Cleavage (breasts)
Cleavage[] is the narrow depression between a woman's breasts, especially the top part, revealed by a low-cut neckline that does not cover them. The term is most commonly used in Western female fashions and is most commonly applied to a neckline that reveals or emphasizes breast visibility. Cleavage-revealing low-cut necklines are a feature of ball gowns, evening gowns, leotards, lingerie and swimsuits, among other garments. In some cultures, display of cleavage is considered aesthetic or erotic, and may be associated with garments with low necklines that expose or highlight cleavage, which is accentuated in different ways. In these cultures women have, throughout history, sought to enhance their physical attractiveness and femininity, within the context of changing fashions and cultural-specific norms of modesty. In some cultures any display of cleavage may be culturally taboo, illegal or otherwise socially disapproved of, even provocative and shocking.
Terminology
While the part of body is a cleavage, the opening of a person's garments to make it visible is called a décolletage. It is a French word which is derived from décolleter, meaning to reveal the neck. Décolletage refers to the upper part of a woman's torso, between her waist and neck, comprising her neck, shoulders, back and chest, that is exposed by the neckline of her clothing. However, the term is most commonly applied to a neckline that reveals or emphasizes cleavage. In strict usage, décolletage is the neckline extending about two handbreadths from the base of the neck down, front and back. The term was first used in English literature sometime before 1831.In anatomical terms, the cleft in the human body between the breasts is known as the intermammary cleft. Exposure of this division between the breasts is known as cleavage.
Anatomy
Anatomically the width of the cleft between the breasts is determined by the attachment points of her breast tissue to the periosteal tissue covering her sternum and is also defined somewhat by the medial attachments of the pectoralis major muscle when implants are positioned beneath the muscle. At the inferior margin of the breast, the deep layer of superficial fascia joins the superficial layer, forming a shelving edge that supports the breasts. At the midline this layer is firmly attached to the deep pectoral fascia and, in turn, to the periosteum of the sternum, creating the intermammary cleft.A ligamentous structure of dense Cooper's ligaments are medially inserted into the skin overlying the sternum to determine the shape of the breasts and intermammary sulcus. The skin of the cleavage area is frailer than the skin of the face as it has fewer oil glands, and may show loss of elasticity sooner.
Culture
Many people in Western culture, both male and female, consider breasts an important female secondary sex characteristic and aspect of femininity. Décolletage that exposes cleavage is used by many women to enhance their physical and sexual attractiveness and to improve their sense of femininity. Display of cleavage with a low neckline is often regarded as a form of feminine flirting or seduction, as much as for its aesthetic or erotic effect. According to Kinsey Reports, most men derive erotic pleasure from seeing a woman's cleavage.In India, sari and choli are often worn in a way that "the entire back, including the shoulders remain bare; in the front often the cleavage between breasts is exposed and the entire region between the breasts and navel remains uncovered." Gagra choli, a dress taken as very chaste in India, also exposes significant amount of midriff and cleavage. Women of the Bishnoi people wear kanchli blouses with very deep necklines embellished with frills and bells to draw attention to their cleavage. Women of Ahir, Gadariya and Chamar communities wear Angiya, a small bikini-like top tied at the back with a string, often with the front open enough to show a deep cleavage. Generally women's traditional clothes in India exposes more midriff than cleavage.
In Western and some other societies, there are differences of opinion as to how much cleavage exposure is acceptable in public. In contemporary Western society, the extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on social and cultural context. Displaying cleavage or any part of the female breast may be considered inappropriate or even prohibited by dress codes in some settings, such as workplaces, churches, and schools, while in some spaces showing as much cleavage as possible can be permissible or even encouraged, such as at the beach or pool. The exposure of nipples or areolae is almost always considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as lewd or indecent behavior. Art historian James Laver argued that the changing standards of revealing cleavage is more prominent in evening wear than in day wear in the Western world.
Elizabeth Gould Davis argues that breasts were revered by the women of Catal Huyuk as instruments of motherhood, but it was after what she describes as a patriarchal revolution – when men had appropriated both phallus worship and "the breast fetish" for themselves – that these organs "acquired the erotic significance with which they are now endowed". The fascination with female breasts and cleavage is widespread but not universal to all people. According to psychologist Richard D. McAnulty, when breasts are "hypersexualized", it is not perceived as a body part to breastfeed infants. Therefore exposure of the breast (such as in public breastfeeding
Theories
According to sociologist Anthony Joseph Paul Cortese, the cleavage area between the breasts is "perhaps the epicentre" of display of female sexual attractiveness and stimulation of male sexual interest. Breast and buttock cleavages, sharing a similarity between their appearances, are considered sexual in some cultures. British zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris theorizes that cleavage is a sexual signal that imitates the image of the cleft between the buttocks.Evolutionary psychologists theorize that humans' permanently enlarged breasts, in contrast to other primates' breasts, which only enlarge during ovulation, allowed females to "solicit male attention and investment even when they are not really fertile", though Morris noted in mid 1990s that in there was a trend toward reversing breast augmentations. According to social historian David Kunzle, waist confinement and décolletage are the primary sexualization devices of Western costume. A study published in 2020 found that intermammary cleft distance is one of the major influences on people's perception about a woman's fertility, health and age. Another study found that women who display cleavage are identified more as "voluptuous" than women who do not.
Downblouse
Downblouse is a form of voyeurism, fetishism and sexual offence involving looking down a woman's dress or top to observe her cleavage or breasts. The phenomenon emerged in the 21st century, and though the term has been used in English since 1994, the popularity of covert downblouse and upskirt photography increased with the growth of camera phones, which were mass marketed in 2000. NASUWT, the UK teachers' union, reported an upward trend of such pictures at schools in 2018.Many of these downblouse and upskirt pictures are uploaded to websites, inclding pornographic websites like Pornhub, XVideos or Xhamster, as well as subreddits like r/creepshots. Some websites give lessons on taking downblouse and upskirt pictures. As early as 2004, Google listed about 4 million websites that were tagged with "upskirt" and "downblouse." The UK and Germany, as well as a number of American and Australian states, have specific statutes that prohibit such photography. In the UK, taking such pictures and posting them online can lead a person to be listed on the sex offender registry, and in Japan the government has pressured mobile phone manufacturers to have their phones make a warning sound whenever such pictures are taken. Still, these types of offence "largely unreported" and, according to Maria Miller, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, the legal provisions are inadequate.
History
Ancient
In 2600 BCE, princess Nofret of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt was depicted in a V-neck gown with a plunging neckline that exposed ample cleavage further emphasized by an elaborate necklace, as well as prominently protruding nipples.In ancient Minoan culture, women wore clothes that complemented slim waists and full breasts. One of the better-known features of ancient Minoan fashion is breast exposure, as women wore tops that could be arranged to cover or expose their breasts completely, with bodice to accentuate their cleavage. In 1600 BCE, snake goddess figurines were sculpted in Minos with open dress-fronts, revealing entire breasts. By that time, Cretan women in Knossos were already wearing ornamental fitted bodices with open cleavage, sometimes with a peplum Another set of Minoan figurines from 1500 BCE show women in bare-bosomed corsets.
Ancient Greek women wore a long pendant necklace called kathema to adorn their cleavage. Ancient Greek goddess Hera wore an early version of a push-up bra, described in the Iliad as festooned with "brooches of gold" and "a hundred tassels", to increase her cleavage to divert Zeus from the Trojan War. Women in Greek and Roman civilizations used breastbands to enhance smaller busts.
In The Golden Ass, the only Roman novel to survive in entirety, Photis, a major female character, is described as sporting significant cleavage and perfumed nipples. A silver coin found in South Arabia in 3rd century BCE shows a buxom foreign ruler with much décolletage and an elaborate coiffure. Rabbi Aha b. Raba and Nathan the Babylonian measured the appropriate size of the cleavage as "of one hand-breadth between a woman's breasts".
Medieval
During the Tang dynasty women in China were increasingly more free than before and as part of the that, by mid-Tang, their décolleté dresses became quite liberated. Instead of the loose garments of the past Chinese women of the time deliberately emphasized their cleavage. In the 8th century, the popular clothes maong Chinese women featured long gowns in soft fabrics cut with a pronounced décolletage or a décolleté knee-length gown worn over a skirt.Between 11th and 16th centuries the prevailing décollette clothes of women of Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan in India were replaced by covered bossoms and long veils as the region increasingly came under foreign control. Bewteen the 13th and the 16th centuries, elaborate and opulent courtly dresses with wide décolletage became popular in the Italian maritimes states like Venice, Genoa and Florence. By the end of the period French fashion started gain popularity there, including Spanish inventions of high neckline and face-framing ruff. During the extreme décolletage of the Elizabethan era, necklines were decorated with frills or covered with tuckers and partlets, called tasselo in Italy.
In the 14th century, necklines were lowered, clothes were tightened and breasts were once again flaunted. Women started squeezing the breasts and applying make up on the breasts to have more attractive cleavage. In 1450, Agnès Sorel, mistress to Charles VII of France, is credited with starting a fashion when she wore deep low square décolleté gowns with fully bared breasts in the French court. Other aristocratic women of the time who were painted with breasts exposed included Simonetta Vespucci, whose portrait with exposed breasts was painted by Piero di Cosimo in c.1480. In the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadors overtook the Inca Empire, traditional cleavage revealing and colorful Inca dresses were replaced by high necks and covered bosoms.
scandalized the audience with lavender coloring and daring décolletage, which was painted over by Hals to make the cleavage more daring.
Across Europe, décolletage was often a feature of the dress of the late Middle Ages. This continued through the Victorian period. Gowns that exposed a woman's neck and top of her chest were very common and uncontroversial in Europe from at least the 11th century until the Victorian period in the 19th century. Ball or evening gowns especially featured low square décolletage designed to display and emphasize cleavage.
During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in mid 16th ccentury Turkey, respectivibility regulations allowed "respectable" women fashionable dresses with exposed cleavage, which was denied to "prostitutes" so that they cannot draw attention to the livelihood. Entari, a garment popular with women of the Ottoman Empire, was like the corsetted bodice of Europe sans the corset with its narrow top and narrow and long plunging décolletage that exposed a generous cleavage. Around this time, cleavage reaveling gambaz gowns became accepted among married women in the Levant as bossoms were regarded as a sign of maternity.
By the time of the Mughal Empire in 16th century, Hindu women started emulating the overdressed conquerors by covering their shoulders and breasts, though, in contemporary paintings, Mughal palace women were often protrayed wearing Rajput-style cholis and breast jewelry.
During the 16th century, women's fashions with exposed breasts were common in European society, from queens to common prostitutes, and emulated by all classes. Anne of Brittany has also been painted wearing a dress with a square neckline. Low square décolleté styles were popular in England in the 17th century and even Queen Mary II and Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, were depicted with fully bared breasts; and architect Inigo Jones designed a masque costume for Henrietta Maria that fully revealed both of her breasts. Corsets that enhanced cleavage were introduced in the mid-16th century.
Early modern
After the French Revolution décolletage become larger in the front and less in the back. During the fashions of the period 1795–1820, many women wore dresses that bared necks, bosoms and shoulders. Anne of Austria, along with female members of her court, was known for wearing very tight bodice and corsets that forced breasts together to make deeper cleavage, very low necklines that exposed breasts almost in entirety above the areola, and pendants lying on the cleavage to highlight it. Around 1640, flat collars started replacing neck trims, allowing provocative cleavage that was sometimes covered with a handkerchief. During the Georgian era, pendants became popular as décolletage decoration. Increasingly the amount of décolletage became a major difference between daywear and formal gowns.of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, wearing a cleavage with a strap slipped down her shoulder, caused so much controversy that the Sargent had to re-paint the strap back onto the shoulder.
In many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, wearing low-cut dresses that exposed breasts was more acceptable than it is today; a woman's bared legs, ankles, or shoulders were considered to be more risqué than exposed breasts. In aristocratic and upper-class circles the display of breasts was at times regarded as a status symbol; a sign of beauty, wealth or social position. The bared breast invoked associations with nude sculptures of classical Greece that exerted influence on art, sculpture, and architecture of the period.
During the Victorian period, social attitudes required women to cover their bosom in public. For ordinary wear, high collars were the norm. Towards the end of the Victorian period the full collar was the fashion, though some décolleté dresses were worn on formal occasions. During the French Enlightenment, there was a debate as to whether a woman's breasts were merely a sensual enticement or rather a natural gift to be offered from mother to child. In Alexandre Guillaume Mouslier de Moissy's 1771 play The True Mother, the title character rebukes her husband for treating her as merely an object for his sexual gratification: "Are your senses so gross as to look on these breasts – the respectable treasures of nature – as merely an embellishment, destined to ornament the chest of women?" Nearly a century later, also in France, a man from the provinces who attended a Court ball at the Tuileries in Paris in 1855 was deeply shocked by the décolleté dresses and is said to have exclaimed in disgust: "I haven't seen anything like that since I was weaned!"
In 1884, Portrait of Madame X, a painting by John Singer Sargent of American-born Parisian socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, was criticized for depicting her in a sleek black dress displaying what was considered scandalous cleavage with her right shoulder strap having fallen off her shoulder. The controversy was so great that he reworked the painting to move the shoulder strap from her upper arm to her shoulder, and Sargent left Paris for London in 1884. In 1908, a single pad made of rubber or a "bust form" was advertised that was to be worn inside the front of the bodice to make cleavage virtually undetectable.
By the late 18th century, cleavage-enhancing corsets grew more dramatic in pushing the breasts upward. The tight lacing of corsets worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries emphasized both cleavage and the size of the bust and hips. Evening or ball gowns were especially designed to display and emphasize the décolletage. There was also a trend of wearing camisole-like clothes and whale bone corsets that gave a bust without a separation or a cleavage. In the Edwardian era extreme uplift was common without any hint of cleavage as a bow-fronted look was the popular silhouette.
1900s-1950s
Clergymen all over the world became shocked when dresses with modest round or V-shaped necklines became fashionable around 1913. In the German Empire, for example, all Roman Catholic bishops joined in issuing a pastoral letter attacking the new fashions. Corsets started to go out of fashion by 1917 when metal was needed to make tanks and munitions for World War I, and due to the 1920s trend of boyish figures.Frustrated with a whale bone corset, New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob created the first bra from two handkerchiefs and some ribbon to show off her cleavage. She patented it as "the backless brassiere" in 1914 and, after making a few hundred bras, sold the patent to The Warner Brothers Corset Company for US$1,500. In the next 30 years, Warner Brothers made more than US$15 million from the design. During a century of existence, the brassière industry went through many ups and downs often infuenced by the demand for cleavage.
With a return to more womanly figures in the 1930s, corsetry maintained again a strong demand even at the height of the Great Depression. From 1920s to 1940s corset manufacturers constantly tried training young girls to use corsets, but fashions became more restrained in terms of décolletage, while exposure of the leg became more accepted in Western societies during World War I and remained so for nearly half a century.
During the times of Republic of China in early 20th century, qipao, a dress that shows the legs and not the cleavage, became so popular that many Chinese women consider it as their national dress. John Dudgeon, a Scottish missionary in China in late 19th century, appreciated the Chinese non-décolleté fashion as a protection for "abdomin and chest".
Under the Motion Picture Production Code in effect in the United States between 1934 and 1968, the depiction of excessive cleavage was not permitted. At least one British film, The Wicked Lady, had to be partially reshot due to period costumes that were deemed overly revealing. In 1953, Hollywood film The French Line was found objectionable under the Hays Code because of Jane Russell's "breast shots in bathtub, cleavage and breast exposure" while some of her décollete gowns were thought "... intentionally designed to give a bosom peep-show effect beyond even extreme decolletage." Other actresses defied those standards; for example, Gina Lollobrigida raised eyebrows with her famous low-cut dress in 1960. Other celebrities, performers and models followed suit, and the public was not far behind. Low-cut styles of various depths are now common in many situations. During the 1950s, Hollywood and the fashion industry successfully promoted large cloven bustlines and falsies. Stars like Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Jane Russell were as celebrated for their cleavage as their beauty.
Bras in the 1940s left a substantial amount of fabric in the center, thus creating a separation of breasts instead of the pushed-together cleavage of today. Frederick Mellinger of Frederick's of Hollywood created the first padded bra in 1947, followed by an early push-up bra a year later. In the 1940s, Christian Dior introduced a "new look" that included elastic corsets, pads and shaping girdles to widen hips, cinch waists and lift breasts. In the 1950s, the brassière industry started experimenting with half-cup bras to facilitate décolletage.
1960s-1990s
In the late 1960s, erogenous attention began to shift from the large bust to the trim lower torso, reasserting the need to diet, especially as new clothing fashions — brief, sheer, and close fitting — prohibited heavy reliance on foundation lingerie. Legs were relatively less emphasized as elements of beauty. From the 1960s onward, changes in fashions leaned towards increasing displays of cleavage in films and television, with Jane Russell and Elizabeth Taylor being the biggest stars who led the fashion. In everyday life, low-cut dress styles became very common, even for casual wear. Lingerie and shapewear manufacturers like Warner Brothers, Gossard, Formfit, and Bali took the opportunity to market [|plunge bras] with a lower gore suitable for low-cut styles.In the early 1970s, keeping the top buttons open became popular with both men, to display their pectoral muscles, and women, to display their cleavage. In the late 1980s, supermodels Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Elle Macpherson flaunted cleavage in everyday clothes, and Singer Madonna, popularized cleavage. Polly Allen Mellen, the editor of Vogue, wrote, "Décolletage hasn't been as fashionable or as dramatic since the 18th century." In the mid- to late 1980s, cleavage-enhancing bustiers and corsets were sometimes used as outerwear, in a trend driven by Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier, who famously dressed Madonna.
In the 1990s, the push-up bra and exaggerated cleavage became popular. In 1992, the bra and girdle industry in America posted sales of over US$ 1 billion. The Wonderbra brand, which had previously existed elsewhere, entered the United States market in 1994 with a newly designed cleavage-enhancing bra. Driven by a controversial advertising campaign prominently featuring model Eva Herzigova's cleavage, one Wonderbra was sold every 15 seconds shortly after the brand's launch. The hypersexualized styles of Victoria's Secret, which also emphasized cleavage, were "perfectly attuned to the zeitgeist" in the 1990s. By 2013, Victoria's Secret had captured one-third of the women's underwear market in the United States. Even traditional brands like Maidenform joined the fray in producing similar styles.
Underwire bras, the most popular cleavage-boosting lingerie, accounted for 60% of the United Kingdom bra market in 2000. and 70% in 2005. About 70% of women who wear bras wear a steel underwire bra according to underwear manufacturer industries of New York in 2009. In 2001, 70% of the bras sold in the United States were underwire bras. As of 2005, underwire bras were the fastest growing segment of the market. Corsets also experienced a resurgence in the 2010s, a trend driven by photos on social media.
In the late 20th century India, cleavage became a staple point of attraction in Bollywood movies. By 2010s, Indian men and women wearing décollette clothes were seen as fashion statements and not a sign of desparation like in the past. At the same time, cleavage on the screen waned as a point of attraction, as cleavage revealing clothes became more commonplace. But both male and female respondents in study of youth in Mumbai, the financial, commercial and entertainment "capital" of India, in 2006 were still found to believe that women wearing cleavage revealing filmi may be more prone to sexual violence.
21st century
By the turn of the 21st century, some of the attention given to cleavage and breasts started to shift to buttocks, especially in the media. At the same time alternatives to décolletage emerged out of the western cleavage culture, which still were often called cleavages. By early 2010s, "sideboob"—the exposure of the side of the breast—had become popular; one writer called it the "new cleavage". The term was included in the Oxford English Dictionary by 2014.In 2008, Armand Limnander wrote in The New York Times that the "underboob" was "a newly fetishized anatomical zone where the lower part of the breast meets the torso, popularized by 80s rock chicks in cutoff tank tops." It was further popularized by dancer-singer Teyana Taylor in the music video for Kanye West's 2016 song "Fade". Supermodels like Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid, and Kendall Jenner contributed to the trend, which has featured particularly at beaches, on the red carpet, and in social media posts.
In the 2010s and early 2020s, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, cleavage-enhancing bras began to fade in popularity. Bralettes and soft bras gained market share at the expense of underwire and padded bras, sometimes also serving as outerwear. In 2017, the sales of cleavage-boosting bras fell by 45% while, at Marks & Spencer, sales of wireless bras grew by 40%. Because, according to Sarah Shotton, creative director of Agent Provocateur, “Now it’s about the athletic body, health and wellbeing", than "about the male gaze,” while according to independent lingerie designer Araks Yeramyan “It was #MeToo that catapulted the bralette movement into what it is today.” Some bralettes still provide plunging designs, light padding, or bottom support.
Despite a long history, display of cleavage can still be controversial. As of 2011, women were required to cover their body and face completely in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan,, Iranian law required a chador or a hijab, and in Egypt, the exposure of cleavage in the media was considered to be nudity. UK women's magazine Stylist in 2017 and Indian newspaper Mid Day in 2019 reported "cleavage shaming" as commonplace in news and social media.
Bollywood actresses like Disha Patani, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Nargis Fakhri and others were trolled and shamed for cleavage baring outfits in social and new media including newspapers like Times of India. Extraordinary attention is generated when politicians like, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Senator Hillary Clinton and British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wore cleavage revealing outfits even from media outlets like The Washington Post and The New York Times, though German Christian Democrat candidate Vera Lengsfeld used décolleté pictures of her and Merkel to a positive effect in 2013.
In two separate incidents in 2007, Southwest Airlines crews asked travelers to modify their clothing or to leave the airplane because of "unacceptable" amount of cleavage displayed. In 1999, student was sent home from school in Langley, British Columbia for showing "too much cleavage". Both sideboob and underboob are regulated by the law in some US counties, and both were banned by CBS as "bare sides or under curvature of the breasts is also problematic" at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.
Enhancement
Throughout history, women have used many methods to enhance their physical attractiveness and femininity, including the accentuation and display of breasts within the context of cultural norms of fashion and modesty.Corsetry and bras
Corsetry and bras are often used to enhance cleavage. Before the spread of brassières, the bust was encased in corsets and structured garments called "bust improvers" made of boning and lace. Bras enhance cleavage by lifting and altering the shape of the breasts.Development of underwire brassières started in the 1930s, but they did not gain widespread popularity until the 1950s, when the end of World War II freed metal for domestic use. An underwire bra utilizes a wire sewn into the bra fabric and under each cup, from the center gore to under the wearer's armpit. It helps to lift, separate, shape, and support the breasts. These bras use a thin strip of metal, plastic or resin, usually with a nylon coating at both ends.
s. It consisted of a stiff plate shaped to fit under the breasts and around the torso, covered with silk, canvas or other cloth forming a pocket for each breast.
A padded bra adds material to the cups to help the breasts look fuller. There are different designs that provide coverage and support, hide nipples, add shape to breasts that are far apart, and add comfort. Graduated padding uses more padding at the bottom of the cups that gradually tapers off towards the top. There are also padded bras that suit deep neck dresses.
A plunge bra covers the nipples and bottom of the breasts while leaving the top part bare, making it suitable for low-cut tops and deep V-necks. It also has a lower, shorter and narrower center gore that maintains support while increasing cleavage by allowing the gore to drop several inches below the middle of the breasts. Plunge bras may be padded or push the breasts together to create cleavage.
Push-up bras, which emerged in the mid-20th century, are designed to press the breasts upwards and closer together to give a fuller appearance with help of padded cups, differing from other padded bras in location of the pads. It leaves the upper and inner area of breats uncovered adding more cleavage. Most of the push-up bras have underwires for added lift and support, while the padding is commonly made of foam.
Tape and inserts
Different accessories, including lingerie tapes or duct tapes, removable pads made of gel, fabric or other material, inserts made of silicone or microfiber, and even socks and clothes are used to enhance cleavage. Many women, such as beauty pageant participants and transgender people, create cleavage by using tape underneath and across their breast, bending forward, tightly pulling them together and up. Types of tape used include lingerie tape, surgical micropore tape and athletic tape. Some also use a strip of moleskin under the breasts with tape at the ends to hold it in place. Use of the wrong techniques or tape with too strong an adhesive can cause injuries such as rashes, blisters and skin being torn off.Falsies are small pads similar to the removable pads sold with some push-up bras. Falsies made from silicone gel are also sometimes referred to colloquially as "chicken fillets". Falsies evolved from the bosom pads of 17th century, often made of stiff rubber. By mid 1800s, the Victorian era, "bust improver"s were being made out of soft fabric pads of cotton and wool or inflatable rubber. In 1896, celluloid falsies were advertised, and in 20th century soft foam rubber pads became available. Young women, some as young as 15 years old, were expected to wear them to fill out their bodices. With the advent of padded bras, sales of removable pads took a plunge, though some padded bras also have removable inserts.
Surgery
Some flat-chested women feel self-conscious about their small breasts and want to improve their sexual attractiveness by seeking breast augmentation. Plastic surgeon Gerard H. Pitman says, "you can't have cleavage with an A cup. You have to be at least a B or a C." Bigger breasts are easier to push together to accent the hollow between them. For breast reconstruction and for the augmentation and enhancement of the aesthetics — size, shape, and texture — of a woman's breasts, there are two types of breast implant devices in practice: saline implants filled with sterile saline solution and silicone implants filled with viscous silicone gel. Plastic surgeons transitioned from using bodies own tissues to these newer technologies in 1950s.A 2016 paper reported breast augmentation to be one the most common aesthetic surgery procedures performed by plastic surgeons. Annually an estimated 8,000-20,000 surgeries are done in the UK and over 300,000 in the USA. The paper correlated 4% of US women to have breast implants at the time. It reported and annual sales of 300,000 implants in Brazil and South America and estimated the global number of women with breast implants to be between five and 10 millions.
Women seeking breast augmentation often request a specific form of cleavage enhancement and often bring photographs of desired cleavage shapes and appearances. Many of those who seek breast augmentation want a "full cleavage", which, according to plustic surgeon Jeffrey Weinzweig, "in reality results only from external forces, such as a brassier. Attempts to create such full cleavage require unacceptable compromise to other aesthetic factors of the breast." Also a narrow cleft is identified as unusual anatomy. Plastic surgeon John B. Tebbetts also finds creating a narrow intermammary distance not to be a priority over other aspects. He suggests that if a patient wishes a gluteal appearance for her cleavage, she should use "an appropriate push up brassiere", avoiding "the temptation to create it surgically."
Seometimes, fat is injected into the subcutaneous plane to narrow the gap of the cleavage, and grafted onto wide chested individuals. Generally cautionary procedures are followed during breast reconstruction to preserve a natural cleavage of breasts. But, if a surgeon attempts to create or increase cleavage by loosening the medial borders of the breasts, it could result in symmastia, a confluence of the breast tissue of both breasts across the midline anterior to the sternum, creating a lack of defined cleavage. About 3 cm of cleavage distance is recommended while augmenting breasts, to avoid medial perforation, compromised soft tissues, visible implants, rippling and symmastia. A high surgical release of pectoralis major muscles can enhance cleavage at the risk of the implant showing through soft tissues.
Exercise
Regular exercise of the muscles and fibres of the pectoral complex, which lies just under the fatty tissues of the breast, helps prevent droopiness, creates the illusion of larger and firmer breasts, and enhances cleavage. Exercises like incline chest press, chest fly and chest dip are the most effective in developing breasts and getting a better cleavage. Weight training, nautilus machines, push ups and chest presses are helpful, as well as a number of other exercises, including exercise balls, dumbbells, rowing and basketball. Even in moderately athletic people the pectoralis major muscles on either side of the cleavage becomes more prominent. In some form of exercise, breasts unsupported by a sports bra are exposed to greater risk of droopiness.Cleavage enhancing exercises can be grouped into four parts: an incline exercise accentuates the upper chest and declines stresses the lower region. It helps augment proportions and symmetry; properly developed upper pectoral region, with help from incline exercises, give an appearance of a firm, elevated chest; the lower pectoral region is the easiest to develop, and, unless it is a specific weak spot, does not need occasional decline exercises; push-ups are great complimentary exercise, sometimes also as an alternative to chest presses. For beginners flat chest dumbbell pullovers and dumbbell flyers on incline bench is recommended, while the advanced exercisers may include bench press movements, flyers, pullovers, exercise of the pec deck and push-ups at least twice a week.
Yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi also benefit posture and strengthen chest muscles to improve appearance of the cleavage. According to yoga instructor Rae Indigo, yoga asanas that stretch and open the chest, helps develop firmer and "perkier" breasts, significantly improving their appearance. The most recommended poses to develop cleavage are setu bandhasana, utthita trikonasana, bhujangasana, dhanurasana, virabhadrasana and viparita karani.
Make up
Making cleavage appear deeper and the breasts look fuller alongside the cleavage with makeup is achieved using shading effects. The middle of the cleavage is made to look deeper by using a darker makeup colour than the base colour of the skin, while the most prominent areas of the breasts are made to look larger or more protruding by the use of a paler colour. An illuminator on the collar bones and bronzing below them is also advised. According to Victoria's Secret model Taylor Hill professionals use make up to better define their cleavage.Supplements
Supplements are frequently portrayed as being a natural means to increase breast size with the suggestion that they are free from risk. Though there has been historical folklore about using herbs for breast enlargement, there is no scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of any breast enlargement supplement.Piercing
Cleavage or chest piercings can be located at any point along the sternum and can be either a surface piercing or a dermal piercing. The jewelry, generally flexible rods made of hypoallergenic metal like surgical titanium, surgical stainless steel, niobium or gold, is placed vertically or horizontally between the breasts.Cross-dressing and trans women
Male cross-dressers and trans women often want female-appearing cleavage as part of making their body appear feminine. Convincing cleavage may distract attention from less feminine aspects of their appearance and improve their ability to pass.For cross-dressers or trans women who have not undergone hormone therapy or breast augmentation, semi-rigid pieces of material such as plastic can be applied to the skin using surgical tape, surgical adhesive or specialist adhesives normally used to glue mastectomy breast forms to the body. Even a general purpose craft glue can be used for this purpose. One such design is called a "Diva". It has conventional bra style hook-and-eye fasteners at the front instead of the back and has cups that curve inwards, are fairly rigid and covered on the inside with a material that grips the skin to hold it in place using pressure rather than adhesive. Another similar device is called the "Busty Cleavage Creator". It uses a pair of crossed velcro straps on the front to pull the skin towards the centre, leaving an uneven surface for the breast forms to sit against. Adhesive gel bras consist of two shaped silicon gel filled bra cups that stick to the skin of the breast using built-in re-usable adhesive, then clip together to pull the breasts together.
It is sometimes difficult to produce sufficiently feminine cleavage for trans women, even with breast augmentation surgery, because people assigned male at birth have nipple-areolar complexes set farther apart on their chests than do those assigned female at birth. Fat grafting may be used to narrow wide cleavage in trans women.
Hazards
is a problem common to the cleavage exposed for prolonged periods to UV radiation. It is characterized by hyperpigmentation, leathery texture, roughness, wrinkles, lentigines, actinic elastosis, and telangiectasias, is a common problem for the skin of the breast cleavage. Use of strong sunscreen on the cleavage area is also recommended. Some perfumes and colognes can cause a phototoxic rash out in the sun on the sides of neck, wrists and cleavage that leaves a patterned hyperpigmentation when healed.Most women have an increase of hair as they grow older, but some gets more hair on their cleavage, face and elsewhere because of hirsutism, often as a result of polycystic ovary syndrome. The hair on the cleavage is upsetting for many women. There are two ways to remove the hair — temporary and permanent (electrolysis or laser hair removal. Contraceptive pills also help.
Spending long hours sleeping on the side, which makes the top breast to bend too far past the body's midline, or long hours wearing a sports bras or a push-up bra that presses breasts together, can give cleavage wrinkles. These deep vertical creases stay longer as the collagen in skin start to breakdown with age and exposure to sun. Also women with bigger breasts, either natural or surgically enhanced, suffer more from cleavage wrinkles. Cleavage wrinkles are treated by botox.