- This article is about the clothing merry widow. For the classical operreta by Franz Lehár, see The Merry Widow.
A
merry widow is a short, strapless
corset with half-cups for the
breasts and long
garters. It was first made by the
lingerie company
Maidenform in
1952, to coincide with the 1952 film,
The Merry Widow, starring
Lana Turner. The original
Merry Widow foundation garment was a full-length
corselette, cut with attractive panels of black and white
lace, incorporating slim panels of black elastic yarn net. A heavy-duty zip was inserted behind a
velvet-backed hook-and-eye flange, and the whole garment was lined with
nylon voile. Nine long spiral wires were cased in black
satin. Turner is reputed to have said, "I am telling you, the
Merry Widow was designed by a man. A woman would never do that to another woman." To this day, merry widow is the generic term for a corselette
bra in the
United States. This type of lingerie is also know as a Torsolette and is used in Bridal Lingerie and used like a Bustier.
Corsetry
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