Maidenform’s advertisement campaign “I dreamed I… in my Maidenform” began in the 1950s. Each advertisement has a photograph of a woman wearing a Maidenform bra with a skirt and some extra accessories. The intent of the campaign is to say what a woman can dream to do while she wears her Maidenform bra, implying that the Maidenform will invoke not only confidence to be daring in what she dreams for — but does the ad campaign actually give women the courage to step outside and make those dreams a reality? And particularly the use of the word dream; it is quite a feminine, passive, soft, word not only phonetically but in meaning. Women dream, men do.
Some of the campaign lines, which are actively fighting gender norms read as follows:
I dreamed I won the election in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I opened for the World Series in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I went on a tiger hunt in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I was a private eye in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I went to work in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I went back to school in my Maidenform bra
Others discuss how women would like to appear as a confident, social, and physically beautiful member of society:
I dreamed I was a social butterfly in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I was a knockout in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I was a trademark in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I painted the town red in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I stopped them in their tracks in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I was an international figure in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I took the bull by the horns in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I made an impression in my Maidenform bra
Others reveal the stereotypes surrounding women as the weaker sex, the center of the fashion industry, and one that only cares for shopping:
I dreamed I had a stylish carriage in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I was Venus de Milo in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I was tickled pink in my Maidenform bra
I dreamed I had tea for two in my Maidenform bra
And lastly,
I dreamed I was in a fashion ad in my Maidenform bra
For this assignment, I will choose to access the first ad, “I dreamed I won the election in my Maidenform bra”. I choose this one because of it’s irony — in 1952, when this ad appeared in September’s issue of Vogue, was an election year and a woman winning the presidential election probably seemed like a laughable far cry. (However, other women had already been elected to the House and the Senate — although that number is few).
In the ad, the woman wears a white Maidenform bra and a scarlet high waisted skirt. There is a diamond pin on the belt, and she wears diamond earrings (only one is visible) and a bracelet. Her blonde curls are pinned back and her hands are reaching back to grasp her head as she closes her eyes and tilts up her chin — as if she’s just won the election and is basking in a moment of disbelief and relief. She is surrounded by fireworks, microphones, ballots, and buildings reminiscent of a city skyline. She even has a tally counter wrapped around her arm. To me this looks like behind the closed doors of Madame President-Elect on the first Thursday of November: she’s gotten home, taken her shirt off, and is like — WOW. I also chose this because although women have won several elections for different political (and even non-political) positions, major feats that probably have resulted in similar moments as this, in 2019, over 65 years since this ad debuted, the United States has still not had a woman president.
It is quite obvious to me that this ad is produced from the male gaze — the body of the woman, and the fact that she’s just hanging out in her bra after winning an election. (What would Warren or Harris do? I would love to ask them about this ad. Hillary? AOC? What would happen if they were on-stage replicating this ad after being elected?).
It also occurs to me that the creators of the ad would probably not vote for a woman, if there was a woman candidate, in 1952. How seriously can anybody take this ad, in that sense? Susan Kaiser writes, “male activities, whatever they may be, are considered more important than female ones”. The creators of the ad valued the male activities over the female ones, and therefore, the ads become satirical.
In all of Maidenform’s ad campaign, the purpose of the bra is so not that the woman has practical support for her breasts, but that she feels confident in them: the bra changes how she feels in her body which allows her the freedom of movement and therefore the freedom to dream bigger (even if those dreams are to be… tickled pink?).
Joan Entwistle discusses this in Real Bodies in her chapter on the dressed body. She discusses the sensual and private nature of clothes, and in Maidenform’s case, the particularly privateness of lingerie. In Women in Clothes, this is discussed as well, with several women giving examples of how they got hired or had great dates in clothes which made them feel good. This speaks to how clothes, and particularly bras, can make one feel.
I also find the bra to be a fascinating topic as it changes — distorts or enhances — the natural shape of a woman’s breasts. Entwistle writes, “Fabric then, in its close proximity to the body, carries enormous social, cultural, political, and moral weight.”
