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27-413: BVD first manufactured bustles for women. They then became famous for their men's union suits made of heavy knitted fabric . In 1908, that bulky and tight-fitting garment was turned into a new kind of loose-fitting underwear. They went on to introduce a two-piece and the popular union suit as well as a lightweight waffle-like fabric with the advertising slogan , "Next to Myself I Like BVD Best". At

54-411: A calumny of Bulgaria. The mob surrounded the theatre, threw smoke bombs , prevented the visitors that had bought tickets from entering the theatre hall, accusing them of being traitors and threatening them, and physically assaulted the director of the play and the director of the theatre. The chocolate-cream soldier of the play has inspired a pejorative military use of the term. Israeli soldiers use

81-400: A dramatist. "It is probably the wittiest play he ever wrote, the most flawless technically, and in spite of being a very light comedy, the most telling." His other plays of the period, equally well written, were about issues that, according to Orwell, were no longer controversial at the time Orwell was writing. For example, the theme of Mrs. Warren's Profession , which so shocked audiences at

108-466: A duel, but Bluntschli evades it. Sergius and Raina break off their engagement, with some relief on both sides. Major Petkoff discovers the photograph in the pocket of his old coat; Raina and Bluntschli try to dispose of it, but Petkoff is determined to learn the truth and claims that the "chocolate-cream soldier" is Sergius. After Bluntschli confesses the whole story to Major Petkoff, Sergius proposes marriage to Louka (to Major Petkoff and Catherine's horror);

135-498: A feature of fashion on its own after the overskirt of the late 1860s was draped up toward the back and some kind of support was needed for the new draped shape. Fullness of some sort was still considered necessary to make the waist look smaller and the bustle eventually replaced the crinoline completely. The bustle was worn in different shapes for most of the 1870s and 1880s, with a short period of non-bustled, flat-backed dresses from 1878 to 1882. The bustle reappeared in late 1881, and

162-475: A photograph of herself in a pocket of the coat, inscribed "To my chocolate-cream soldier", but Bluntschli says he did not find it, and it must still be in the coat. Bluntschli gets a telegram informing him of his father's death: he must now take over the family's luxury hotels in Switzerland. Louka gossips to Sergius that Raina had protected Bluntschli and is in love with him. Sergius challenges Bluntschli to

189-565: A pocket T-shirt , and fashionable underwear made of nylon . In 1976, BVD was purchased by Fruit of the Loom . The company filed for bankruptcy in 1999 and was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway in 2001. In certain dialects of Spanish , the term bibidí , pronounced like the English initials, is an eponym for a man's sleeveless underwear T-shirt. Bustle A bustle is a padded undergarment or wire frame used to add fullness, or support

216-463: A poor "chocolate-cream soldier" than as a wealthy businessman. Bluntschli protests that he is still the same person, and she proclaims her love for him. The play ends as Bluntschli, with Swiss precision, arranges the major's troop movements and informs them he will return to marry Raina in exactly two weeks. George Orwell said that Arms and the Man was written when Shaw was at the height of his powers as

243-529: Is engaged to the Petkoffs' manservant Nicola. Bluntschli unexpectedly returns to give back the old coat, but also to see Raina. Raina and her mother are shocked when Major Petkoff and Sergius reveal that they have met Bluntschli before and invite him to lunch (and to help them figure out how to send the troops home). Left alone with Bluntschli, Raina realizes that though he sees through her romanticism, he respects her, as Sergius does not. She reveals that she left

270-469: The drapery , at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging. Heavy fabric tended to pull the back of a skirt down and flatten it. As a result a woman's petticoated skirt would lose its shape during everyday wear (from merely sitting down or moving about). Women throughout history have used various methods to shape their skirts to accentuate

297-463: The steampunk , Gothic , and Lolita subcultures. Bustles are also employed as part of period costuming in film and theatre: an example would be the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula , for which costume designer Eiko Ishioka won an Academy Award . The film features several extravagant bustle gowns created for female leads Winona Ryder and Sadie Frost . Arms and the Man Arms and

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324-648: The 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War . Its heroine, Raina Petkoff, is a young Bulgarian woman engaged to Sergius Saranoff, a battlefield hero whom she idolizes. On the night after the Battle of Slivnitza , Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary in the defeated Serbian army, climbs in through her bedroom balcony and threatens her not to give the alarm. When Russian and Bulgarian troops burst in to search for him, Raina hides him. He tells her that "nine soldiers out of ten are born fools". Bluntschli's businesslike attitude to war shocks

351-536: The Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw , whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil 's Aeneid , in Latin: Arma virumque cano ("Of arms and the man I sing"). The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Avenue Theatre and published in 1898 as part of Shaw's Plays Pleasant volume, which also included Candida , You Never Can Tell , and The Man of Destiny . Arms and

378-408: The Man was one of Shaw's first commercial successes. He was called on to stage after the curtain, where he received enthusiastic applause. Amidst the cheers, one audience member booed. Shaw riposted, "My dear fellow, I quite agree with you, but what are we two against so many?" Arms and the Man humorously exposes the futility of war and the hypocrisies of human nature. The play takes place during

405-541: The back of the hips. Padded cushions, historically called "bum rolls," "bearers," and "cork rumps," were among the many methods popular in Europe . They enjoyed sporadic popularity starting in the 16th century and were especially popular in France in the late 18th century. The crinoline was a type of integrated padded petticoat that developed from this technology. The more elaborate and specialized bustle eventually replaced

432-779: The beginning of the 1930s, BVD was purchased by the Atlas Underwear company of Piqua, Ohio . During the Great Depression , they were successful in manufacturing swimsuits for men, women and children. They patented their own fabric, Sea Satin, a rayon woven satin backed with latex for stretch. They also used knits of cotton , wool and rayon, and cellophane . Their swimsuits featured in major fashion magazines and high-fashion stores. Styles included form-fitting maillots as well as full-skirted swimsuits. They offered suits for men with detachable tops. In 1929, Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller , who went on to become

459-406: The crinolette, created a shape very similar to the one produced by a bustle. Crinolettes were more restrictive than traditional crinolines, as the flat front and bulk created around the posterior made sitting down more difficult for the wearer. The excess skirt fabric created by this alteration in shape was looped around to the back, again creating increased fullness. The bustle later developed into

486-452: The crinoline. While the wireframe bustle was popular only very briefly, simpler padded cushions returned after the bustle went out of fashion, and have remained popular. The bustle has been linked to Sarah Baartman by feminist scholars such as Anne Fausto-Sterling . Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman from South Africa , was featured as a circus attraction in Europe in the early 1800s, due to

513-399: The early stages of the fashion for the bustle, the fullness to the back of the skirts was carried quite low and often fanned out to create a train. The transition from the voluminous crinoline-enhanced skirts of the 1850s and 1860s can be seen in the loops and gathers of fabric and trimmings worn during this period. The bustle later evolved into a much more pronounced humped shape on the back of

540-501: The hips. The bustle had completely disappeared by 1905, as the long corset of the early 20th century was now successful in shaping the body to protrude behind. The bustle was also abandoned by some women for more practical dress to be able to use the newly invented bicycle . Bustles and bustle gowns are rarely worn in contemporary society. Notable exceptions survive in the realms of haute couture and bridal fashion , in addition to dedicated Neo-Victorian aesthetic circles including

567-553: The idealistic Raina, especially after he admits that he uses his ammunition pouches to carry chocolates rather than pistol cartridges. When the search dies down, Raina and her mother Catherine sneak him out of the house, disguised in one of Raina's father's old coats. The war ends and Raina's father, Major Paul Petkoff, returns home with Sergius. Raina begins to find Sergius bombastic and tiresome, but she hides it. Sergius also finds Raina's romantic ideals tiresome, and flirts with Raina's insolent servant girl Louka (a soubrette role), who

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594-470: The manservant Nicola quietly and gallantly lets Sergius have her; and Bluntschli, recognising Nicola's merits, offers him a job as hotel manager. While Raina is now unattached, Bluntschli protests that—being 34 and believing she is 17—he is too old for her. On learning that she is actually 23, he immediately proposes and shows her the telegram announcing his inheritance. Raina, realizing the hollowness of her romantic ideals, protests that she would prefer him as

621-470: The most famous Tarzan in motion pictures , was hired as a model and representative. He was featured at swim shows throughout the country wearing the BVD brand of swimsuits, handing out leaflets and giving autographs . In 1951, the brand was purchased by Superior Mills. BVD was first to start packaging underwear in plastic bags for the mass market . In the 1960s and 1970s, they started introducing sportops,

648-471: The particular abundance of tissue on her buttocks. This phenotype is called steatopygia . It is not a medical disorder, but it has a genetic cause which is common in Khoisan and Pygmy peoples but rare in Europe. However, the use of padded cushions and petticoats to accentuate the general shape of the buttocks was already well-established in Europe in the 16th century, long before Sarah Baartman. In

675-429: The skirt immediately below the waist, with the fabric of the skirts falling quite sharply to the floor, changing the shape of the silhouette. As the fashion for crinolines wore on, their shape changed. Instead of the large bell-like silhouette previously in vogue, they began to flatten out at the front and sides, creating more fullness at the back of the skirts. This style was known as the "train". One type of crinoline,

702-455: The time, was that the causes of prostitution are mainly economic, which was already a common opinion in Orwell's time, and the play Widowers' Houses was an attack on slum landlords, who had since become stock villains. In 2024, an attempt to stage John Malkovich 's production of the play at Ivan Vazov National Theatre of Bulgaria was targeted by nationalist protesters that considered it

729-418: Was exaggerated to become a major fashion feature in the mid and late 1880s, in 1885 reaching preposterous proportions to modern eyes, as used in the play Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw . The fashion for large bustles ended in 1889. The bustle then survived into the 1890s and early 20th century, as a skirt support was still needed and the curve the bustle provided on the back of the body emphasized

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