I was recently re-watching Maciste all’inferno (Maciste in Hell, 1925) by Guido Brignone, an early silent film from the Maciste saga that followed the adventures of the main character, hero Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano), in Hell.
In the film Maciste represented fascist ideals, such as strength and power.
Yet in Hell he also found a woman who could challenge such fascist principles, Proserpina, played by actress Elena Sangro, with whom even poet Gabriele D’Annunzio had fallen in love with (he dedicated to her the erotic poem "Alla Piacente"). Proserpina is a man-eater, she is jealous, unkind and generally unfaithful towards her own husband Pluto who is usually mistreated by her.
In the film Proserpina wears a sort of metallic armoured bra that looks larger and slightly more solid compared to the one worn by the she-devils that surround her and in particular by Luciferina (Lucia Zanussi), Pluto’s daughter.
When the film was first released in 1925 it was censored because it presented Hell like a sort of brothel in which hordes of semi-naked women lived. In the 60s armoured bras came back into fashion, as this picture of actress Elsa Martinelli wearing sculpture-jewellery by engineer, inventor and designer Quasar Khanh proves.
I have recently seen armoured bras reappearing again in fashion, though in a different incarnation.
Italian designer Anna Ceccon created for her Moi Multiple line a series of Plexiglass jewels and accessories, among which there are also a few armoured black bras.
I quite like their look, in fact I prefer them to the armoured kind worn by Proserpina and Luciferina in Maciste all’inferno or by Elsa Martinelli. I like the sculptural yet linear quality they seem to have and I think they would be perfect if worn under a sheer top, or to create a sort of bustier dress, as shown in this picture that portrays Ceccon's design for Red Dress Italia, a campaign that promotes awareness towards the risks caused by cardiovascular illnesses.
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