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March 27, 2015

Adhesive Bras: A Ridiculous Fashion Innovation of 1949

In May 1949, Charles L Langs featured a pair of bra cups a woman could affix to her breasts with an adhesive that caused neither pain nor sticky residue when removed. The purpose of the invention of his new brassieres, called Posĕs (pronounced “pose-ease”), was to allow a sunbather to achieve an even suntan. The idea struck inventor Charles L. Langs when he witnessed his wife Mary fidgeting discontendtedly with the straps of her regular old swimsuit.

This stick-on bra swimsuit from 1949 was kind of brilliant...


Langs, a Detroit industrialist who worked in the auto industry, spent four years perfecting Posĕs (pronounced “pose-ease”). He enlisted the help of chemist Charles Watson to develop an adhesive that could be removed easily while still sticking tight, “even though the wearer dives from a 10-foot board.” Any woman who has jumped into a pool wearing a strapless bathing suit top will surely dismiss this claim as bombastic. Had it been true, it would have been a feat too miraculous to vanish into obscurity, as Posĕs unfortunately did.

The innovation Langs boasted was not the straplessness of Posĕs, but their adhesiveness. As evidenced by the “bikini girls”—a fourth century Sicilian mosaic depicting bandeau-wearing athletes—women have employed strapless chest support for millennia.

To Langs’ credit—or discredit, depending on whether you see brassiere technology as functional or oppressive—adhesive undergarments are still around today. Most take the form of foam or silicon cups worn with backless tops and dresses with plunging necklines. They are generally, however, meant to be worn beneath other garments, whereas Posĕs were the main event. They gave any woman who donned them, LIFE wrote, “a startling look, especially when she is seen from the rear.”

A model jumps to demonstrate the support offered by her adhesive bathing top.

Women on Jones Beach, wearing Poses.

Models wearing the new Poses, strapless, backless, wireless bras adhesively gummed to hold the cup on at Jones Beach.

Models wearing the new Poses, strapless, backless, wireless bras adhesively gummed to hold the cup on at Jones Beach.

Models wearing the new Poses, strapless, backless, wireless bras adhesively gummed to hold the cup on at Jones Beach.

Models wear Poses during a game of tennis.

Models wear Poses during a game of tennis.

Models play shuffleboard while wearing Poses.

A model wears Poses, designed by Charles L. Langs.

A woman models Poses, which leave the back completely exposed.

The Inventor of Poses, Charles L. Langs sitting at his desk full of his inventions - strapless, backless, wireless bras gumming the adhesive strip which holds the cup on.

The Inventor of Poses, Charles L. Langs sitting at his desk full of his inventions - strapless, backless, wireless bras gumming the adhesive strip which holds the cup on.

The Inventor of Poses, Charles L. Langs sitting at his desk full of his inventions - strapless, backless, wireless bras gumming the adhesive strip which holds the cup on.

(Photos by Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)



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