As the author of this book I have discovered a wealth of information on costume and attitudes towards clothing during my research, but my favourite is a ‘snippet’ that answered a question I have not up until now been able to answer. I have often wondered why almost every bra I have ever owned, no matter what design or brand, has a small bow stitched to the front between the cups. The question was finally answered by the discovery that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when stomachers or ‘stay busks’ were used to slip down the front of a corset a small piece of ribbon was attached to the top to help remove it easily. Our little ribbon-bows are a direct link to those times, though now purely for decoration. It is a reminder that no matter how uncomfortable our undergarments seem to us today, they were far more uncomfortable and restricting in the past!