Push-up bra voted greatest fashion invention ever

With its magical ability to make mountains out of molehills, it is the secret weapon in many women’s lingerie drawer.

No wonder the push-up bra has been hailed as the greatest-ever fashion invention.

It beat boot-cut jeans to the title in a poll of 3,000 women.

Pull-in pants, which allow the wearer to hide a wobbly stomach, came third followed by stilettos.

Film director Howard Hughes designed a type of push-up bra for Jane Russell to wear in his 1943 film The Outlaw, although Russell later claimed she never wore it.

In Canada in the 1960s, the Wonderbra was developed and it enjoyed moderate success around the world. But it was not until the early 1990s, when it was marketed with a picture of Eva Herzigova and the words “Hello Boys”, that sales started to soar.

Caroline Adams for Debenhams, which polled its customers on their fashion favourites, said: “Push-up bras have become a wardrobe weapon for millions of women across the world.

“It not only makes women feel incredibly sexy but it creates the ultimate cleavage.

Other fashion items to feature in the top 20 include stockings at 11 and the G-string at number 12. The bra-boosters known as chicken fillets also made it into the top 20, in 15th place.