After a few weeks of business talk on Substack, I’m back to the fun stuff: Marilyn Monroe’s nipple-less bras. Or perhaps more accurately, the carefully engineered illusion of nudity that helped define her image.
With Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday falling on 1st June, I’ve found myself deep in research mode this month, revisiting not just her clothing but the foundation garments underneath it all. One thing becomes obvious very quickly once you start studying Marilyn’s wardrobe in detail: very little about her appearance was accidental. The famous silhouette, the softness, the movement, even the impression that she was somehow more “natural” than other stars of the era was all carefully thought through.
Most of the Marilyn photographs featured here were either taken by me at exhibitions or sourced from books in my own collection. Due to ongoing copyright restrictions around Marilyn’s image, I’ve also included period lingerie advertisements and surviving garments to illustrate the styles discussed
What strikes me most about Marilyn is how modern she still feels. A while ago, when Kim Kardashian launched her famous “fake nipple bra” through SKIMS, social media reacted as though visible nipples were some shocking new development in fashion. But the illusion of nudity is nothing new at all. Especially not in the 1950s.
Publicly, the decade projected an image of wholesome domesticity: women back in the home after WWII, fitted waists, polished kitchens, and perfect smiles. Yet beneath all that conservatism sat a huge cultural fascination with sexuality and glamour. Marilyn Monroe didn’t invent that contradiction, but she understood it better than almost anyone. She managed to appear simultaneously innocent and overtly sexual, which is a large part of why audiences found her so compelling. And much of that illusion came down to lingerie.
Marilyn’s most famous physical feature wasn’t actually her bust. It was her walk.
There’s a long-running rumour that she shortened one heel to exaggerate her sway, but despite years of research, and examining original shoes associated with her in real life, I’ve never found convincing evidence for it. What did create that movement was something much simpler: Marilyn often went without a girdle.
Today that sounds completely unremarkable, but in the early 1950s it was genuinely provocative. Girdles were still considered essential for smoothing the hips and controlling the body beneath clothing. In films like Niagara, Marilyn’s refusal to fully restrain her figure created movement that audiences simply weren’t used to seeing onscreen.
The famous scene where she walks away from the camera in Niagara became iconic precisely because her body moved naturally beneath that tight skirt. Compared to the heavily controlled silhouettes surrounding her at the time, Marilyn appeared softer, freer, and far more alive.
What’s discussed far less often is Marilyn’s clever use of quarter cup bras. These styles are cut low enough to expose the nipples while still supporting the lower part of the breast. The effect creates the illusion of nudity while still quietly engineering shape underneath
I’ve avoided producing this exact style at What Katie Did because structurally they’re actually quite difficult to wear unless the proportions are exactly right. In surviving examples you can often see the fabric struggling slightly or bunching under the weight of the bust. Marilyn, however, understood exactly how to use garments like this to maximum effect.
The aim was never simply exposure for the sake of it. Marilyn consistently created the impression that she was braless while often relying on highly specialised lingerie underneath. That distinction is important because it explains why her clothing sat on the body in such a particular way. The dresses may have looked spontaneous or dangerously revealing, but underneath there was usually an extraordinary amount of technical support and planning involved.
One of the most remarkable examples is Marilyn’s sling bra, which I was interviewed about many years ago when it appeared at auction.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line “sling bra” became “fling bra” in the press, leading to headlines around the world breathlessly discussing Marilyn Monroe’s “fling bra.” I remember being simultaneously thrilled that I’d been asked to comment on the piece and absolutely mortified by the misunderstanding.
The design itself is fascinating. Rather than covering the entire breast, the sling supports from underneath, leaving the upper breast and nipple exposed. It allowed Marilyn to wear those famously plunging gowns while still maintaining lift and shape beneath the fabric.
Again, the illusion is what matters. The dress appears impossibly revealing, yet carefully engineered lingerie is still quietly doing the work underneath.
Another fascinating piece is what costume departments sometimes referred to as the “secret bra.”
This was an ultra-sheer style made from incredibly fine fabric, designed to disappear visually under clothing and on film. The goal wasn’t heavy support in the traditional sense, but invisibility. The wardrobe department at 20th Century Fox used these bras to create the impression that actresses weren’t wearing bras at all, while still maintaining a degree of control over shape and movement.
Actress Stella Stevens later wore the same type of bra in The Poseidon Adventure during scenes where her character was supposedly braless. Hollywood has always loved this kind of trickery. Even “naturalness” was often carefully constructed.
Reading contemporary reactions to Marilyn is fascinating because people seemed deeply conflicted about her.
Audiences adored her. Magazine covers featuring Marilyn sold instantly and filmgoers flocked to cinemas to watch her. At the same time, critics and moral commentators frequently described her clothing as vulgar, cheap, or dangerous. She arrived at exactly the right cultural moment: a decade publicly obsessed with morality while privately fascinated by sex
What made Marilyn so powerful was that she somehow managed to reconcile those contradictions. She could appear provocative without seeming threatening, glamorous without feeling entirely unattainable, and overtly sexual while still projecting vulnerability and innocence.
One of the laziest myths about Marilyn Monroe is the idea that she was somehow unaware of her own image. In reality, the more you study her career, the clearer it becomes that she understood exactly how she was presenting herself. She knew which dresses would scandalise people, she knew how to make an entrance, and she clearly understood what her lingerie was doing beneath those dresses too.
What’s also worth remembering is that these styles weren’t hidden away in obscure fetish boutiques. Cupless bras, sling bras, and ultra-revealing lingerie were widely advertised and sold during this period.
Frederick’s of Hollywood built an entire business around glamorous and provocative lingerie beginning in the late 1940s. Their catalogues sold fantasy, aspiration, and Hollywood-inspired sexuality directly into ordinary American homes through mail order.
Which is partly why I always smile when people describe the 1950s as impossibly prudish. Publicly, perhaps. But privately, there was clearly a huge appetite for glamour, fantasy, and lingerie designed to push boundaries.
Studying Marilyn’s lingerie over the years has only reinforced how carefully constructed mid-century glamour really was. The supposedly effortless look of the era often relied on remarkable technical precision underneath: bras shaping the bust, girdles controlling movement, seams sculpting the body, and fabrics chosen specifically for how they behaved under studio lights.
Marilyn understood all of that instinctively. What made her so extraordinary wasn’t simply that she was beautiful, but that she knew exactly how to use clothing, lingerie, movement, and illusion together to create the version of Marilyn Monroe the world still remembers today.
Engineering Marilyn: The Bras That Shaped an Icon
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May 3
On 1st June 2026, the world marks the 100th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. A century on, her image remains instantly recognisable: but what continues to fascinate me, as both a designer and lifelong admirer, is not just the finished look, but the engineering beneath it.
Links:
Hollywood Icon Exhibition (Los Angeles) featuring Marilyn’s quarter cup bra
Marilyn’s Sling Bra: they got the name of the bra right but my name wrong!
Marilyn’s Secret Bra: written about by Julie Newmar
Julien’s Auctions (Los Angles) 100 Years of Marilyn.
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait (National Portrait Gallery London)
Marilyn Monroe: Self Made Star (British Film Institute, London)
Bernard of Hollywood Marilyn book
Fredericks of Hollywood book (in no way worth this price, but keep an eye out in secondhand book shops)
Katie Thomas is the founder of What Katie Did, a vintage-inspired lingerie and fashion brand that brings mid-century glamour to modern wardrobes. When not designing new collections, she can be found hunting for vintage treasures across Somerset and beyond.
Curious to explore more vintage-inspired treasures? Our lovingly crafted lingerie and fashion collections at What Katie Did bring the elegance of yesteryear into your modern wardrobe, from perfectly structured corsets to the most delicate of intimates. Each piece tells its own story of timeless glamour.
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