1351530743 |editor-last=Dettwyler |editor-first=Kathy |editor-link=Katherine Ann Dettwyler |page=179 |editor-last2=Stuart-Macadam |editor-first2=Patricia}}

Evolutionary psychologists theorize humans' permanently enlarged breasts, in contrast to other primates' breasts—which only become enlarged during ovulation—allowed females to "solicit male attention and investment even when they are not really fertile".{{Cite journal |year=1998 |editor-last=Crawford |editor-first=Charles B. |editor2-last=Krebs |editor2-first=Dennis |title=How Mate Choice Shaped Human Nature |journal=Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: Ideas, Issues, and Applications |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates |pages=87–129}} Hence breast and buttock cleavages, sharing a similarity between their appearances, are considered to be erotic in many societies.{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Arthur Asa |title=Media and Society: A Critical Perspective |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2012 |isbn=978-1442217805 |page=194}}

Another school of thought in evolutionary psychology supports the view, that it was 'Nature's plan" to make large-breasted females to appear more attractive to males, because large breasts have an evolutionary advantage in providing breast milk to their off-springs.{{Cite journal |last=Prantl |first=Lukas |last2=Gründl |first2=Martin |year=2011 |title=Males Prefer a Larger Bust Size in Women Than Females Themselves: An Experimental Study on Female Bodily Attractiveness with Varying Weight, Bust Size, Waist Width, Hip Width, and Leg Length Independently |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00266-011-9669-0 |journal=Aesthetic Plastic Surgery |volume=35 |issue=5 |pages=693–702 |doi=10.1007/s00266-011-9669-0 |pmid=21359983 |s2cid=9427011}}

American cultural anthropologist Katherine Ann Dettwyler, proposed that men are not necessarily biologically drawn to breasts as "humans can learn to view breasts as sexually attractive."{{Cite book |title=Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1351530743 |editor-last=Dettwyler |editor-first=Kathy |editor-link=Katherine Ann Dettwyler |page=181 |editor-last2=Stuart-Macadam |editor-first2=Patricia}}{{Cite web |last=Natalie Wolchover |last2=Stephanie Pappas |date=2016-03-17 |title=New Theory on Why Men Love Breasts |url=https://www.livescience.com/23500-why-men-love-breasts.html#:~:text=In%20a%201951%20study%20of,in%2013%20of%20those%20cultures.&text=In%20the%20cultural%20view%2C%20men,age%20to%20find%20them%20erotic. |website=LiveScience}} Author Elizabeth Gould Davis said breasts, along with phalluses, were revered by the women of Çatalhöyük as instruments of motherhood but after a "patriarchal revolution", when men had appropriated both phallus worship and "the breast fetish" for themselves, these organs "acquired the erotic significance with which they are now endowed".{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Elizabeth Gould |title=The First Sex: The Breast Fetish |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1971 |page=105}} Some scholars argue that it is important that the breast is partly or fully covered to be erotic.{{Cite book |last=Lunceford |first=Brett |title=Naked Politics: Nudity, Political Action, and the Rhetoric of the Body |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-0739177020 |page=130}} French semiotician Roland Barthes observed, "Woman is desexualized at the very moment when she is stripped naked";{{Cite book |last=Barthes |first=Roland |title=Mythologies |publisher=Hill and Wang |year=1972 |isbn=978-0374521509 |page=84}} while historical commentator Susan L. Stanton observes, "There is no mystery in a naked breast, there is no need to fantasize about what is beneath the clothing."{{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Susan L |title=Being Naked: Attitude towards nudity through the ages |publisher=Ablaze Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0970873903 |page=9}}

According to author Marilyn Yalom in A History of the Breast, around these times,{{Clarify timeframe|date=February 2023}} male thinkers decided a nursing mother's breasts were both erotic and a source of nourishment for future citizens of the nation. According to psychologist Richard D. McAnulty, when breasts are hypersexualized, they are not perceived as a body part to breastfeed infants. Therefore, exposure of the breast, such as in public breastfeeding, is considered embarrassing. Science journalist Natalie Angier shifts from using the term "functional" to using the term "maternal" to describe the "non-aesthetic breast" in her book Woman: An Intimate Geography (1999).{{Cite book |last=Ivers |first=Jennifer M |title=Information and Meaning: Connecting Thinking, Reading, and Writing |publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall |year=2003 |isbn=978-0130995261 |page=44}} In the same book, she argues human fascination with full cleavage may be a result of our fascination with round objects and attraction towards well-defined curves.{{Cite book |last=Angier |first=Natalie |title=Woman: An Intimate Geography |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-0547344997 |pages=112{{ndash}}115}}

{{main|History of cleavage}}

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| image1 = Egyptian Pharaonic Princess Nefert.jpg

| caption1 = Princess Nofret (27th century BCE) of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt

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| caption2 = Minoan snake goddess (17th century BCE)

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In 2600 BCE, princess Nofret of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt was depicted wearing a V-neck gown with a plunging neckline that exposed ample cleavage that was further emphasized by an elaborate necklace and prominently protruding nipples.{{Cite book |last=James S. Olson |title=Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History |date=2005 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0801880643 |page=324}}{{Cite book |last=Alessandro Bongioanni |title=The Treasures of Ancient Egypt from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo |last2=Maria Sole Croce |date=2003 |publisher=Rizzoli |isbn=978-0789309860 |page=79 |quote=Nofret is wrapped in a shawl that resembles archaic models and leaves visible the shoulders of her dress. Her pale yellow face is framed by a heavy two-part wig softened by a charming floral diadem. The prominent forms of the woman emerge voluptuously but discreetly from behind the light material that covers her and create a pleasant contrast with the lean, flaunted physique of her husband; the contrast is further emphasized by the elaborate necklace that adorns her décolleté compared to Rahotep's sober choker.}}

In ancient Minoan culture, women wore clothes that complemented slim waists and full breasts. One of the better-known features of ancient Minoan fashion is breast exposure; women wore tops that could be arranged to completely cover or expose their breasts, with bodices to accentuate their cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Rodney Castleden |title=Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134880645 |page=13}}{{Cite book |last=Barbara Sher Tinsley |title=Reconstructing Western Civilization: Irreverent Essays on Antiquity |date=2006 |publisher=Susquehanna University Press |isbn=978-1575910956 |page=111}} In 1600 BCE, snake goddess figurines with open dress-fronts revealing entire breasts, were sculpted in Minos. By that time, Cretan women in Knossos were wearing ornamental fitted bodices with open cleavage, sometimes with a peplum.{{Cite book |last=Snodgrass |first=Mary Ellen |author-link=Mary Ellen Snodgrass |title=World Clothing and Fashion |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317451679 |page=284}} Another set of Minoan figurines from 1500 BCE show women in bare-bosomed corsets.{{Cite book |last=Daniel Delis Hill |title=As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising |date=2007 |publisher=Texas Tech University Press |isbn=978-0896726161 |page=144}}{{Cite book |last=Arthur Cotterell |title=The Minoan World |date=1980 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-0684166674 |page=163}}

Ancient Greek women adorned their cleavage with a long pendant necklace called a kathema.{{Cite book |last=Gordon L. Fain |title=Ancient Greek Epigrams |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520265790 |page=113}} The ancient Greek goddess Hera is described in the Iliad to have worn something like an early version of a push-up bra festooned with "brooches of gold" and "a hundred tassels" to increase her cleavage to divert Zeus from the Trojan War. Women in Greek and Roman civilizations had at times used breastbands like taenia in Rome to enhance smaller busts but more often, women of the masculine Greco-Roman world, where unisex clothes were often preferred, used breastbands like apodesmes in Greece, and fascia or mamillare in Rome to suppress their breasts. Among these mamillare was a particularly strict leather corset for suppressing women with big busts.{{Cite book |last=Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones |title=Greek and Roman Dress from A to Z |last2=Glenys Davies |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134589166 |page=23}}{{Cite book |last=Elodie Piveteau |title=Underdressed |last2=Philippe Vaurès |date=2005 |publisher=Silverback Books |isbn=978-2752801500 |pages=2 104, 110}}

A silver coin that was found in South Arabia in the 3rd century BCE shows a buxom foreign ruler with much décolletage and an elaborate coiffure.{{Cite book |last=Wald |first=Peter |title=Yemen |date=1996 |publisher=Pallas Athene |isbn=978-1873429112 |page=283}} Rabbi Aha b. Raba ({{circa|5th century}}) and Nathan the Babylonian ({{circa|2nd century}}) measured the appropriate size of the cleavage as "of one hand-breadth between a woman's breasts".{{Cite book |last=Swidler |first=Leonard J. |author-link=Leonard J. Swidler |title=Women in Judaism: The Status of Women in Formative Judaism |date=1976 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0810809048 |page=160}}

File:Court Ladies of the Tang cropped.jpg ({{circa|706}}), when the décolletage was quite liberal. 2014 Chinese TV series The Empress of China was briefly pulled off-air for showing the abundance of cleavage in Tang courts.]]

During the Tang dynasty (7th to 9th centuries), women in China were increasingly freer than before and by the mid-Tang, their décolleté dresses became quite liberated.{{Cite book |last=Cho-yun Hsu |author-link=Cho-yun Hsu |title=China: A New Cultural History |date=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231528184 |page=220}} The Tang women inherited the traditional ruqun gown and modified it by opening up the collar to expose their cleavage, which had previously been unimaginable.{{Cite book |last=Mei Hua |title=Chinese Clothing |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521186896 |page=27}} Rather than the conservative garments worn by earlier Chinese women, women of the Tang era deliberately emphasized their cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Bret Hinsch |title=Women in Tang China |date=2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538134900 |page=149}} The popular style of the era was long gowns of soft fabrics that were cut with a pronounced décolletage and very wide sleeves, or a décolleté knee-length gown that was worn over a skirt.{{Cite book |last=Valerie Steele |author-link=Valerie Steele |title=Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion |date=2005 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0684313955 |volume=1 |page=263}}

Between the 11th and 16th centuries, the prevailing décolleté clothes of women of Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan in India were replaced with covered bosoms and long veils as the region increasingly came under foreign control.{{Cite book |last=Pooja Khurana |title=Introduction to Fashion Technology |date=2007 |publisher=Firewall Media |isbn=978-8131801901 |page=12}} During this period, elaborate, opulent courtly dresses with wide décolletage became popular in the Italian maritime states of Venice, Genoa and Florence.{{Cite book |last=Marybelle S. Bigelow |title=Fashion in History: Western Dress, Prehistoric to Present |last2=Kay Kushino |date=1979 |publisher=Burgess Publishing Company |isbn=978-0808728009 |page=147}}

Until the 12th century, the Christian West was not cleavage friendly but a change in attitude occurred by the 14th century with France leading the way,{{Cite book |last=Carl Fors |title=Hens: Why Women Are Different |date=2006 |publisher=Infinity Publishing |isbn=978-0741429544 |page=308}} when necklines were lowered, clothes were tightened and breasts were once again flaunted.{{Cite book |last=Monique Canellas-Zimmer |title=Histoires de mode |date=2005 |publisher=Les Dossiers d'Aquitaine |isbn=978-2846221191}} Décolleté gowns were introduced in the 15th century.{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1980 |title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |series=3 |volume=5 |page=1027 |isbn=978-0852293607}} In a breast-rating system that was invented at the time, the highest rating was given to breasts that were "small, white, round like apples, hard, firm, and wide apart".

Women started squeezing the breasts and applying makeup to make their cleavage more attractive;{{Cite book |last=Fred Harding |title=Breast Cancer: Cause, Prevention, Cure |date=2006 |publisher=Tekline Publishing |isbn=978-0955422102 |page=109}} cleavage was termed the "smile of the bustline" by contemporaneous Belgian chronicler Jean Froissart.{{Cite book |last=Elodie Piveteau |title=Underdressed |last2=Philippe Vaurès |date=2005 |publisher=Silverback Books |isbn=978-2752801500 |page=124}} A contemporaneous French courtesy manual La Clef d'Amors advised, "If you have a beautiful chest and a beautiful neck do not cover them up but your dress should be low cut so that everyone can gaze and gape after them". Contemporaneous poet Eustache Deschamps advised "a wide-open neckline and a tight dress with slits through which the breasts and the throat could be more visible".

The French Catholic Church, however, tried to discourage the flaunting of cleavage. It mandated the cleavage, which it referred to as "the gates of hell", and the opening on woman's bodices be laced. French priest Oliver Maillard said women who exposed their breasts would be "strung up in hell by their udders". Monarchs like Charles VII of France ignored the church. It was common for women in his court to wear bodices through which their breasts, cleavage and nipples could be seen. In 1450, Agnès Sorel, mistress to Charles VII, started a fashion trend when she wore deep, low, square décolleté gowns with fully bared breasts in the French court.

File:Bundi mural dancer.jpg of Chitrashala Dancer from Bundi ({{circa|1640s}}) showing exposed underboob, which remained banned by laws and policies as late as 2020 in many places from the U.S. to Thailand{{Cite news |last=Suzi Parker |date=2013-02-13 |title=With CBS breast ban, the Grammy Awards take a leap back in time |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/02/10/with-cbs-breast-ban-the-grammy-awards-take-a-leap-back-in-time/ |work=The Washington Post}}{{Cite news |last=Grace Sparapani |date=2015-09-24 |title=The Small Town Banning the Underboob, but Totally Chill With Public Boners |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d7aqpw/the-small-town-banning-the-underboob-but-totally-chill-with-public-boners |work=Vice}}{{Cite news |date=2015-03-16 |title=Thailand warns women who post 'underboob' photos face five years in jail |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/16/thailand-warns-underboob-trend-breaks-computer-laws |work=The Guardian |agency=Reuters}}]]

Across Europe, décolletage was often a feature of the dress of the late Middle Ages; this continued through the Victorian period. Gowns that exposed a woman's neck and the top of her chest were very common and uncontroversial in Europe from at least the 11th century until the mid-19th century. Ball gowns and evening gowns especially had low, square décolletage that was designed to display and emphasize cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Gernsheim |first=Alison |title=Victorian and Edwardian Fashion. A Photographic Survey |date=1981 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=0486242056 |edition=Reprint of 1963 |location=Mineola |pages=25–26, 43, 53, 63}}{{Cite book |last=Desmond Morris |author-link=Desmond Morris |title=The Naked Woman. A Study of the Female Body |date=2004 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |isbn=0312338538 |location=New York |page=156}}

In many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, wearing low-cut dresses that exposed one or both breasts was more acceptable than it is in the early 21st century; bared female legs, ankles and shoulders were considered to be more risqué than exposed breasts.{{Cite book |last=C. Willett |author-link=Cecil Willett Cunnington |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofundercl00cunn |title=The History of Underclothes |last2=Phillis Cunnington |author-link2=Phillis Emily Cunnington |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=1981 |isbn=978-0486271248 |location=London |page=34 |name-list-style=amp}}{{Cite book |last=Terry Breverton |author-link=Terry Breverton |title=Everything You Ever Wanted to know about the Tudors but were afraid to ask |date=2014 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1445638454 |page=186}}

File:Lely - Portrait of an Unknown Woman - Tate.jpg]]

In aristocratic and upper-class circles, the display of breasts was at times regarded as a status symbol; a sign of beauty, wealth and social position.{{Cite web |title=French Caricature |url=http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601211316/http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/caricatures/fr6-wetnursing.cfm |archive-date=2010-06-01 |access-date=2010-01-13 |publisher=University of Virginia Health System}} The bared breast invoked associations with nude sculptures of classical Greece that influenced the art, sculpture and architecture of the period.{{Cite book |title=Renaissance Bodies: The Human Figure in English Culture c. 1540–1660 |date=1990 |publisher=Reaktion Books |editor-last=Gent |editor-first=Lucy |location=London |editor-last2=Llewellyn |editor-first2=Nigel}}

In mid-16th-century Turkey, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, respectability regulations allowed "respectable" women to wear fashionable dresses with exposed cleavage; this privilege was denied to "prostitutes" so they could not draw attention to their livelihoods.{{Cite book |last=Jonathan Dewald |author-link=Jonathan Dewald |title=Europe 1450 to 1789 |date=2004 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0684312057 |page=546}} The entari, a popular women's garment of the Ottoman Empire, resembled the corseted bodice of Europe without the corset; its narrow top and narrow, long, plunging décolletage exposed a generous cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Charlotte A. Jirousek |title=Ottoman Dress and Design in the West |date=2019 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253042194 |page=179}}{{Cite book |last=Jennifer M. Scarce |title=Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136783852 |page=60}} Around this time, cleavage-revealing gambaz gowns became accepted among married women in the Levant, where bosoms were regarded as a sign of maternity.{{Cite book |last=Margaret Clark Keatinge |title=Costumes of the Levant |date=1955 |publisher=Khayat's College Book Cooperative |page=7}}

In 16th-century India, during the Mughal Empire, Hindu women started emulating the overdressed conquerors by covering their shoulders and breasts,{{Cite book |last=Lois May Burger |url={{GBurl|CGFBAAAAYAAJ|pg=41}} |title=A Study of Change in Dress as Related to Social and Political Conditions in an Area of North India |date=1963 |publisher=Cornell University |page=41}} though in contemporaneous paintings, women of Mughal palaces were often portrayed wearing Rajput-style cholis{{Cite web |year=1967 |title=Indian History Congress Proceedings |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40173323 |publisher=Indian History Congress |page=274 |volume=27}} and breast jewelry.{{Cite book |last=Abraham Eraly |author-link=Abraham Eraly |title=The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0143102625 |page=141}} Mughal paintings often portrayed women with extraordinarily daring décolletage.{{Cite book |last=J.M. Rogers |author-link=J.M. Rogers |title=Myth and ceremony in Islamic painting |date=1978 |publisher=British Museum |page=30}} Contemporaneous Rajput paintings often depict women wearing semi-transparent cholis that cover only the upper part of their breasts.{{Cite book |last=Joachim Bautze |title=Indian Miniature Paintings, C. 1590-c. 1850 |date=1987 |publisher=Little Arts |isbn=978-9072085023 |page=8}} In the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadors colonized the Inca Empire, traditional cleavage-revealing and colorful Inca dresses were replaced by high necks and covered bosoms.{{Cite book |last=Joyce E. Salisbury |author-link=Joyce E. Salisbury |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life: 15th and 16th centuries |date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0313325441 |pages=229–230}}

In European societies during the 16th century, women's fashions with exposed breasts were common across the class spectrum. Anne of Brittany has been painted wearing a dress with a square neckline. Low, square décolleté styles were popular in 17th-century England; Queen Mary II and Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, were depicted with widely bared breasts. Architect Inigo Jones designed a masque costume for Henrietta Maria that widely revealed both of her breasts.{{Cite press release |title=Historian Reveals Janet Jackson's 'Accidental' Exposing of Her Breast was the Height of Fashion in the 1600s |date=5 May 2004 |publisher=University of Warwick |url=http://www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040803155530/http://www.newsandevents.warwick.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=pressrelease&id=1858 |archive-date=3 August 2004}} Cleavage-enhancing corsets, which used whalebone and other stiff materials to create a desired silhouette—a fashion that was also adopted by men for their coats—were introduced in the mid-16th century.{{Cite book |last=Jill |first=Condra |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History |date=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0313336645 |page=152}}{{Cite news |last=Fury |first=Alexander |date=25 November 2016 |title=Can a Corset Be Feminist? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/t-magazine/fashion/corset-history-feminism.html |work=The New York Times}}

File:Attributed to Deruet - So-called portrait of Anne of Austria as Diana.png, Queen of France, was an early 17th century fashion icon wearing dresses that showcased her cleavage.{{Cite book |last=James S. Olson |author-link=James S. Olson |title=Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History |date=2005 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0801880643 |page=24}}{{Cite book |last=Fred Harding |title=Breast Cancer: Cause, Prevention, Cure |date=2006 |publisher=Tekline Publishing |isbn=978-0955422102 |page=110}}]]

Throughout the 16th century, shoulder straps stayed on the shoulders but as the 17th century progressed, they moved down the shoulders and across the top of the arms, and by the mid-17th century, the oval neckline of the period became commonplace. By the end of the century, necklines at the front of women's garments started to drop even lower.{{Cite book |last=Norah Waugh |title=Corsets and Crinolines |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135874025 |pages=19–21}} During the extreme décolletage of the Elizabethan era, necklines were often decorated with frills and strings of pearls, and were sometimes covered with tuckers and partlets (called a {{langx|it|tasselo|label=none}} in Italy{{Cite book |last=Rosana Pistolese |title=History of Fashions Through Art |date=1983 |publisher=Crochet |page=146 |asin=B0007B33KG}} and {{langx|fr|la modiste|label=none}} in France).{{Cite book |last=J. Anderson Black |title=A History of Fashion |last2=Madge Garland |author-link2=Madge Garland |date=1975 |publisher=Morrow |isbn=978-0688028930 |page=380}}{{Cite book |last=Elizabeth J. Lewandowski |title=The Complete Costume Dictionary |date=2011 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0810840041 |page=299}}{{Cite book |last=Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai |title=Jewelry |date=1981 |publisher=Cooper-Hewitt Museum |page=85}} Late Elizabethan corsets, with their rigid, suppressive fronts, manipulated a woman's figure into a flat, cylindrical silhouette with a deep cleavage.{{Cite book |last=S Ashdown |title=Sizing in Clothing |date=2007 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-1845692582 |page=313}}

Around 1610, flat collars started replacing neck trims, allowing provocative cleavage that was sometimes covered with a handkerchief.{{Cite book |last=Marybelle S. Bigelow |title=Fashion in History: Western Dress, Prehistoric to Present |last2=Kay Kushino |date=1979 |publisher=Burgess Publishing Company |isbn=978-0808728009 |page=179}} During the Georgian era, pendants became popular as décolletage decoration.{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Anna M. |title=Illustrated Guide to Jewelry Appraising: Antique, Period, and Modern |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |year=2012 |isbn=978-1461597179 |page=70}} Anne of Austria, along with female members of her court, was known for wearing very tight bodices and corsets that forced breasts together to make deeper cleavage, very low necklines that exposed breasts almost in entirety above the areolae, and pendants lying on the cleavage to highlight it. After the French Revolution décolletage become larger at the front and reduced at the back.{{Cite book |last=Pillai |first=S. Devadas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3uD22Ghqs4C&pg=PA68 |title=Indian Sociology Through Ghurye, a Dictionary |date=1997 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-8171548071}} During the fashions of 1795–1820, many women wore dresses that bared necks, bosoms and shoulders. Increasingly, the amount of décolletage became a major difference between day-wear and formal gowns.{{Cite book |last=Bigelow |first=Marybelle S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_W21AAAAIAAJ |title=Fashion in History: Western Dress, Prehistoric to Present |last2=Kushino |first2=Kay |publisher=Burgess Publishing Company |year=1979 |isbn=978-0808728009 |page=239}}

Cleavage was not without controversy. In 1713, British newspaper The Guardian complained about women forgoing their tuckers, and keeping their necks and tops of breasts uncovered. English poet and essayist Joseph Addison complained about décolletage so extreme "the neck of a fine woman at present take in almost half the body". Publications advised women against "unmasking their beauties". 18th-century news correspondents wrote that "otherwise polite, genteel women looked like common prostitutes".{{Cite news |last=Tracy E. Robey |date=2017-12-21 |title=There Was Never a Time When Western Society Wasn't Weird About Cleavage |url=https://www.racked.com/2017/12/21/16738658/cleavage-history |work=Racked}}

During the French Enlightenment, there was a debate about whether female breasts were merely a sensual enticement or a natural gift to be offered from mother to child. Not all women in France wore the open-neck style without modifications; a self-portrait by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (France, 1785) shows the painter in a fashionable décolleté dress while her pupils have their bosoms accessorized with gauzy handkerchiefs. Nearly a century later, also in France, a man from the provinces who attended a court ball at the Tuileries in Paris in 1855 was disgusted by the décolleté dresses and is said to have said; "I haven't seen anything like that since I was weaned!".{{Cite book |last=Gernsheim |first=Alison |title=Victorian and Edwardian Fashion. A Photographic Survey |date=1981 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=0486242056 |edition=Reprint of 1963 |location=Mineola, NY |page=43}} In 1890, the first breast augmentation was performed using an injection of liquid paraffin.{{Cite book |last=Jeffrey Weinzweig |title=Plastic Surgery Secrets |date=2010 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0323085908 |edition=2nd |page=441}}

File:Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) MET DT91 cropped.jpg (1884) by John Singer Sargent, whose cleavage caused enough controversy for Sargent to re-paint and make the cleavage less daring.{{Cite book |title=The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide |date=2012 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1588394552 |volume=63 |page=347}}]]

By the end of the 18th century in Continental Europe, cleavage-enhancing corsets grew more dramatic, pushing the breasts upward.{{Cite book |last=Spooner |first=Catherine |title=Fashioning Gothic Bodies |date=2004 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=0719064015 |page=28}} The tight lacing of corsets worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries emphasized both cleavage and the size of the bust and hips. Evening gowns and ball gowns were especially designed to display and emphasize the décolletage. Elaborate necklaces decorated the décolletage at parties and balls by 1849.{{Cite book |last=Blanche Payne |title=The History of Costume: From Ancient Mesopotamia Through the Twentieth Century |last2=Geitel Winakor |last3=Jane Farrell-Beck |date=1992 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0060471415 |page=491}} There was also a trend of wearing camisole-like clothes and whale-bone corsets that gave the wearer a bust without a separation or any cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Elizabeth Ewing |title=Fashion in Underwear: From Babylon to Bikini Briefs |date=2010 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0486476490 |page=61}} Despite the contemporaneous popularity of décolletage dresses, complete exposure of breasts in portraits was limited to two groups of women; the scandalous (mistresses and prostitutes), and the pure (breastfeeding mothers and queens). In North America, the Gilded Age saw women adorning their cleavage with flowers attached to clothes and carefully placed jewelry.{{Cite book |last=Greg King |author-link=Greg King (author) |title=A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0470185698 |page=229}}

During the Victorian period of the mid-to-late 19th century, social attitudes required women to cover their bosoms in public. High collars were the norm for ordinary wear. Towards the end of this period, the full collar was in fashion, though some décolleté dresses were worn on formal occasions. For that purpose, the Bertha neckline, which lay below the shoulders and was often trimmed with {{Convert|3|to|6|inch|cm|spell=in|abbr=out}} of lace or other decorative material, became popular with upper and middle-class women but it was socially unacceptable for working-class women to expose that much skin.{{Cite web |date=April 23, 2021 |title=Neck-line Bertha: The Glamorous Fashion Style for Victorian Women |url=https://vintagenewsdaily.com/neck-line-bertha-the-glamorous-fashion-style-for-victorian-women/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716171428/https://vintagenewsdaily.com/neck-line-bertha-the-glamorous-fashion-style-for-victorian-women/ |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=Vintage News Daily}}{{Cite web |title=Bertha |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/bertha |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=Collins Dictionary}} Multiple pearl necklaces were worn to cover the décolletage.{{Cite book |last=Nancy J. Armstrong |title=Victorian Jewelry |date=1976 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0025032200 |page=135}} Along with the Bertha neckline, straps were removed from corsets and shawls were made essential.{{Cite web |last=AO |date=2020-05-31 |title=The Iconic Women's Fashion of the Victorian Times |url=https://historythings.com/iconic-fashion-victorian-times/ |website=History Things}}

By 1904, necklines of evening attire were lowered, exposing the shoulders, sometimes without straps but the neckline still ended above the cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Kathleen Mabel La Barre |title=Reference Book of Women's Vintage Clothing, 1900–1909 |date=2003 |publisher=La Barre Books |isbn=978-0967703503 |page=34}} Clergymen all over the world were shocked when dresses with modest round or V-shaped necklines became fashionable around 1913. In the German Empire, Roman Catholic bishops joined to issue a pastoral letter attacking the new fashions.{{Cite book |last=Gernsheim |first=Alison |title=Victorian and Edwardian Fashion. A Photographic Survey |date=1981 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=0486242056 |edition=Reprint of 1963 |location=Mineola, NY |page=94}} In the Edwardian era, extreme uplift with no hint of cleavage was as common as a bow-fronted look that was also popular.{{Cite book |last=Elizabeth Ewing |title=Fashion in Underwear: From Babylon to Bikini Briefs |date=2010 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0486476490 |page=79}} In 1908, a single rubber pad or a "bust form" was worn inside the front of the bodice to make cleavage virtually undetectable.{{Cite book |last=Sherrie A. Inness |title=Delinquents and Debutantes: Twentieth-century American Girls' Cultures |date=1998 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0814737651 |page=117}}

The Flapper generation of 1920s flattened their chests to adopt the fashionable "boy-girl" look by either bandaging their breasts or by using bust flatteners.{{Cite news |last=Marlen Komar |date=2016-01-20 |title=The Evolution Of Cleavage "Ideals" |url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/136569-the-evolution-of-cleavage-ideals-because-boobies-are-complicated-things-photos |work=Bustle}} Corsets started to go out of fashion by 1917, when metal was needed to make tanks and munitions for World War I{{Cite news |last=Jihan Forbes |date=2013-11-13 |title=A Brief History Of The Bra |url=https://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a15269/history-of-the-bra/ |work=Elle}} and due to the vogue for boyish figures.{{Cite book |last=Jill Fields |title=An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520223691 |page=75}} In New Zealand, the early appearance of décolleté clothes in 1914 was soon superseded by the "flat" fashion.{{Cite book |last=Sandra Coney |author-link=Sandra Coney |title=Standing in the Sunshine: A History of New Zealand Women Since They Won the Vote |date=1993 |publisher=Viking Press |isbn=978-0670846283 |page=115}} Breast suppression prevailed in the Western world so much the U.S. physician Lillian Farrar attributed "virginal atrophic prolapsed breasts" to the fashion imperatives of the time.{{Cite book |last=Nora Jacobson |title=Cleavage: Technology, Controversy, and the Ironies of the Man-made Breast |date=2000 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0813527154 |page=56}} In 1920, paraffin was replaced for breast augmentation with fatty tissue taken from the abdomen and buttocks.

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| caption1 = Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri, known for her décolletage as much as her talent,{{Cite book |last=Paul Fryer |title=Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty, 1874–1944 |last2=Olga Usova |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0786480654 |page=79}} at the turn of the 20th century.

| image2 = Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot trailer cropped.jpg

| caption2 = Marilyn Monroe, in Some Like It Hot (1959). In a poll of 1,000 Debenhams customers purchasing large bras, Monroe was voted to have the best cleavage of any famous woman.{{Cite news |date=5 July 2012 |title=Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe tops cleavage charts |url=https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/fashion/2012/0705/327967-hollywood-icon-marilyn-monroe-tops-cleavage-charts/ |publisher=RTÉ}}

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In 1914, New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob (better known as Caresse Crosby) patented the garment as "the backless brassiere"; after making a few hundred garments, she sold the patent to The Warner Brothers Corset Company for US$1,500. In the next 30 years, Warner Brothers made more than US$15 million from Jacob's design.{{Cite news |last=Staff Reporter |date=2014-11-04 |title=100 years of everyone's favourite undergarment |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/141104/lifestyle-health-and-wellbeing/article/100-years-everyones-favourite-undergarment |work=Deccan Chronicle}}{{Cite web |last=Misha Ketchell |date=2014-11-05 |title=The story of ... the bra |url=https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-bra-32169 |website=The Conversation}} During the next century, the brassière industry went through many ups and downs, often influenced by the demand for cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Kevin Hillstrom |title=Encyclopedia of American Industries: Manufacturing industries |last2=Mary K. Ruby |date=1994 |publisher=Gale Research |isbn=978-0810389984 |page=258}}

With a return to more womanly figures in the 1930s, corsetry maintained a strong demand, even at the height of the Great Depression. From the 1920s to the 1940s, corset manufacturers constantly tried training young women to use corsets{{Cite book |last=Jill Fields |title=An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520223691 |page=71}} but fashions became more restrained in terms of décolletage while exposure of the leg became more accepted in Western societies during World War I and remained so for nearly half a century.{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Kim K.P. |title=Fashion foundations |last2=Torntore |first2=Susan J. |last3=Eicher |first3=Joanne Bubolz |date=2003 |publisher=Berg Publishers |isbn=185973619X |page=716 |authorlink3=Joanne Eicher}} In the Republic of China in the early 20th century, qipao, a dress that shows the legs but no cleavage, became so popular many Chinese women consider it as their national dress.{{Cite book |last=Jacques Hébert |author-link=Jacques Hébert (Canadian politician) |title=Two Innocents in Red China |last2=Pierre Elliott Trudeau |author-link2=Pierre Trudeau |date=1968 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0196341019 |page=144}}{{Cite book |last=Jianhua Zhao |title=The Chinese Fashion Industry: An Ethnographic Approach |date=2013 |publisher=A & C Black |isbn=978-0857853028 |page=164}}

In the 1940s, a substantial amount of fabric in the center of brassières created a separation of breasts rather than a pushed-together cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Debbie Wells |title=1940's Style Guide |date=2011 |publisher=CreateSpace |isbn=978-1460916889 |page=33}}{{Self-published source|date=August 2021}} In 1947, Frederick Mellinger of Frederick's of Hollywood created the first padded brassière followed a year later by an early push-up version dubbed "The Rising Star". In that decade, Christian Dior introduced the "New Look" that included elastic corsets, pads and shaping girdles to widen hips, cinch waists and lift breasts.{{Cite book |last=Robert Sickels |title=The 1940s |last2=Robert J. Sickels |date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0313312991 |page=88}}

Under the Motion Picture Production Code, which was in effect in the U.S. between 1934 and 1968, the depiction of excessive cleavage was not permitted. Many female actors defied those standards; other celebrities, performers and models followed suit and the public was not far behind. Low-cut styles of various depths were common.{{Cite news |last=Rowan Pelling |author-link=Rowan Pelling |date=2013-10-06 |title=100 years of the bra – a girl's best friend |url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10357764/100-years-of-the-bra-a-girls-best-friend.html |work=The Daily Telegraph}} In the post-war period, cleavage became a defining emblem; according to writer Peter Lewis; "The bust, bosom or cleavage was in the Fifties the apotheosis of erogenous zones. The breasts were the apples of all eyes."{{Cite book |last=Caroline Cox |title=Seduction: A Celebration of Sensual Style |date=2006 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley |isbn=978-1845332143 |volume=10 |page=119}} Around this time, the American word "cleavage" started to be used to define the space between the breasts.{{Cite book |last=Alison Carter |title=Underwear, the Fashion History |date=1992 |publisher=Drama Book Publishers |isbn=978-0896761209 |page=113}}

File:Lais Ribeiro modeling (cropped).jpg at a Victoria's Secret fashion show. Lingerie manufacturers controlled and constructed the conventional bustline of the 1990s.{{Cite book |last=Wendy A. Burns-Ardolino |title=Jiggle: (re)shaping American Women |date=2007 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0739112984 |page=93}} In their heyday, Wonderbra sponsored a National Cleavage Day in South Africa every year,{{Cite web |title=National Cleavage Day |url=http://www.wonderbra.co.za/nationalcleavageday.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070406222144/http://www.wonderbra.co.za/nationalcleavageday.aspx |archive-date=6 April 2007 |website=Wonderbra.co.za}}{{Cite news |date=2002-04-02 |title=There's a special day just for your cleavage |url=https://www.iol.co.za/travel/south-africa/theres-a-special-day-just-for-your-cleavage-84400 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015161455/https://www.iol.co.za/travel/south-africa/theres-a-special-day-just-for-your-cleavage-84400 |archive-date=2020-10-15 |access-date=2020-10-15 |work=Independent Online}} and the webcast of the Victoria's Secret fashion show became one of the Internet's biggest events.{{Cite book |last=Sanders |first=Tim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0S-IPE5Ao-AC |title=Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends |date=July 22, 2003 |publisher=Random House Digital |isbn=978-1400046836 |pages=34–37 |access-date=October 16, 2012}}]]

According to an urban American woman, during the 1950s, "At night... our shoulders were naked, our breasts half-bare". Dramatic necklaces that emphasized the cleavage became popular at balls and parties in France.{{Cite book |last=Sally Everitt |title=Christie's Twentieth-century Jewelry |last2=David Joseph Lancaster |date=2002 |publisher=Watson-Guptill |isbn=978-0823006403 |page=81}} In the U.S., television shows tried to mask exposed cleavage with tulle{{Cite book |last=Robert Pondillo |title=America's First Network TV Censor |date=2010 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=978-0809385744 |page=88}} and even sketches, illustrations and short stories in Reader's Digest and Saturday Evening Post depicted women with tiny waists, big buttocks and ample cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Michael Johns |title=Moment of Grace: The American City in the 1950s |date=2004 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520243309 |page=21}} In this decade, Hollywood and the fashion industry successfully promoted large, cloven bustlines and falsies, the brassière industry started experimenting with the half-cup bra (also known as demi-cup or shelf bra) to facilitate décolletage. Polyvinyl sacs were often the preferred implant to augment breasts into a fuller, more projected appearance.

Despite these developments, open presentation of cleavage was mostly limited to well-endowed female actors like Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe (who was attributed with the revelation of America's "mammary madness" by journalist Marjorie Rosen{{Cite book |last=Rachel Moseley |title=Fashioning Film Stars: Dress, Culture, Identity |date=2005 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1844570676 |page=58}}), Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, Brigitte Bardot, Jayne Mansfield and Sophia Loren, who were as celebrated for their cleavage as for their beauty. While these movie stars significantly influenced the appearance of women's busts in this decade, the stylish 1950s sweaters were a safer substitute for many women.{{Cite book |last=Don J. Dampier |title=Finding the Fifties |date=2005 |publisher=DJ Discovery Press |isbn=978-0977055807 |page=238}} Lingerie manufacturer Berlei launched the "Hollywood Maxwell" brassière, claiming it to be a "favourite of film stars".

Modern augmentation mammaplasty began when Thomas Cronin and Frank Gerow developed the first silicone gel-filled breast prosthesis with Dow Corning Corporation, and the first implanting operation took place the following year. In the late 1960s, attention began to shift from the large bust to the trim lower torso, reasserting the need to diet, especially as new clothing fashions—brief, sheer, and close fitting—prohibited heavy reliance on foundation lingerie. Legs were comparatively less emphasized as elements of beauty.{{Cite journal |last=Mazur |first=Allan |year=1986 |title=U.S. trends in feminine beauty and overadaptation |journal=Journal of Sex Research |location=Pennsylvania |publisher=Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=281–303 |doi=10.1080/00224498609551309}}

In the 1960s, driven by second-wave feminism, liberal politics and the free love movement, a bra burning movement arose to protest against—among various patriarchal imperatives—constructed cleavage and disciplined breasts. Yves Saint Laurent and U.S. designer Rudi Gernreich experimented with a bra-less look on the runway. The increasingly casual styles of the 1960s led to a bra-less look when women who were unwilling to give up bras turned to soft bras that did not lift and "were as light and discreet as possible" but still provided support.{{Cite book |last=Sara Pendergast |title=Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear Through the Ages |last2=Tom Pendergast |last3=Sarah Hermsen |date=2004 |publisher=UXL |isbn=978-0787654214 |volume=4 |page=672}}{{Cite thesis |last=Emily Caroline Martin-Hondros |title=The Female Body in America: Oppressive Embodiments, Options for Resistance |publisher=Michigan State University |isbn=978-1109245721 |page=50 |year=2009 |volume=1}}

Image:Canadian Sales Chart 60 71.jpg), panties were considered "lingerie," rather than so-called "foundation undergarments" and are not part of this data set.]]

From the 1960s, changes in fashion leaned towards increased displays of cleavage in films and television; Jane Russell and Elizabeth Taylor were the biggest stars who led the fashion.{{Cite book |last=Patricia Baker |author-link=Patricia Baker |title=Fashions of a Decade |date=2006 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1438118918 |page=51}} In everyday life, low-cut dress styles became common, even for casual wear.{{Cite book |last=Wayne Koestenbaum |author-link=Wayne Koestenbaum |title=Cleavage: essays on sex, stars, and aesthetics |date=2000 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0345434609 |page=125}} Lingerie and shapewear manufacturers like Warner Brothers, Gossard, Formfit and Bali took the opportunity to market plunge bras with a lower gore that was suitable for low-cut styles.{{Cite book |last=Jane Farrell-Beck |title=Uplift: The Bra in America |last2=Colleen Gau |date=2002 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812218350 |page=144}}

In the early 1970s, it became common to leave top buttons on shirts and blouses open to display pectoral muscles and cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Daniel Delis Hill |title=As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising |date=2007 |publisher=Texas Tech University Press |isbn=978-0896726161 |page=110}} Daring women and men of all ages wore tailored, buttoned-down shirts that were open from the breast-point to the navel in a "groovy" style, with pendants, beads or medallions dangling on the chest, displaying a firm body achieved through exercise.{{Cite book |last=Sam Binkley |title=Getting Loose: Lifestyle Consumption in the 1970s |date=2007 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0822389514 |page=69}}{{Cite book |last=Amy T. Peterson |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through American History 1900 to the Present |last2=Ann T. Kellogg |date=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0313334177 |page=209}} As a new masculine style evolved, gay men adopted a traditionally masculine or working-class style with "half-unbuttoned shirt above the sweaty chest" and tight jeans.{{Cite book |last=Jim Elledge |title=Queers in American Popular Culture |date=2010 |publisher=Praeger Publishing |isbn=978-0313354571 |volume=1 |page=254}}{{Cite book |last=Joseph P. Goodwin |title=More Man Than You'll Ever be: Gay Folklore and Acculturation in Middle America |date=1989 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253204974 |page=18}}

During the 1980s, deep, plunging cleavage became more common and less risqué as the popularity of work-outs and masculine shoulder-padded blazers increased. In 1985, designer Vivienne Westwood re-introduced the corset as a trendy way to enhance cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Domna C. Stanton |author-link=Domna C. Stanton |title=Discourses of Sexuality: From Aristotle to AIDS |date=1992 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0472065134 |page=40}} It was followed in 1989 by Jean Paul Gaultier, who dressed Madonna in a pink corset. Soon, Westwood introduced an elastic-sided variant that worked as a balcony to push up the cleavage.{{Cite news |last=Alexander Fury |date=2016-11-25 |title=Can a Corset Be Feminist? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/t-magazine/fashion/corset-history-feminism.html |work=The New York Times}}

The push-up bra and exaggerated cleavage became popular in the 1990s. In 1992, the bra and girdle industry in America posted sales of over US$1 billion. The Wonderbra brand, which had existed elsewhere, entered the U.S. market in 1994 with a newly designed, cleavage-enhancing bra.{{Cite news |date=2006-02-06 |title=Sara Lee sells European branded apparel business |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2006/02/06/daily11.html |access-date=2007-02-24 |work=The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area}}{{Cite press release |title=An Affiliate of Sun European Partners, LLP Acquires Sara Lee's European Branded Apparel Business |date=2006-02-07 |publisher=Sun Capital Partners |url=http://www.suncappart.com/index.php?page=pressreleases2&press=92 |access-date=2007-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118092043/http://www.suncappart.com/index.php?page=pressreleases2&press=92 |archive-date=2006-11-18}} Driven by a controversial advertising campaign that featured model Eva Herzigova's cleavage, one Wonderbra was sold every 15 seconds shortly after the brand's launch, leading to first-year sales of US$120 million.{{Cite news |last=Katya Foreman |date=2015-02-20 |title=The bra: An uplifting tale |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20150220-the-bra-an-uplifting-tale |publisher=BBC}}{{Cite news |last=Staff Reporter |date=2014-11-21 |title=Eva Herzigova: Wonderbra ad empowered women |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/eva-herzigova-wonderbra-ad-empowered-women-9875267.html |work=London Evening Standard}} The hypersexualized styles of Victoria's Secret became a "zeitgeist" in the 1990s. By 2013, Victoria's Secret had captured one-third of the women's underwear market in the U.S.{{Cite magazine |last=Stevenson |first=Seth |date=9 June 2020 |title=Victoria's Secret Has Only Itself to Blame |url=https://slate.com/business/2020/06/victoria-secret-coronavirus-jeffrey-epstein-les-wexner.html |magazine=Slate}} In the early 1990s, Sara Lee Corporation—hen owner of the Wonderbra and Playtex brands—along with UK lingerie manufacturer Gossard Limited, introduced a bra for Asian women who, according to Sara Lee, are "less buxom [and have] narrower shoulders".{{Cite book |last=Cees J. Hameling |title=Religion, Law, and Freedom: A Global Perspective |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0275964528 |page=152}} Traditional brands like Maidenform produced similar styles.{{Cite book |last=Daniel Delis Hill |title=As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising |date=2007 |publisher=Texas Tech University Press |isbn=978-0896726161 |page=153}}

{{Redirect|Sideboob|the English Teacher song|This Could Be Texas}}

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Underwire bras, the most popular cleavage-boosting lingerie, accounted for 60% of the UK bra market in 2000{{Cite web |date=2000-10-25 |title=Charnos takes the plunge with a brand new bra |url=http://www.just-style.com/article.aspx?id=92918 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310185351/http://www.just-style.com/analysis/charnos-takes-the-plunge-with-a-brand-new-bra_id92918.aspx |archive-date=2012-03-10 |access-date=2009-04-22 |website=Just Style |publisher=Aroq Ltd. |location=UK}} and 70% in 2005.{{Cite news |date=12 October 2005 |title=Boom in Bras as Women Go Busty |url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16236813&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=boom-in-bras-as-women-go-busty-name_page.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051024115244/http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid%3D16236813%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D66633%26headline%3Dboom-in-bras-as-women-go-busty-name_page.html |archive-date=24 October 2005 |access-date=22 April 2009 |work=Daily Record}} About 70% of women who wear bras wear a steel underwire bra according to underwear manufacturer S&S Industries of New York in 2009. In 2001, 70% (350 million) of the bras sold in the U.S. were underwire bras.{{Cite news |last=Riordan |first=Teresa |date=2002-10-28 |title=Patents; In bra technology, an incremental improvement can translate into comfort |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/business/patents-in-bra-technology-an-incremental-improvement-can-translate-into-comfort.html?sec=technology&spon=&pagewanted=all |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423032636/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/business/patents-in-bra-technology-an-incremental-improvement-can-translate-into-comfort.html?sec=technology&spon=&pagewanted=all |archive-date=2009-04-23 |access-date=2009-04-21 |work=The New York Times}} As of 2005, underwire bras were the fastest-growing segment of the market.{{Cite web |date=September 2005 |title=Lingerie – UK – September 2005 – Market Research Report |url=http://reports.mintel.com/sinatra/reports/display/id=125741 |access-date=2009-04-21 |publisher=Mintel}}

Corsets also experienced a resurgence in the 2010s; this trend was driven by photographs on social media. According to fashion historian Valerie Steele, "The corset did not so much disappear as become internalised through diet, exercise and plastic surgery".{{Cite news |last=Emine Saner |date=2019-06-27 |title=What a waist: why the corset has made a regrettable return |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/27/corset-regrettable-return-mothercare-waist-training |work=The Guardian}} By the turn of the 21st century, some of the attention given to cleavage and breasts started to shift to buttocks, especially in the media,{{Cite book |last=Boye De Mente |title=The Origins of Human Violence |date=2010 |publisher=Cultural-Insight Books |isbn=978-1452858463 |page=61}} while corsetry returned to mainstream fashion. According to dietician Rebecca Scritchfield, the resurgent popularity of corsets is driven by "the picture on Instagram of somebody with a tiny waist and giant boobs". At the same time alternatives to décolletage, which were often still called cleavages, emerged from Western cleavage culture.{{Cite news |last=Kate Dries |date=2013-06-25 |title=Beyond Cleavage: The Golden Age of Innerboob, Sideboob, & Underboob |url=https://jezebel.com/beyond-cleavage-the-golden-age-of-innerboob-sideboob-563316791 |work=Jezebel}}

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By the early 2000s, "{{anchor|sideboob}}sideboob" (also known as "side cleavage"{{Cite magazine |last=Dunlap |first=Lizzie |date=2007-10-03 |title=The Beauty Glossary |url=https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/makeup/a742/beauty-glossary/ |magazine=Marie Claire}}), i.e. the exposure of the side of the breast had become popular. One writer called it the "new cleavage".{{Cite magazine |last=Rachel Kramer Bussel |author-link=Rachel Kramer Bussel |date=2015-11-07 |title=Our sideboob obsession: The dangerous curve of "cleavage's more unassuming cousin" |url=https://www.salon.com/2015/11/06/our_sideboob_obsession_the_dangerous_curve_of_cleavages_more_unassuming_cousin/ |magazine=Salon.com}}{{Cite news |last=Lott |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Lott |date=2006-08-06 |title=A boob too far |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/aug/06/features.woman4 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |last=Deblina Chakravorty |date=2013-01-17 |title=Side curve is the new cleavage |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/fashion/buzz/Side-curve-is-the-new-cleavage/articleshow/13956973.cms |work=The Times of India}}{{Cite news |last=Imogen Fox |date=29 May 2012 |title=The side cleavage: a new trend is born |url=http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2012/may/29/side-cleavage-new-trend-born |work=The Guardian}} In 2008, Armand Limnander wrote in The New York Times the "{{anchor|underboob}}underboob" (also known as "bottom cleavage" and "reverse cleavage") was "a newly fetishized anatomical zone where the lower part of the breast meets the torso, popularized by 80s rock chicks in cutoff tank tops".{{Cite news |last=Armand Limnander |date=13 April 2008 |title=The Talk |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/style/tmagazine/13words.html |work=The New York Times}} It was further popularized by dancer-singer Teyana Taylor in the music video for Kanye West's 2016 song "Fade".{{Cite news |last=Dayna Evans |date=2016-09-09 |title=Lady Gaga Reminds Us That Underboob Is Here to Stay |url=https://www.thecut.com/2016/09/lady-gaga-reminds-us-that-underboob-is-here-to-stay.html |work=The Cut}} Supermodels, including Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid, and Kendall Jenner, contributed to the trend,{{Cite magazine |last=Kristina Rodulfo |date=2016-10-05 |title=Is Underboob The New Sideboob? |url=https://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a39802/celebrity-underboob-trend/ |magazine=Elle}} which has appeared at beaches, on the red carpet, and in social media posts.{{Cite news |last=Maria Puente |date=2017-05-26 |title=How the 'underboob' trend is taking over red carpets and social media |url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/how-the-underboob-trend-is-taking-over-red-carpets-and-social-media-20170526-gwdj3c.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}

In the 2010s and early 2020s, cleavage-enhancing bras began to decline in popularity.{{Cite news |last=Verity Johnson |date=2020-02-07 |title=Woke millennials didn't kill Victoria's Secret, pale stale males did |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/119318478/woke-millennials-didnt-kill-victorias-secret-pale-stale-males-did |work=Stuff}}{{Cite news |last=Alicia Lansom |date=2020-04-19 |title=Trade In Your Underwired Bra For Something A Little More Comfortable |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/comfortable-underwear |work=Refinery29}} Bralettes and soft bras gained market share at the expense of underwire and padded bras,{{Cite news |last=Georgina Safe |date=2020-02-06 |title=Cup half full: the lingerie brands ditching padding and underwire |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/feb/07/cup-half-full-the-lingerie-brands-ditching-padding-and-underwire |work=The Guardian}} sometimes also serving as outerwear.{{Cite news |last=Linda Dyett |date=2019-07-31 |title=The Bralette Is Back. This Time Blouses Are Optional |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/fashion/bralettes-bras-no-underwire.html |work=The New York Times}} Some bralettes have plunging designs, light padding or bottom support.{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite magazine |last=Emma Seymour |date=2020-05-18 |title=17 Comfortable Bralettes of All Shapes and Sizes to Wear at Home |url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/clothing/bra-reviews/g32406007/best-bralettes/ |magazine=Good Housekeeping}}|{{cite magazine |author1=Bernadette Deron |title=No Underwire Here! You'll Wish You Bought This Plunge Bralette Sooner |url=https://www.usmagazine.com/shop-with-us/news/mae-plunge-racerback-lace-bralette-comfy-bra-amazon-fashion/ |magazine=Us Weekly |date=2020-06-18}}|{{cite magazine |author1=Abigail Southan |title=Best bralettes to shop for women of all bust sizes |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/fashion/style/g31927197/bralette/ |magazine=Cosmopolitan |date=2020-03-27}}|{{cite magazine |author1=Tembe Denton-Hurst |title=This $20 Bralette Actually Supports My Big Boobs |url=https://www.nylon.com/old-navy-bralette-review |magazine=Nylon}}}} In November 2016, the UK version of fashion magazine Vogue said "Cleavage is over"; this statement was widely criticized.{{Unbulleted list|{{cite magazine |title=December Vogue: Whatever Happened To The Cleavage? |url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/december-vogue-whatever-happened-to-the-cleavage |magazine=Vogue |date=2016-11-02}}|{{Cite news |last=Carla Herreria Russo |date=2016-11-07 |title=Vogue UK Asks If 'Cleavage Is Over,' Forgetting Some Women Just Have Big Boobs |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vogue-cleavage-is-over_n_581a837ce4b0c43e6c1dfcbe |work=HuffPost}}|{{cite news |author1=Diana Falzone |author1-link=Diana Falzone |title=Vogue blasted for declaring cleavage is out of style |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/vogue-blasted-for-declaring-cleavage-is-out-of-style |publisher=Fox News |date=2016-11-03}}}} Soft bras and sideboobs became popular over prominent cleavages. Soft bras consisted 30% of online retailer Net-a-Porter's bra sales by 2016.{{Cite news |last=Rebecca Reid |date=2016-11-02 |title=The cleavage is dead, according to Vogue |url=https://metro.co.uk/2016/11/02/cleavage-is-dead-according-to-vogue-6229485/ |work=Metro}} In 2017, the sales of cleavage-boosting bras fell by 45% while at Marks & Spencer, sales of wire-free bras grew by 40%.{{Cite news |last=Harriet Walker |date=2018-10-27 |title=Push-up bras prove a bad fit for women in era of #MeToo |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/markets/article/push-up-bras-prove-a-bad-fit-for-women-in-era-of-metoo-fgfn627px |work=The Times}}

Jess Cartner-Morley, fashion editor of The Guardian, reported in 2018 many women were dressing without bras, producing a less-dramatic cleavage, which she called "quiet cleavage".{{Cite news |last=Jess Cartner-Morley |author-link=Jess Cartner-Morley |date=2018-11-14 |title=How the push-up bra fell flat: the rise of quiet cleavage |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/nov/14/how-the-push-up-bra-fell-flat-the-rise-of-quiet-cleavage |work=The Guardian}} According to Sarah Shotton, creative director of Agent Provocateur, "Now it's about the athletic body, health and wellbeing" rather than the male gaze.{{Cite news |last=Kate Finnigan |date=2020-07-08 |title=Soft focus: the new lingerie evolution |url=https://www.ft.com/content/69ef346e-6ccf-451b-bee2-03bdf4b77a02 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211191242/https://www.ft.com/content/69ef346e-6ccf-451b-bee2-03bdf4b77a02 |archive-date=2022-12-11 |access-date=2020-07-24 |work=Financial Times}} According to lingerie designer Araks Yeramyan, "It was #MeToo that catapulted the bralette movement into what it is today". During the COVID-19 lockdowns, CNBC reported a drop of 12% in bra sales across 100 retailers while YouTubers made tutorials on re-purposing bras as face masks; this trend was sometimes called a "lockdown liberation".

Throughout history, women have used many methods, including accentuation and display of breasts within the context of cultural norms of fashion and modesty, to enhance their physical attractiveness and femininity. Fetishization of breasts results in significant anxiety in women about having the correct breasts and resulting cleavage. All kinds of exercises, brassières and other methods of bust improvement have been recommended and advertised to cater for this need.{{Cite book |last=Ann Ferguson |author-link=Ann Ferguson |title=Dancing with Iris |last2=Mechthild Nagel |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199738298 |page=43}}

{{See also|List of bra designs}}

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| caption1 = Marie Tucek's "breast supporter" (1893), made of metal or cardboard plates covered with silk or canvas, from original patent application{{US patent reference |number=494397 |y=1893 |m=03 |d=28 |inventor=Marie Tucek |title=Breast Supporter}}

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| caption2 = Mary Phelps Jacob's "backless brassiere" (1914), made of two handkerchiefs and some ribbon, from original patent application

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Corsetry and bras are often used to enhance cleavage; author Nan McNab claims that "it has been said the quickest way for a woman to change her breasts is to buy a bra".{{Cite book |last=Nan McNab |title=Body Bizarre, Body Beautiful |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0743213042 |page=90}} Before the brassière became popular, the bust was encased in corsets and structured garments called "bust improvers", which were made of boning and lace.{{Cite book |last=Jill Fields |title=An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520223691 |page=81}}{{Cite book |last=Bettijane Eisenpreis |title=Coping: A Young Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer Prevention |date=1999 |publisher=Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-0823929672 |page=51}}

When corsets became unfashionable, brassières and padding helped to project, display and emphasize the breasts. These were initially manufactured by small companies and supplied to retailers. Women had the choice of long-line bras, built-up backs, wedge-shaped inserts between the cups, wider straps, Lastex, firm bands under the cup, and light boning.{{Cite book |last=Jane Farrell-Beck |title=Uplift: The Bra in America |last2=Colleen Gau |date=2002 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812218350 |page=73}} In 2020, several lingerie and shapewear manufacturers, among them Wonderbra, Frederick's of Hollywood, Agent Provocateur and Victoria's Secret, produce bras that enhance cleavage and offer more than 30 types of bra, including underwire, padded, plunge and push-up bras.{{Cite book |last=Victoria Pitts-Taylor |author-link=Victoria Pitts-Taylor |title=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1567206913 |volume=1 |page=49}}{{Cite news |last=Carol Odero |date=2019-11-09 |title=How well do you know your breasts? |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/lifestyle/how-well-do-you-know-your-breasts--221576 |work=Daily Nation}}

Development of underwire bras started in the 1930s{{Cite book |last=Napoleon |first=Anthony |title=Awakening Beauty: An Illustrated Look at Mankind's Love and Hatred of Beauty |publisher=Virtual Bookworm Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-1589393783 |edition=Illustrated |pages=31, 130–131 |chapter=Wardrobe |access-date=2009-04-21 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AyJLqNcfM3IC&pg=PA130}} but they did not gain widespread popularity until the 1950s, when the end of World War II freed metal for domestic use.{{Cite magazine |last=Kanner |first=Bernice |date=1983-12-12 |title=The Bra's not for Burning |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdgBAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA29 |access-date=2009-04-21 |magazine=New York |publisher=New York Media |pages=26–30 |volume=16 |issue=49 |issn=0028-7369 |quote=In 1938, strapless and under-wire bras were invented, but neither hit it big until the 1950s, when exaggerated, pointed bras—with cups that bore more resemblance to those from paper-cup dispensers or Brünnhilde's breastplate than to the human body—were also popular.}}{{Cite news |last=Seigel |first=Jessica |date=2004-02-13 |title=The Cups Runneth Over |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/13/opinion/the-cups-runneth-over.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=2013-05-09 |work=The New York Times |quote=The new lift and separation evolved into the torpedo shape of the 1940s, which went nuclear with underwire in the 1950s, when the war's end freed metal for domestic use [...] The struggle to buttress what is naturally low-lying has produced its own mythology, like the legend that in the 1940s Howard Hughes used airplane technology to build a better bra for Jane Russell in The Outlaw.}} In an underwire bra, a thin strip of metal, plastic or resin—usually with a nylon coating at both ends—is sewn into the bra fabric and under each cup from the center gore to the armpit. The insert helps to lift, separate, shape and support the breasts.{{Cite news |last=Kehaulani |first=Sara |date=2004-12-10 |title=Functional Fashion Helps Some Through Airport Checkpoints |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2004/12/10/AR2005033112495_pf.html |access-date=2009-04-24 |work=The Washington Post |page=2}}{{Cite book |last=Madaras |first=Lynda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qdybSBoC4_0C&pg=PA49 |title=The "what's happening to my body?" book for girls |publisher=Newmarket Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1557047649 |edition=Third |pages=48–50 |access-date=2009-04-21}} Underwire bras can rub and press against the breast, causing skin irritation and breast pain, and the wire of a worn bra can protrude from the fabric.{{Cite book |last=Legato |first=Marianne J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4gyAwAAQBAJ |title=What Women Need to Know |last2=Colman |first2=Carol |date=April 2014 |publisher=E-Reads |isbn=978-0759254442 |pages=33–34 |access-date=October 4, 2021}}

Padded bras have extra material, which may be foam, silicone, gel, air or fluid, in the cups to help the breasts look fuller.{{Cite magazine |last=Amy Wallace |author-link=Amy Wallace |title=California or Bust |magazine=Los Angeles |page=43 |volume=47 |issue=1 |issn=1522-9149}} Different designs provide coverage and support, hide nipples, add shape to breasts that are far apart, and add comfort. Graduated padding has more padding at the bottom of the cups and gradually tapers towards the top.{{Cite book |last=Jené Luciani |title=The Bra Book: The Fashion Formula to Finding the Perfect Bra |date=2009 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1933771946 |page=32}}

Plunge bra covers the nipples and the lower part of the breasts while leaving the top part bare, making it suitable for low-cut tops and deep V-necks. Plunge bras also have a lower, shorter and narrower center gore that maintains support while increasing cleavage by allowing the gore to drop several inches below the middle of the breasts.{{Cite news |last=Aleesha Harris |date=2017-01-28 |title=The Fit Fight |url=https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20170128/281981787309739 |work=Montreal Gazette |via=PressReader}}{{Cite book |last=Cora Harrington |author-link=Cora Harrington |title=In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie |date=2018 |publisher=Rodale |isbn=978-0399580642 |page=64}}{{Cite book |last=Kathryn Kemp-Griffin |title=Paris Undressed: The Secrets of French Lingerie |date=2017 |publisher=Atlantic Books |isbn=978-1952535901 |page=34}}{{Cite book |last=Jené Luciani |title=The Bra Book: The Fashion Formula to Finding the Perfect Bra |date=2009 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1933771946 |page=34}} Plunge bras may be padded or push the breasts together to create cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Jane Farrell-Beck |title=Uplift: The Bra in America |last2=Colleen Gau |date=2002 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812218350 |page=141}}

Push-up bras, which emerged in the mid-20th century, are designed to press the breasts upwards and closer together to give a fuller appearance with help of padded cups, differing from other padded bras in location of the pads.{{Cite book |last=Jené Luciani |title=The Bra Book: The Fashion Formula to Finding the Perfect Bra |date=2009 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1933771946 |page=35}}{{Cite book |last=Sam Stall |title=The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures |last2=Lou Harry |author-link2=Lou Harry |last3=Julia Spalding |date=2004 |publisher=Quirk Books |isbn=978-1931686549 |page=308}}{{Cite book |last=Jane Farrell-Beck |title=Uplift: The Bra in America |last2=Colleen Gau |date=2002 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812218350 |page=167}} It leaves the upper and inner area of breasts uncovered adding more cleavage. Most of the push-up bras have underwires for added lift and support, while the padding is commonly made of foam. Wonderbra used to have 54 design elements in their push-up bras, including a three-part cup, underwires, a precision-angled back, rigid straps, and removable "cookies".

In some forms of exercise, breasts unsupported by a sports bra are exposed to greater risk of droopiness.{{Cite web |last=Toffelmire |first=Amy |title=Why do breasts sag? |url=http://www.medbroadcast.com/channel_section_details.asp?text_id=5822&channel_id=1003&relation_id=4536 |access-date=3 February 2012 |publisher=MedBroadcast.com}}{{Cite journal |last=Scurr |first=Joanna C. |last2=White |first2=Jennifer L. |last3=Hedger |first3=Wendy |year=2010 |title=The effect of breast support on the kinematics of the breast during the running gait cycle |journal=Journal of Sports Sciences |volume=28 |issue=10 |pages=1103–9 |doi=10.1080/02640414.2010.497542 |pmid=20686995 |s2cid=24387606}}

• {{cite press release |date=September 23, 2007 |title=Bouncing Breasts Spark New Bra Challenge |website=ScienceDaily |url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070915124901.htm}} Author Taffy Brodesser-Akner claims that long hours wearing a sports bra or a push-up bra that presses breasts together can cause cleavage wrinkles, as does spending long hours sleeping on the side, during which the top breast bend past the body's midline. The deep vertical creases of these wrinkles stay longer as the collagen in skin start to break down with age and exposure to sun. Women with bigger breasts, either natural or surgically enhanced, suffer more from cleavage wrinkles.{{Cite news |last=Taffy Brodesser-Akner |author-link=Taffy Brodesser-Akner |date=August 9, 2011 |title=Fighting Cleavage Wrinkles |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/fashion/skin-deep-fighting-cleavage-wrinkles.html |work=The New York Times}} There have been claims of bra designs that minimize cleavage wrinkles.{{Cite news |last=Amanda Krause |date=2019-09-21 |title=A brand is selling a 'pillow bra' that's designed to prevent 'skin creases and cleavage wrinkles' |url=https://www.insider.com/pillow-bra-designed-to-prevent-cleavage-wrinkles-2019-9 |work=Insider}} Cleavage wrinkles can also be reduced with botox and, according to Samantha Wilson, founder of skincare product manufacturer Skin Republic, by intense pulsed light (IPM), collagen induction therapy (CIT) and high-intensity focused ultrasound. In 2009, Slovenian lingerie manufacturer Lisca introduced a high-tech "Smart Memory Bra" that was supposed to push breasts further when its wearer becomes sexually aroused.{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite news |last=Mark Wilson |date=2009-05-15 |title=Bra Boosts Cleavage When Women Desire Intercourse |url=https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/05/bra_boosts_cleavage_when_women_desire_intercourse-2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111203019/https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/05/bra_boosts_cleavage_when_women_desire_intercourse-2/ |archive-date=2021-01-11 |access-date=2020-08-21 |work=Gizmodo}}|{{cite news |last1=Russell |first1=Chrissie |title=Hotwired – the smart memory bra! |url=https://www.independent.ie/style/fashion/hotwired-the-smart-memory-bra-26544784.html |access-date=October 17, 2021 |work=Irish Independent |date=June 19, 2009 }}|{{cite news |title=Bra boosts cleavage when aroused |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/2419621/Bra-boosts-cleavage-when-aroused |access-date=October 17, 2021 |work=Stuff |date=May 26, 2009 }}}}{{Cite news |last=Thango Ntwasa |date=2020-08-02 |title=Bye bye bra? Times are changing as lingerie liberation trends in lockdown |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/fashion-and-beauty/2020-08-02-bye-bye-bra-times-are-changing-as-lingerie-liberation-trends-in-lockdown/ |work=Sunday Times}}

File:Woman's Bust Improver (Falsies) LACMA M.2007.211.369 (1 of 2).jpg, {{circa|1890}}]]

Accessories, including lingerie tapes or duct tapes, removable gel pads, fabrics, silicone or microfiber inserts, and clothing—including socks—are used to enhance cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Jené Luciani |title=The Bra Book: The Fashion Formula to Finding the Perfect Bra |date=2009 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1933771946 |page=139}}{{Cite book |last=Diane Mastromarino |title=The Girl's Guide to Loving Yourself |date=2003 |publisher=Blue Mountain Arts |isbn=978-0883967515 |page=54}}{{Cite book |last=Cheralyn Lambeth |title=Creating the Character Costume |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1317597964 |page=173}} Many women, such as beauty pageant participants and transgender people, create cleavage by placing tape underneath and across their breasts, bending forward, tightly pulling them together and up.{{Cite book |last=Banet-Weiser |first=Sarah |author-link=Sarah Banet-Weiser |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BsZHUu3gmV0C&pg=PA24 |title=The Most Beautiful Girl in the World: Beauty Pageants and National Identity |publisher=University of California Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0520217898 |page=73}}{{Cite book |last=Paige |first=Andy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BsZHUu3gmV0C&pg=PR24 |title=Style on a Shoestring |publisher=McGraw Hill Professional |year=2009 |isbn=9780-071595063 |page=24}}{{Cite book |last=JoAnn Roberts |title=Art and Illusion: A Guide to Crossdressing. Vol. 2, Fashion & Style |publisher=Creative Design Services |year=1994 |isbn=1880715-082 |edition=3rd |location=King, Pennsylvania |page=18}} Types of tape used include lingerie tape, surgical tape and athletic tape. Some use a strip of moleskin under the breasts; this is held in place with tape. Use of the wrong techniques or tape with too strong an adhesive can cause injuries such as rashes, blisters and torn skin.

Falsies, small silicone-gel pads that are similar to the removable pads sold with some push-up bras, are sometimes referred to colloquially as "chicken fillets".{{Cite web |year=2006 |title=What not to wear |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifestyle/tv_and_radio/what_not_to_wear/popularquestions_index.shtml |website=BBC Lifestyle}} Falsies evolved from the bosom pads of the 17th century that were often made of stiff rubber.{{Cite book |last=McCombe |first=Richard |title=The Undercover Story |last2=Ginsburg |first2=Cora |last3=Haverfield |first3=Kay |publisher=Fashion Institute of Technology |year=1982 |location=New York |page=11 |asin=B006A9QUU4 |name-list-style=amp}}{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Kristina |title=Victorian & Edwardian Fashions for Women, 1840 to 1919 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |year=1995 |isbn=978-0887408427 |page=106}} By the mid-1800s, "bust improvers" were made using soft fabric pads of cotton and wool or inflatable rubber.{{Cite book |last=Cumming |first=Valerie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glBf_El4Qd4C&pg=PT68 |title=The Dictionary of Fashion History |last2=Cunnington |first2=C.W. |author-link2=C. W. Cunnington |last3=Cunnington |first3=P.E. |author-link3=P. E. Cunnington |publisher=Berg |year=2010 |isbn=978-1847887382}} In 1896, celluloid falsies were advertised and in the 20th century, soft foam rubber pads became available. Young women, some as young as 15, were expected to wear falsies to fill out their bodices.{{Cite book |last=Ted Eisenberg |author-link=Ted Eisenberg |title=The Scoop on Breasts: A Plastic Surgeon Busts the Myths |last2=Joyce K. Eisenberg |date=2012 |publisher=Incompra Press |isbn=978-0985724931}}{{page needed|date=August 2021}} For cross-dressers or trans women who have not undergone hormone therapy or breast augmentation, semi-rigid pieces of material such as plastic is sometimes applied to the skin using surgical tape, surgical adhesive, specialist adhesives or even general-purpose craft glue to get a feminine cleavage.{{cite encyclopedia |year=2014 |title=Transgender/Transsexual |encyclopedia=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Breast |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Merril D. |pages=245 |isbn=978-0759123328 |entry-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qrCCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 |author-last=Ansara |author-first=Y. Gavriel}}{{cite book |last=Makadon |first=Harvey J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsRwtwb-He8C |title=The Fenway Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health |last2=Mayer |first2=Kenneth |date=2008 |publisher=ACP Press |isbn=978-1930513952 |pages=350}}{{cite web |title=An Alternate Method For Creating Cleavage |url=http://www.tgtoday.com/makeupandfashion/cleavage.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041019070925/http://www.tgtoday.com/makeupandfashion/cleavage.html |archive-date=2004-10-19 |website=tgtoday.com |via=Wayback Machine}}

{{see also|Breast augmentation|Breast implant}}

File:Mammoplasty morozov.jpg, with scars visible]]

Cleavage, from a surgical perspective, is a combination of the intermammary distance and the degree of "fill" in the medial portion of the breast.{{Cite book |title=Instructional Courses |date=1992 |publisher=C.V. Mosby Company |isbn=978-0801668401 |editor-last=Riley S. Rees |volume=5 |page=29}} Some flat-chested women feel self-conscious about their small breasts and want to improve their sexual attractiveness by seeking breast augmentation.{{Cite news |last=Brett |first=Samantha |date=February 17, 2012 |title=The Great Cleavage Conundrum: should men look if it's on display? |url=http://www.northernargus.com.au/blogs/national-comment/the-great-cleavage-conundrum-should-men-look-if-its-on-display/2459026.aspx?storypage=0 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212203509/https://www.northernargus.com.au/story/89285/the-great-cleavage-conundrum-should-men-look-if-its-on-display/ |archive-date=12 February 2021 |access-date=17 February 2012 |work=Northern Argus}} According to plastic surgeon Gerard H. Pitman, "you can't have cleavage with an A cup. You have to be at least a B or a C." It is easier to push big breasts together to accent the hollow between them. Implants filled with sterile saline solution and implants filled with viscous silicone gel are used for breast reconstruction, and for the augmentation and enhancement of aesthetics—size, shape, and texture—of breasts.{{Cite web |date=2018-11-28 |title=Research breakdown: the long-term health risks of breast implants |url=https://www.healtheuropa.eu/health-risks-of-breast-implants/89166/#:~:text=The%20saline%20solution%20and%20the,prefilled%20with%20viscous%20silicone%20gel |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716053639/https://www.healtheuropa.eu/health-risks-of-breast-implants/89166/#:~:text=The%20saline%20solution%20and%20the,prefilled%20with%20viscous%20silicone%20gel |archive-date=2020-07-16 |access-date=2020-07-16 |website=Health Europa |publisher=Pan European Networks}}{{Cite web |last=Kali Swenson |date=2020-06-16 |title=Breast Implants: What You Should Know |url=https://www.realself.com/breast-implants |website=RealSelf}} Plastic surgeons changed from using bodily tissues to these newer technologies in the 1950s.{{Cite book |last=Nora Jacobson |title=Cleavage: Technology, Controversy, and the Ironies of the Man-made Breast |date=2000 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0813527154 |page=62}}

Sometimes, fat is injected into the subcutaneous plane to narrow the gap of the cleavage{{Cite journal |last=Schechter |first=Loren S. |last2=Safa |first2=Bauback |date=July 2018 |title=Gender Confirmation Surgery |journal=Clinics in Plastic Surgery |volume=45 |issue=3 |page=371 |doi=10.1016/S0094-1298(18)30036-1 |doi-access=free}} and is grafted onto wide-chested individuals.{{Cite book |last=Loren S. Schechter |title=Gender Confirmation Surgery: Principles and Techniques for an Emerging Field |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3030290931 |page=80}} During breast reconstruction, surgeons are normally careful to preserve the natural cleavage of the breasts.{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Jay R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GLc8xYe239kC&pg=PT1448 |title=Diseases of the Breast |last2=Lippman |first2=Marc E. |last3=Osborne |first3=C. Kent |last4=Morrow |first4=Monica |publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |year=2012 |isbn=978-1451148701}} Attempts to create or increase cleavage by loosening the medial borders of the breasts could result in symmastia (also called a "uniboob"), a confluence of the breast tissue of both breasts across the midline in front of the sternum, creating a lack of defined cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Sweis |first=Iliana E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dW10OYhfTXoC&pg=PA163 |title=Outsmarting Mother Nature: A Woman's Complete Guide to Plastic Surgery |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010 |isbn=978-0313386145 |page=163}} About 3 cm of cleavage distance is recommended while augmenting breasts, to avoid medial perforation, compromised soft tissues, visible implants, rippling and symmastia.{{Cite book |last=Tebbetts |first=John B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etXNDR8lVD8C |title=Augmentation Mammaplasty |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |year=2009 |isbn=978-0323074674 |page=299 |access-date=2020-10-15}} A high surgical release of pectoralis major muscles can enhance cleavage at the risk of the implant showing through soft tissues.{{Cite book |last=Bostwick |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nIdsAAAAMAAJ |title=Aesthetic and Reconstructive Breast Surgery |publisher=Mosby |year=1983 |isbn=978-0801607318 |page=40}}

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A 2016 paper reported breast augmentation was one of the most common aesthetic surgery procedures performed by plastic surgeons. Annually, an estimated 8,000–20,000 surgeries are done in the UK and over 300,000 in the U.S. According to the paper, in the U.S., 4% of women had breast implants at the time. It reported annual sales of 300,000 implants in South America and estimated the global number of women with breast implants to be between five and ten million.{{Cite journal |last=James Frame |date=April 2017 |title=The waterfall effect in breast augmentation |journal=Gland Surgery |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=193–202 |doi=10.21037/gs.2016.10.01 |pmc=5409900 |pmid=28497023 |doi-access=free}}

Women seeking breast augmentation often request a specific form of cleavage enhancement and often produce photographs of desired cleavage shapes and appearances. Many of those who seek breast augmentation want "full cleavage" which, according to plastic surgeon Jeffrey Weinzweig, "in reality results only from external forces, such as a brassier. Attempts to create such full cleavage require unacceptable compromise to other aesthetic factors of the breast."{{Cite book |last=Jeffrey Weinzweig |title=Plastic Surgery Secrets Plus |date=2010 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0323085908 |edition=2nd |location=London |page=453}}

The width of cleavage is determined at the point at which the breast tissue attaches to the periosteal bone membrane that covers the sternum and by the medial attachments of the pectoralis major (chest muscle). By modern cultural values, cleavage is considered more attractive when breasts are close together.{{Cite book |last=Jean M. Loftus |title=The Smart Woman's Guide to Plastic Surgery: Essential Information from a Female Plastic Surgeon |date=2000 |publisher=McGraw Hill Professional |isbn=978-0809225835 |page=140}} A narrow cleft between the breasts is identified as unusual anatomy.{{Cite journal |last=Arsene-Henry |first=Alexandre |last2=Foy |first2=Jean-Philippe |last3=Robilliard |first3=Magalie |last4=Xu |first4=Hao-Ping |last5=Bazire |first5=Louis |last6=Peurien |first6=Dominique |last7=Poortmans |first7=Philip |last8=Fourquet |first8=Alain |last9=Kirova |first9=Youlia M. |date=4 May 2018 |title=The use of helical tomotherapy in the treatment of early stage breast cancer: indications, tolerance, efficacy—a single center experience |url=https://www.oncotarget.com/article/25286/text/ |journal=Oncotarget |volume=9 |issue=34 |pages=23608–23619 |doi=10.18632/oncotarget.25286 |pmc=5955102 |pmid=29805760}} Plastic surgeon John B. Tebbetts finds creating a narrow intermammary distance is not a priority over other aspects.{{Cite book |last=John B. Tebbetts |title=Augmentation Mammaplasty |date=2009 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0323074674 |page=182}} He says if a patient wishes a gluteal appearance for her cleavage, she should use "an appropriate push up brassiere", avoiding "the temptation to create it surgically".{{Cite book |last=John B. Tebbetts |title=Augmentation Mammaplasty |date=2009 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0323074674 |page=271}} Because large breasts are not always closer together than smaller ones, and because implants change only the volume of the breasts, not their position, implants cannot produce a tight cleavage if the gap between the breasts is wide.{{Cite book |last=Jean M. Loftus |title=The Smart Woman's Guide to Plastic Surgery: Essential Information from a Female Plastic Surgeon |date=2000 |publisher=McGraw Hill Professional |isbn=978-0809225835 |pages=140, 147}} Wide-set breasts will have a wide cleavage even after surgery because implants cannot correct the condition.{{Cite book |last=Louis P. Bucky |title=Aesthetic Breast Surgery |last2=A. Aldo Mottura |date=2009 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0702030918 |page=6}} It is difficult to produce sufficiently feminine cleavage for trans women, even with breast augmentation surgery, because people assigned male at birth have nipple-areolar complexes set farther apart on their chests than those assigned female at birth do.{{Cite journal |last=Schechter |first=Loren S. |last2=Safa |first2=Bauback |date=July 2018 |title=Gender Confirmation Surgery |journal=Clinics in Plastic Surgery |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=337–338 |doi=10.1016/S0094-1298(18)30036-1 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite book |last=Loren S. Schechter |title=Gender Confirmation Surgery: Principles and Techniques for an Emerging Field |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3030290931 |page=77}}{{Cite book |last=Trombetta |first=Carlo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sc_yCAAAQBAJ |title=Management of Gender Dysphoria: A Multidisciplinary Approach |last2=Liguori |first2=Giovanni |last3=Bertolotto |first3=Michele |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-8847056961 |pages=147}} Fat grafting may be used to reduce the width of cleavage in trans women.{{Cite book |last=Schechter |first=Loren S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrJhDwAAQBAJ |title=Gender Confirmation Surgery: An Issue of Clinics in Plastic Surgery |last2=Safa |first2=Bauback |date=2018 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0323610759 |pages=371}}

{{See also|Upper body exercise|Yoga|Breast enlargement supplement}}

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| caption1 = Exercise on a machine fly, a recommended way to develop cleavage{{Cite book |last=Brad Schoenfeld |title=Women's Home Workout Bible |date=2010 |publisher=Human Kinetics |isbn=978-0736078283 |location=Champaign, Illinois |page=189}}{{Cite book |last=Holly Perkins |title=Women's Health Lift to Get Lean: A Beginner's Guide to Fitness & Strength |date=2015 |publisher=Rodale, Inc. |isbn=978-1623364786 |page=80}}

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Regular exercise of the muscles and fibers of the pectoral complex, which lies just under the fatty tissues of the breast, helps prevent droopiness, creates the illusion of larger and firmer breasts, and enhances cleavage.{{Cite book |last=Brigitte Mars |title=Beauty by Nature |date=2006 |publisher=Healthy Living Publications |isbn=978-1570671937 |location=Summertown, Tennessee |page=136}}{{Cite book |last=Christine Lydon |title=Look Hot, Live Long |date=2003 |publisher=Basic Health Publications |isbn=978-1591200246 |page=198}}{{Cite book |last=Joyce L. Vedral |title=Bone-Building/Body-Shaping Workout |date=1998 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0684847313 |location=New York |page=131}} Exercise does not enlarge the breasts but developing the pectoral muscles on the chest can give them a fuller appearance.{{Cite book |last=Faye Handrigan |title=Personal Health Care |date=1984 |publisher=Anderson World Books |isbn=978-0890372937 |location=Mountain View, California |page=86}} Training the chest does not change the structure of the breasts because breast tissue is fat, which cannot be shaped; chest training can, however, prevent breasts from drooping and sagging by firming the muscles that surround the sternum.{{Cite book |last=Brad Schoenfeld |title=Sculpting Her Body Perfect |date=2008 |publisher=Human Kinetics |isbn=978-0736073882 |edition=3rd |location=Champaign, Illinois |page=41}} Even in moderately athletic women, the pectoralis major muscles on either side of the cleavage become more prominent with exercise.{{Cite book |last=Keith L. Moore |title=Clinically Oriented Anatomy, SAE (Indian Adaptation) |last2=Arthur F. Dalley |date=2018 |publisher=Wolters Kluwer India |isbn=978-9387963689 |page=322}}

The most effective exercises for developing breasts and improving cleavage are incline chest press, chest fly and chest dip.{{Cite book |last=Shirley Archer |title=The Everything Wedding Workout Book |last2=Andrea Mattei |date=2006 |publisher=Everything Books |isbn=978-1605503035 |page=131}}{{Cite book |last=Cynthia Targosz |title=Your Best Bust |date=2005 |publisher=Sourcebooks |isbn=978-1402202629 |location=Naperville, Illinois |page=33}}{{Cite web |last=Denise Baptiste |date=March 19, 2014 |title=Best Cleavage Enhancing Exercises For Women |url=https://www.boldsky.com/health/diet-fitness/2014/best-cleavage-enhancing-exercises-for-women-038766.html |website=Boldsky}} Weight training, nautilus machines, push-ups and chest presses are helpful, as are exercise balls, dumbbells, rowing and basketball.{{Cite web |last=Braverman |first=Jody |date=2023-03-09 |title=6 Exercises to Help Lift Sagging Breasts |url=https://www.livestrong.com/article/106238-exercises-tone-saggy-breasts/ |website=Livestrong}} Flat chest dumbbell pullovers and dumbbell flyers on incline bench is recommended for beginners, while the advanced exercisers may include bench press movements, flyers, pullovers, Pec Decs and push-ups at least twice a week.{{Cite magazine |date=1997 |title=Dumbell Flyes |url={{GBurl|id=MI4OAQAAMAAJ}} |magazine=Today's Black Woman |publisher=TBW Inc. |page=50 |volume=3 |editor=Adrienne Moore}}

Pilates, tai chi and yoga boost cleavage by improving posture and strengthening the chest muscles. Hunching, tightening and closing off of the chest in yoga asanas are particularly helpful, along with breathing exercises like deep breathing (sama vritti or kapalabhati) and retention (kumbhaka).{{Cite magazine |last=Annelise Hagen |date=2017-10-23 |title=12 Yoga Poses to Boost Breast Health |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/12-yoga-poses-to-boost-breast-health |magazine=Yoga Journal}}{{Cite web |last=Namita Nayyar |date=2016-11-21 |title=Exercises For A Neat Cleavage Bust |url=https://www.womenfitness.net/exercises-cleavage/ |website=Women Fitness}}{{Cite web |date=2012-12-20 |title=9 tips for better boobs |url=https://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Woman/Your-life/9-tips-for-better-boobs-20130210 |website=Health24|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526192856/https://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Woman/Your-life/9-tips-for-better-boobs-20130210}} The most recommended asanas to develop cleavage are backbends like cobra, bow, camel, bridge and locust; twisted poses like cow face and lord of the fishes; front bends like plough and resting child; standing poses like tree and warrior; and leg stretches like raised leg and inverted leg stretch.{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite web |title=Yoga for Good Breast Shape |url=https://www.womenhealthzone.com/womens-health/breast-health/yoga-good-breast-shape/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926084408/https://www.womenhealthzone.com/womens-health/breast-health/yoga-good-breast-shape/ |archive-date=2020-09-26 |access-date=2020-08-01 |website=Women Health Zone}}|{{cite web |author1=Chethana Prakasan |title=Increase your breast size without surgery: Try these 5 yoga asanas to increase your breast size naturally |url=https://www.india.com/lifestyle/increase-your-breast-size-without-surgery-try-these-5-yoga-asanas-to-increase-your-breast-size-naturally-1890649/ |website=India.com |date=2017-03-03 }}|{{cite book |author1=S.K. Sharma |author2=Balmukand Singh |title=Yoga: A Guide to Healthy Living |date=2001 |publisher=Greenwich Editions |location=London |isbn=978-0862884024 |page=53}}|{{cite magazine |author1=Joanna Colwell |title=Re-Examining Breast Health |magazine=Yoga Journal |date=Sep–Oct 2001 |pages=96–103}}|{{cite web |title=International Yoga Day: 5 Yoga Poses For Naturally Firm And Healthy Breasts |url=https://doctor.ndtv.com/womens-health/5-yoga-poses-for-naturally-firm-and-healthy-breasts-1805792 |publisher=NDTV |date=2018-06-20 }}}}

Supplements are frequently portrayed as natural means to increase breast size with the suggestion they are free from risk.{{Cite journal |last=Chalfoun |first=Charbel |last2=McDaniel |first2=Candice |last3=Motarjem |first3=Pejman |last4=Evans |first4=Gregory R. D. |last5=Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation DATA Committee |year=2004 |title=Breast-Enhancing Pills: Myth and Reality |journal=Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery |volume=114 |issue=5 |pages=1330–3 |doi=10.1097/01.PRS.0000141495.14284.8B |pmid=15457059}}{{rp|1330}} Commonly used ingredients include black cohosh,{{rp|1330}} (shown to have no estrogenic effect{{rp|1330}}) dong quai,{{rp|1331}} hops,{{Cite journal |last=Milligan |first=S. R. |last2=Kalita |first2=JC |last3=Pocock |first3=V |last4=Van De Kauter |first4=V |last5=Stevens |first5=JF |last6=Deinzer |first6=ML |last7=Rong |first7=H |last8=De Keukeleire |first8=D |year=2000 |title=The Endocrine Activities of 8-Prenylnaringenin and Related Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Flavonoids |journal=Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism |volume=85 |issue=12 |pages=4912–5 |doi=10.1210/jcem.85.12.7168 |pmid=11134162 |doi-access=free}}{{rp|4914}} kava{{rp|1347}} (may cause liver damage{{rp|1347}}) and zearalenone{{Cite journal |last=Pazaiti |first=A. |last2=Kontos |first2=M. |last3=Fentiman |first3=I. S. |year=2012 |title=ZEN and the art of breast health maintenance |journal=International Journal of Clinical Practice |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=28–36 |doi=10.1111/j.1742-1241.2011.02805.x |pmid=22145580 |s2cid=13304480 |doi-access=free}} (increases probability of estrogen-dependent breast cancer and may reduce fertility) among others.{{rp|1330}}{{rp|1345}} Despite folklore about using herbs for breast enlargement, there is no scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of any breast enlargement supplement.{{Cite journal |last=Fugh-Berman |first=A |year=2003 |title='Bust enhancing' herbal products |journal=Obstetrics & Gynecology |volume=101 |issue=6 |pages=1345–9 |doi=10.1016/S0029-7844(03)00362-4 |pmid=12798545 |s2cid=9929583}}{{Cite web |first1=Michael |last1=Castleman |year=2010 |title=Breast-Enlarging Herbs: A Bust? |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/201010/breast-enlarging-herbs-bust |publisher=Psychology Today}} In the United States, both the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration have taken action against the manufacturers of these products for fraudulent practices.{{Unbulleted list|{{cite book |title=2003 Annual Review of Antitrust Law Developments |publisher=American Bar Association, ABA Section of Antitrust Law |page=179}}|{{Cite web |date=22 January 2003 |title=Developer of Purported Breast Enhancement Product Settles FTC Charges |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2003/01/developer-purported-breast-enhancement-product-settles-ftc |access-date=15 September 2018}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm532771 |title=Warning Letters – Dixie Health Inc 8/30/13 |website=FDA.gov |access-date=15 September 2018}}|{{cite web |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2002/12/marketers-purported-breast-enhancement-system-settle-ftc-charges |title=Marketers of Purported "Breast Enhancement" System Settle FTC Charges |date=26 December 2002 |access-date=15 September 2018}}}}

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| image1 = Sunburnt neck and shoulders.jpg

| caption1 = Sunburnt upper décolletage (neck and shoulder)

| image2 = Decolette mask cropped.jpg

| caption2 = Using facial mask in cleavage area

}}

According to Samantha Wilson of Skin Republic, dermatologist Paul Jarrod Frank, and Philippa Curnow of Elizabeth Arden, compared with the epidermis on the face, the epidermis on the cleavage and neck has fewer hair follicles and oil glands, little subcutaneous fat cushioning the area, a limited number melanocytes, and is much thinner and more fragile.{{Cite magazine |last=Hannah Hempenstall |date=2018-11-15 |title=Anti-Ageing Secrets for the Décolletage |url=https://www.who.com.au/decolletage-treatment-for-wrinkles-redness-sun-damage |magazine=Who}}{{Cite web |last=Chelsea Tromans |date=2019-04-04 |title=Why your décolletage needs its own set of skin care products |url=https://www.beautycrew.com.au/best-decolletage-skin-treatment-tips |website=BEAUTYcrew}}{{Cite news |last=Jackie Danicki |date=2017-01-13 |title=The Skincare Keys to Killer Cleavage |url=https://observer.com/2017/01/skincare-tips-neck-and-chest-caroline-hirons/ |work=Observer.com}} Skin in these areas can suffer from damage resulting in cleavage wrinkles, uneven skin tone, age spots, scars from heat rash, and female chest hairs, and may show loss of elasticity sooner. Some perfumes and colognes can cause a phototoxic rashes on the neck, wrists and cleavage that leaves patterned hyperpigmentation when healed.{{Cite book |last=Richard A. Walzer |title=Healthy Skin: A Guide to Lifelong Skin Care |date=1989 |publisher=Consumers Union |isbn=978-0890432662 |location=Mount Vernon, NY |page=166}}

According to Curnow, the skin of the cleavage area often ages more quickly because it experiences more exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) and environmental factors like pollution than skin that remains covered in many cultures, while moisturizers and sunscreens are used more on the face and neck. According to Marnina Diprose, founder of skin care clinic Aroze Dermal Therapies, ultraviolet radiation can break down collagen and cause pigment deposition, leading to mottled pigmentation on the cleavage. The skin of the cleavage area may also show loss of elasticity more quickly. Dermatoheliosis (photo aging) is a problem when cleavage skin is exposed for prolonged periods to UV radiation in sunlight; it is characterized by hyperpigmentation, leathery texture, roughness, wrinkles, lentigines (age spots), actinic elastosis and telangiectasias (spider veins).{{Cite book |title=Milady's Standard Esthetics: Advanced |date=2012 |publisher=Milady Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1111139094 |location=Clifton Park, NY |page=244}} For protection, regular use of high-factor sunscreen on the cleavage area is recommended by reconstructive surgeon Anh Nguyen and others.

Products routinely used on the face, including vitamin A, vitamin B3, and vitamin C, masks, cleansers, moisturizers, and exfoliators, are also applied to the cleavage,{{Cite magazine |last=Megan Cahn |date=2014-06-17 |title=Your Day-To-Night Guide To The Sexiest Décolletage |url=https://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a19355/get-a-sexy-neck-and-chest/ |magazine=Elle}}{{Cite news |last=Tan Wei Lin |date=2019-10-06 |title=Worried about gravity taking a toll on your bust? Take these preventive steps |url=https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/style/bust-care-11934264 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007121423/https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/style/bust-care-11934264 |archive-date=2019-10-07 |access-date=2020-08-13 |publisher=CNA}} though products specifically designed for the cleavage and neck and also available. Additionally body oils like shea butter, coconut oil and almond oil, and bronzers are also used to achieve a "glowing" cleavage. Splashing cold water on the cleavage also helps.{{Cite web |last=Chethana Prakasan |date=2016-12-14 |title=How to get beautiful breast: 10 tips to make your breasts gorgeous |url=https://www.india.com/lifestyle/how-to-get-beautiful-breast-10-tips-to-make-your-breasts-gorgeous-1706479/ |website=India.com}}

According to Victoria's Secret model Taylor Hill, most professional models use makeup to better define their cleavage.{{Cite magazine |last=Leah Melby Clinton |date=2015-01-23 |title=How to Get Cleavage, Plus Other Sexy Tricks From a Victoria's Secret Pink Model |url=https://www.glamour.com/story/how-to-get-cleavage-victorias-secret |magazine=Glamour}} Makeup artist Stephen Dimmick recommends using a luminizer on the clavicle area.{{Cite web |last=Caroline Davis |date=2015-02-11 |title=5 Beauty Tricks to Make Your Cleavage Look Even Better |url=https://www.health.com/condition/breast-cancer/5-beauty-tricks-to-make-your-decolletage-even-more-alluring |website=Health.com}} Makeup with shading effects is used to make cleavage appear deeper and the breasts look fuller. The middle of the cleavage is made to look deeper by using a shade of makeup color that is darker than the base color of the skin, while the most prominent areas of the breasts are made to look larger or more protruding by the use of a paler color.{{Cite book |last=Jane Campsie |title=Marie Claire Hair & Makeup |date=2003 |publisher=Hearst Books |isbn=978-1588162786 |page=80}} An illuminator on the collar bones and bronzing below them is used for more accent.{{Cite news |last=Roma Arora |date=2012-04-21 |title=Flaunt your cleavage this summer! |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/fashion-and-trends/flaunt-your-cleavage-this-summer/story-85XWT7ii1TqeTtL1q2VvxO.html |work=Hindustan Times}} Beauty journalist Zoe Weiner describes a more elaborate process of outlining the breasts with a contouring stick that is slightly darker than the skin tone then highlighting inside the contour lines with a highlighter slightly lighter than skin tone, followed by blending with a contouring brush in circular motions.{{Cite magazine |last=Zoe Weiner |date=2017-04-11 |title=I Contour My Boobs, and It's Honestly the Best Thing Ever |url=https://www.glamour.com/story/boob-contour-tutorial |magazine=Glamour}}

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}}

Bright colors, ornaments and accessories, including ruffles and glitters that add detail to the cleavage area, help to make breasts look bigger and draw attention to them. Using the cleavage as a canvas, a recommended way of adornment is to layer necklaces and chokers with a pendant as a centerpiece of the cleavage.{{Cite web |last=Laura Lajiness |date=2020-05-28 |title=How to Layer Jewelry, According to Jewelry Designers |url=https://www.popsugar.com/fashion/photo-gallery/47505679/embed/47506135/p |website=PopSugar}}{{Cite magazine |last=Taylor Bryant |title=The Art Of Layering Necklaces |url=https://www.nylon.com/articles/layering-necklaces-tips |magazine=Nylon}} Georgian era-style rivière necklaces are also popular items with which to dress the décolletage.{{Cite magazine |last=Kareem Rashed |date=2018-07-03 |title=Your Definitive Jewelry Guide |url=https://robbreport.com/style/jewelry/jewelry-guide-rings-cuffs-brooches-pearls-2803942/ |magazine=Robb Report}}

According to celebrity tattoo artist and tattoo historian Lyle Tuttle, sternum tattoos became popular with women's liberation.{{Cite news |last=Margaret Burin |date=2015-12-07 |title='Don't get one, stay unique': A surprising piece of advice from legendary tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-05/tattoo-artist-lyle-tuttle-describes-a-life-in-ink/7002592?nw=0 |publisher=ABC News}} Singer Rihanna was a major driver in popularizing cleavage tattoos.{{Cite web |last=Samantha Sasso |date=2018-06-29 |title=This Rihanna-Approved Tattoo Trend Is On The Rise — & Perfect For Summer |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/06/203090/best-chest-tattoos |website=Refinery29}} According to tattooist Mira Mariah, "Since most sternums are a flat plane, there are really good opportunities for detail".{{Cite magazine |last=Ana Eksouzian-Cavadas |date=2018-07-09 |title=The Dainty Sternum Tattoo Is 2018's Answer To The Ribcage Tattoo |url=https://www.elle.com.au/beauty/sternum-tattoos-18004 |magazine=Elle Australia}} Underboob tattoos are generally done under the breasts but could wrap around the sternum, cleavage, side boob and ribs.{{Cite magazine |last=Brooke Shunatona |date=2019-12-11 |title=Underboob Tattoos: The Pain Level, Cost, Design Ideas, and More |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/g30090863/underboob-tattoos/ |magazine=Cosmopolitan}}

Cleavage piercings, also known as chest piercings and sternum piercings—one of the most-admired body piercings—is done on the cleavage area vertically or horizontally.{{Cite news |date=2015-08-26 |title=Sternum Piercing (Cleavage Piercing) |url=http://bodypiercingmag.com/sternum-piercing-cleavage-piercing.html |work=Body Piercing Magazine}}{{Cite web |date=5 March 2018 |title=Sternum Piercing |url=http://masterpiercing.com/sternum-piercing/ |website=Master Piercing}} A sternum piercing can be located anywhere along the sternum and can be either a surface piercing or a dermal piercing. The jewelry, generally flexible rods made of hypoallergenic metal like surgical titanium, surgical stainless steel, niobium or gold (14 karat and above), is placed vertically or horizontally between the breasts.

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Alessandro Momo and Agostina Belli.jpg

| caption1 = Italy 1974

| image2 = Fotothek df n-30 0000390 Glasmacher.jpg

| caption2 = Germany 1980

| footer = In the 1970s, daring women and men of all ages left top buttons on shirts and blouses open to display pectoral muscles, cleavage and a firm body in a "groovy" style.

}}

Male cleavage (also known as "heavage"), a result of low necklines or unbuttoned shirts, has been a movie trend since the 1920s. Douglas Fairbanks revealed his chest in films including The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and The Iron Mask (1929), and Errol Flynn showed his male cleavage in movies like The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). This aesthetic continued into the 1950s and 1960s with movie stars like Marlon Brando, who also displayed his chest in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Sean Connery in many James Bond movies; but it went out of fashion after the 1970s, which according to fashion historian Robert Bryan was "the golden age of male chest hair", epitomized by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977).{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Ray A. |date=4 December 2009 |title=More Men Have Something They Want to Get Off Their Chests – Their Shirts |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125980303001573939 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}

File:Harry Styles - Love On Tour @ Jeunesse Arena (52555729295) (cropped).jpg wearing a jacket that displays his cleavage at a 2022 Love on Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro]]

This look was also popular with celebrities like Mick Jagger and Burt Reynolds in the 1970s, and Harry Styles, Jude Law, Simon Cowell and Kanye West in the 2010s.{{Cite magazine |last=Satenstein |first=Liana |date=2017-06-28 |title=Man Cleavage Is Back—And It's a Blessing |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/male-cleavage-trend-dwyane-wade-harry-styles-ben-cobb |magazine=Vogue}}{{Cite news |last=Odell |first=Amy |date=3 December 2009 |title=Hey, Men, Get Your Boobs Out! |url=https://www.thecut.com/2009/12/hey_men_get_your_boobs_out.html |work=The Cut |language=en-US}} Throughout the 1970s, more men unbuttoned their shirts as both men and women took an anti-fashion approach to clothing and the rise of the leisure wear, and adopted comfortable, unisex styles.{{Cite book |last=Bondi |first=Victor |title=American Decades: 1970–1979 |publisher=Gale Research |year=1995 |isbn=978-0810388826 |page=199}}{{Cite book |last=Carlisle |first=Rodney P. |title=Handbook to Life in America |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1438127002 |volume=9 |page=24}}{{Cite book |last=Steele |first=Valerie |title=Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=2005 |isbn=978-0684313979 |volume=3 |page=213}} As a new masculine style evolved, gay men adopted a traditionally masculine or working-class style with "half-unbuttoned shirt above the sweaty chest" and tight jeans, rejecting the idea that gay men want to be women.

In India, male cleavage became popular with Bollywood movie stars Salman Khan (who was named "the king of cleavage" by The Economic Times{{Cite news |last=Alves |first=Glynda |date=2014-05-22 |title=Hot or Not: Man Cleavage |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/hot-or-not-man-cleavage/articleshow/35476479.cms |work=The Economic Times}}), Shekhar Suman in the 1990s, and Shahid Kapoor and Akshay Kumar in the 2000s.{{Cite news |last=Sabharwal |first=Rahul |date=2010-09-03 |title=Men flaunt it too! |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/fashion-and-trends/men-flaunt-it-too/story-C2I4zfJs2SW0raS3m29keK.html |work=Hindustan Times}}{{Cite book |last=Chatterjee |first=Elizabeth |title=Delhi: Mostly Harmless |publisher=Random House India |year=2013 |isbn=978-8184005103 |page=39}}{{Cite book |last=Dé |first=Shobhaa |title=Shobhaa: Never a Dull Dé |publisher=Hay House, Inc. |year=2014 |isbn=978-9381398609 |page=28}} Many male K-pop stars are also known for their cleavage.{{Cite web |date=2013-11-12 |title=Hottest K-Pop Male Cleavage Goes To? |url=https://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/48825/20131112/chest-workout-men-hot-k-pop-males-rain-chansung-jokwon-2pm-2am-jaejoong-jyj-kim-jong-gook-jay-park.htm |website=KpopStarz}} Man cleavage came back into style in the 2010s, especially among hipsters and Hispanic and Latino Americans. Stylist Christiaan Choy attributes its resurgence to fit physiques and the urge for personal styles.{{Cite news |last=Kaplan |first=Michael |date=2017-07-28 |title=Male cleavage is a thing now |url=https://nypost.com/2017/07/28/male-cleavage-is-a-thing-now/ |work=New York Post}} Fashion entrepreneur Harvey Paulvin said a men's V-neck should be "two to four inches from the collar".{{Cite news |last=Silverman |first=Justin Rocket |date=2014-05-28 |title=Heavage is big: Showing cleavage becomes an option for guys, too |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/hevage-big-showing-cleavage-option-guys-article-1.1808927 |work=New York Daily News}} Some men groom their chest hair to improve the male cleavage look (sometimes known as "manscaping").{{Cite news |last=Brewer |first=Taliyah |date=7 February 2020 |title=The ultimate guide to manscaping everybody part |url=https://www.thetrendspotter.net/how-to-manscape/ |work=The Trend Spotter}} Many still considered the look inappropriate for most situations.{{Cite magazine |last=Lonsdale |first=John |date=2017-07-31 |title=No, "Male Cleavage" Is Not a Thing |url=https://www.menshealth.com/style/a19528296/male-cleavage-style/ |magazine=Men's Health}}

• {{annotated link|Backless dress}}
• {{annotated link|Toplessness}}
• {{annotated link|Toe cleavage}}
• {{annotated link|Buttock cleavage}}
• {{annotated link|Pai slash}}

{{reflist}}

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Cleavage (breasts).ogg|date=January 6, 2010}}

• The Future of Reputation, Gossip, Rumour and Privacy on the Internet, Daniel J. Solove, Yale University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0300124989}}, p. 166
• Reichert, Tom; Lambiase, Jacqueline. Sex in Consumer Culture, Routledge, 2006, {{ISBN|0805850902}}
• Sex Crimes Investigation: Catching and Prosecuting the Perpetrators, Robert L. Snow, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, {{ISBN|0275989348}}, p. 146
• Gernsheim, Alison (1981 [1963]). Victorian and Edwardian Fashion. A Photographic Survey. Mineola: Dover Publications. {{ISBN|0486242056}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Glazier |first1=Stephen D. |author1-link=Stephen D. Glazier |last2=Flowerday |first2=Charles |title=Selected Readings in the Anthropology of Religion: Theoretical and Methodological Essays |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2003 |isbn=978-0313300905}}
• Morris, Desmond (1997). Manwatching. A Field Guide to Human Behavior. New York: Harry N. Abrams. {{ISBN|081091310-0}}
• Morris, Desmond (2004). The Naked Woman. A Study of the Female Body. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. {{ISBN|0312338538}}

{{Commons category|Cleavage (breasts)}}

• {{Cite web |title=Gender and Electronic Privacy |url=http://www.epic.org/privacy/gender/ |publisher=Electronic Privacy Information Center}}
• [http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=424 "Sargent's Portraits"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628151801/http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=424 |date=2011-06-28}}, an article including a mention of the scandal caused by the portrayal of cleavage in John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X".
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/style/tmagazine/TW1792179.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all "The Great Divide"], The New York Times, August 28, 2005
• Sarah E. Reynolds, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317108767_Boobs_Out_A_Perspective_on_Fashion_Sexuality_and_Equality/fulltext/5927c73e0f7e9b99799eee03/Boobs-Out-A-Perspective-on-Fashion-Sexuality-and-Equality.pdf Boobs Out! A Perspective on Fashion, Sexuality and Equality], ResearchGate

{{Authority control}}

Category:1940s neologisms

Category:Breast

Category:Human appearance

Category:Necklines

Category:Parts of clothing

Category:Sexual fetishism