When someone asks you to think of a Hollywood icon, chances are you picture Marilyn Monroe.
Even though she passed away decades ago, Marilyn remains the iconic blonde bombshell. She changed the face of American cinema and became a star on and off the big screen.
One of the things Marilyn was famous for was her sense of style — and like other stars of her time, she helped popularize one specific item: the bullet bra.
This unique brassiere was different from the ones that came before it because it was pointy, and it allowed women to add an entire cup size to their breasts.
I've watched movies from the 1950s before and I always thought bullet bras looked so uncomfortable. When the opportunity came for me to try one myself, I couldn't pass it up.
Read below to find out what happened when I wore a bullet bra to work for three days straight!
What Is A Bullet Bra?
A bullet bra is a cone-shaped, spiral-stitched bra popularized by iconic 1950s actresses.
Once women like Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner brought these bras to the public eye, the masses bought in, and 1950s women started wearing these pointy bras.
Why Were Bullet Bras Popular?
Because women started seeing these types of bras on the silver screen, they wanted to emulate their favorite actresses.
With the invention of television, advertisers were able to directly get in touch with their market.
When ordinary people began to have personal televisions for the first time in the 1950s, the bullet bra became a normalized part of pop culture. It quickly found a wide audience eager to try it for themselves.
The Experiment
For three days straight, I would wear the 1950s-inspired bullet bra underneath my everyday clothes.
I would try not to change my style at all during the experiment. The only difference in my wardrobe would be my bra.
Day 0
Before starting the experiment, I had no idea how it would feel to wear the bullet bra.
I'm used to wearing a slightly padded bra with underwire and elastic straps, so I knew the vintage bra wouldn't be anything like that.
Day 1
The bullet bra is made of a non-stretchy material that's much more satiny than my normal bras. There's no underwire or padding.
I was surprised when I put the bra on: it actually wasn't that uncomfortable!
Despite being comfortable, I didn't exactly fill out the bra. Not surprisingly, my breasts aren't cone-shaped (at least not as cone-shaped as the bra).
Women in the 1950s sometimes stuffed the nipple area with tissues or other materials, but I decided not to.
On the first day, I wore a regular black T-shirt with a green jacket over it.
The T-shirt showed off the bra a lot more than I thought it would, and I felt really uncomfortable about it. Instead of just dealing with it, I tried to cover up with a sweatshirt or my jacket all day.
Day 2
On the second day, I felt a little more confident about wearing my bullet bra, but I knew I needed to choose my outfit a bit more wisely.
This photo was snapped as I discussed the experiment so far with my coworkers. Everyone was curious about the retro lingerie.
To make my breasts look slightly more normal, I wore a tank top under my loose shirt.
Most of my coworkers said they couldn't even tell I wasn't wearing a normal bra.
Day 3
By the third day, I wasn't as self-conscious about my bra — it seemed normal enough that I actually forgot to take a photo of my outfit.
Although I didn't mind wearing the bullet bra for three days, I was definitely excited to switch back to my normal bra.
Final Thoughts
Would I wear a bullet bra again? Probably not, unless it was for a very specific costume.
Would I recommend wearing a bullet bra to a friend? No. There weren't any benefits, and it mostly just made me feel self-conscious.
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