Underneath, Underwear

Ladies' undergarments, like the Marshall Plan, are designed to lend support to needy areas. The help, however, is meant to be unobtrusive, and should not --via bulge, seam, ridge or twanging wire --make itself conspicuous. The U.S. foundation industry has looked for years for a brassiere that will support and uphold the female figure (and its component parts) without betraying its truss.

Last week Peter Pan Foundations, Inc. was proudly claiming to have achieved a breakthrough--a bra without any seams at all. The secret is in a new drip-dry Chemstrand nylon fiber, which, once molded, holds its shape forever. To make the bra, the lace cloth is laid over a metal replica of a well-shaped bosom. Another form, hollowed out like an Iron Maiden, clamps down and presses the cloth against the model bosom. (Most bras are cut to size 34B, the great average U.S. measurement.) When the process is complete, the curve is permanently molded into the material. There is not a seam to be seen, or to cut, bind or pucker. "The first big fashion bolt of the season," cried the Herald Tribune's Eugenia Sheppard, and its makers were ecstatically suggesting that the day was not far off when all milady's garments, from girdles to gowns, would be made of seamless moldable cloth.

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