Soft Architecture · Rago of New York 1970s Longline Bra
70% nylon, 30% spandex · rose-patterned lace cups · boned panel construction · triple hook-and-eye back · wide elastic waistband · adjustable straps · Rago of New York, Style 2202 · Made in USA · 1970s to 1980s · 36-B, stretches considerably · measured flat L 42 · B 43 · W 35 · Excellent condition
This is a piece of architecture worn close to the body. The cups are shaped in rose-patterned lace, and soft wired for support. The body descends in alternating panels of floral lace and firm mesh, boned through the torso, the kind of construction that creates shape beneath a dress rather than waiting for the dress to do it. The back closes with three parallel columns of hooks. The bottom edge is a wide satin-elastic band finished in scalloped lace trim. Adjustable straps.
Rago of New York has been making foundations since 1944. Style 2202 is one of their longline bra styles, constructed to provide support and a smooth silhouette from cup to waist. The vintage versions, in grey-mauve nylon and spandex with lace cups, have a different character to the contemporary equivalents: less seamless, more considered in their structure.
Material
70% nylon, 30% spandex with rose-patterned lace cups
Care
machine wash warm, gentle cycle. Hang to dry. Do not iron.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 42cm, bust 43cm, waist 35cm. She stretches considerably, as shapewear is built to do: a true 36 B cup, exactly as her label says.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
The lace cups are clean and intact. The hooks operate correctly on all three columns. The elastic retains its function. The exterior face is clean. The grey-mauve may well be a previous owner's dye bath, a colour she chose for herself, which suits a garment this personal. Faint marking on the straps where the plastic eyelets sit.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
Nineteen forty-four taught foundations two things: stand firm, and keep the lace where the day cannot see it. She has held better posture than most governments, through more difficult sessions. Someone dyed her this storm-mauve on purpose, in a sink, for reasons that were nobody's business then and remain nobody's business now. It holds you together. You will not regret this.