Marilyn Monroe: 1950s-style Wonderbra up for auction

Marilyn Monroe: 1950s-style Wonderbra up for auction

A Bra, which belonged to Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s is going up for auction.

Some of experts said on wednesday that the Hollywood beauty had increased her famous curves by wearing a complex piece of underwear that was the 1950s equivalent of a Wonderbra.

Monroe had enhanced her chest using a double cup and a system of straps that resembled a suspension bridge.

Richard Davie, from International Autograph Auctions, said, "We're expecting a lot of excitement and interest from fans. The bra looks very complicated at first glance and it actually has four cups inside it – sort of like an early Wonderbra. There's an inner cup which it almost hidden, which would support her chest as normal. But then there's another larger cup about an inch further out, to give the impression she had a bigger chest".

The garment is expected to fetch £2,000 when it goes up for auction on Saturday.

Katie Halford, a designer for the vintage lingerie firm What Katie Did, said the style was known as a "fling" bra.

Halford said, "They were a bit naughty. They were worn by strippers and burlesque artists in the 1940s and 1950s. Marilyn Monroe didn't like wearing underwear and, if she could get away with it, she wouldn't wear any".

Marilyn Monroe, whose real name is Norma Jean Baker, was born on June 1, 1926 and her untimely death from a drug overdose caused scandal in 1962.

On August 5, 1962, police sergeant Jack Clemmons of Los Angeles Police Department received a call from Dr. Ralph Greenson, her psychiatrist, proclaiming that Monroe was dead at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. At the subsequent autopsy, eight milligram percent of Chloral Hydrate and 4.5 milligram percent of Nembutal were found in her system.

The star was most famous for her curvy figure, with estimates of her vital statistics settling on 37C-24-35.