In today's Love Letters to... we celebrate the inventor of a notable first: Caresse Crosby (born Mary 'Polly' Phelps), the first person to patent the bra in the United States. This happened when Caresse was a young woman, and for most people, it would have been a crowning life achievement. Not Caresse though. Patenting the bra was the first of many extraordinary adventures in a life she lived entirely her way.

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