Neckline

The appearance of the neckline is associated with the development of tailor's art: clothes made of inelastic fabrics due to the cut began to fit to the body, fastened with buttons, however, began to constrain movements more. This led to the fact that previously tightly closed vests began to open first the neck, and then the chest. Often, noble women put on overcoat over closed clothing (outerwear with or without sleeves, with a large neckline, emphasizing the slimness of the waist, the width of the hips and the plasticity of the chest) ^[1] .

Neckline in the modern sense of the word appeared in the XIV century , in Burgundy , at the court of Isabella of Bavaria ^[2] . Clothing began to fit even more to the body, in women's clothing, due to the high waist, the chest is raised high and protrudes forward, a deep V-neck cuts the bodice of the dress and sometimes is covered with a lower shirt (in fact, forming the neckline). In addition, at this time the neckline begins to open not only the chest, but also the back ^[3] .

Fashion of that time was condemned by the guardians of morals, nevertheless, in the Renaissance era , the neckline was preserved, became an ordinary detail of a women's dress. However, during the Spanish court during the mannerism, it was customary to hide the neckline with wide lace collars ^[1] .

Subsequently, the fashionable shape of the neckline often changed, most often it depended on the new whim of the favorites of kings ^[4] . Neckline is often decorated with ribbons, lace , bows , powder .

In the XIX century, the neckline decreased, especially in day dresses. A double standard arose: the day dress was supposed to be modest, the evening dress could be considered decent, despite the neckline.

Between World Wars, fashion has changed a lot. Due to the rejection of corsets and the introduction into fashion of bras that did not lift and flatten the chest, the neckline moved to the back, where it became deeper ^{[1] [2]} .

In the 1930s, the fashion on the neckline was temporarily replaced by the fashion for dresses on the straps (while their top was a kind of neckline), in the early 1940s, the neckline temporarily went out of fashion in all kinds. However, in the 1950s, a bra was invented in its modern form, and the neckline again became a frequent detail of women's clothing ^[2] .

During the sexual revolution , the boundaries of what was permitted in the decollete of clothes practically disappeared.

In Russia, the code of a business woman forbidding the neckline, cuts that determine the length of hair and the length of skirts, was developed in the 1930s and 1940s; the neckline is still a forbidden part of a business women's suit ^{[5] [6] [7]} . Sometimes the ban on the neckline is introduced in other areas, for example, the organizers of the Wimbledon tennis tournament forbade athletes from participating in the neckline and miniskirts ^[8] .

• Metressa Charles VII , Agnes Sorel , brought the idea of ​​the neckline to the complete (apart from transparent light tissue) opening of one of the breasts, which was first demonstrated at her public repentance. In history, this remained under the name moult belle contrition de ses péchés - “the most beautiful contrition of her sins by Agnes Sorel” ^[9] .
• Catherine de Medici , who had a strong influence on modern fashion, came up with a way to deceive the fighters for morality: at the court they wore dresses that were decent to the neck, with “windows” cut out in the neckline ^[2] .
• Angelica de Fontange began to decorate the neckline with flies after her opponent tried to poison her, and the skin on her chest was poisoned by poison ^[2] .

• Cleavege