Young (born 1988), cute and currently H-O-T, the singer Rihanna recently walked the red carpet for the 2008 Grammy Awards in a brand new Zac Posen creation that does double-duty homage to 1980s fashion trends. First, the brilliant hued blue color was ubiquitous through much of the eighties. (Below is a link to an entire column on Cobalt Blue fashions from today and the 1980s) Second, the obvious circular stitching across the bra/bodice pay tribute to no less a pop star than Madonna. (See Madonna images below from 1980s and early 90s.) Is Rihanna trying to channel Madonna's success with this dress? Did designer Zac Posen understand his own "channeling" of the 1980s Madonna influences when he had this creative vision? So, just for fun...some history and trivia and historic images of the cone bra, sometimes called bullet bra.

According to fashion-era.com, 1907 was the year when the word brassiere was first reported in an American copy of Vogue magazine.

It took a few decades before mainstream manufacturing began, one of the first, and definitely one of the most famous were the bras of the Maidenform company. In 1930, during the depression, the company made One Million Dollars selling their $1 bra. (mrbra.com)

Maidenform's biggest seller of the 1950s was their pointy Chansonette Bra. The book Uplift: The Bra in America, notes that by 1957 Maidenform had sold 30 million Chansonettes, known popularly as "the bullet bra."

To the right, a diagram of a 1950's long line cone bra...was Zac Posen, the creator of Rihanna's dress, above, getting visions of this as he created Rihanna's dress?

And below, Jean Paul Gaultier was the designer of Madonna's stage outfits for her 1990s Blond Ambition Tour...and he designed her earlier outfits (see photo above)...was he also getting visions of Chansonette Bras from some fantasy Maidenform fairy?

This column is Part Four of a series on current fashion's retro-design influences. Summaries of other columns here ...

Part One: The history of this summer's hot trend, white sunglasses. Click here for classic Audrey Hepburn video, photos of Grace Kelly, Princess Diana, Drew Barrymore, and Kate Moss ... all flashing their summer whities!

Part Two: Checking out the fashions from movie Sex and the City and noting the high retro-factor in many of the stars' fashions. Fun photos and video of behind the scenes look at creating the clothes for the four stars. Click here for this fun column.

Part Three: For more on the heavy influence of the 1980s Cobalt Blue color on today's fashions...check here ! Photos from today and 1980s...Katie Holmes, Dixie Carter, Ali Larter, Kate Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Demi Moore, Cynthia Nixon, Donna Mills, Kyra Sedgwick. Plus fun fashion video!

Part Five: The Scarf...a great accessory to that can add style even to t-shirts and jeans! Click here to see how Katie Holmes, Kate Hudson, Sienna Miller and others "do" a scarf.

Part Six: Add some Leopard prints to your wardrobe...but be careful this bold looks can go wrong! See how Katie Holmes, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez and others "do" the leopard look. Click here.

Enjoy !