Below is Oliva P. Flynt's 1876 patent for her "Bust Supporter". It is clear that this is the invention of the modern day bra:
* Having individual pockets for the breasts and weight bearing shoulder straps, it was designed and intended for no other purpose than to support and shape the breasts. She writes that her garment is "specially designed as a bust supporter and improver", Further, "the garment sustains the bust from the shoulders and at the same time presses upon the lower portion of the bust and above the body and under the arms and holds or presses up the lower portion of the bust". She also writes "The function and the garment fitted to the form prevents the bust from descending uncomfortably low".
* While in the diargram it appears to go over the clothing, this was likely due to the modesty of the times. She writes that her garment "is to be worn next to the body or outside the undervest as suits the wearer"
* Unlike many other inventions, this garment was NOT intended to be used together with a corset, she writes that it "will be used instead and take the place of a corset, thereby enabling beauty of form to be preserved without lacing or otherwise injuriously pressing or binding the body."
* She even foresaw the padded bra: "Those double bust pieces are not stitched together but left open in order to form a pocket for the insertion of padding material, should it be required to improve the outline or form of the bust"
* There are some that state that the shoulder straps are too big to look like a modern bra. But the size of the shoulder straps is clearly NOT relevant to her invention. She writes on the second page, paragraph 3: "That portion of the garment extending over the shoulder may be made narrower and may be made more or less high in the neck....and may be trimmed with lace or other ornaments".
Writing years before other inventors, describing details which are more in common with the modern day bra, and having created a design with most of its features still in use today, Oliva Flynt should be recognized as the inventor of the brassiere.
