Caresse Crosby - Attends Debutante Ball

Attends Debutante Ball

In 1910, at age 19, Polly was preparing to attend yet another débutante ball one evening. As was customary, she wore a corset stiffened with whalebone and a restrictive, tight corset cover that flattened and jammed her large breasts together into a single monobosom. The stiffened corset cover poked out from under the sheer evening gown that she had worn to her own debut a few weeks previously and covered her plunging neckline. On this particular evening she threw the restrictive corset cover to the side. Instead, she worked with her maid Marie to fashion two silk handkerchiefs together with some pink ribbon and cord.

Polly's new undergarment complemented the new fashions introduced at the time. When she showed it to friends the next day, they all wanted one. Family and friends almost immediately asked Polly to create brassieres for them, too. One day, she received a request for one of her contraptions from a stranger, who offered a dollar for her efforts. She knew then that this could become a viable business.