What is Cleavage?

Cleavage is one of those words that gets bandied about a lot when talking about breasts. Good breasts have it, and bad ones don't, but what is it? Is all cleavage good, and if not, what is good cleavage?

This post is inspired by my downright outrage that anyone would have the audacity to claim that Audrina Patridge has the "best cleavage," and I think that the image selection shows how loosely (and inappropriately) the term is used.

Cleavage comes from the word cleave, so it implies that it's a break between the breasts. What kind of break? Partly connotatively, I imagine a narrow cleft, but it's not just my imagination that puts the two together. In the past, cleavage was used to describe when a woman was wearing clothes that revealed a lot of decolletage, with the breasts being pushed up and together by supportive undergarments.

Breast-displaying fashion in the 90s was driven by the audacity of hip-hop and pop stars who delighted in showing as much "side-boob" as possible. This was partly a way they sought to make the most of what they had. Relatively small-breasted, but noting that images containing their delightful posteriors made their faces smaller and less recognizeable, they wanted to get maximum attention for their breasts and their faces.

This led to fashions that let breasts hang loose, free, and separate, so the term "cleavage" came to be used to describe the sometimes gaping chasm between these women's smallish breasts, and that's how it's dominantly used today. It no longer describes breasts when they are bro
ught together to mimic the curves of a full, round ass--it just refers to any old space between a woman's breasts.

So what makes good cleavage? In my mind, the traditional cleavage, like that Scarlett Johansson showed in The Spirit promo shot I talked about, is still the best. You want a couple more examples? Why, sure, I'll even give you three, with different body types: Heidi Klum, Salma Hayek, and Mad Men's Christina Hendricks.



Next best, I would say, and preferable in swimsuits and dresses that let breasts hang loose, is a rounded valley, like fertile, rolling hills. Good examples are Salma Hayek in the picture a couple weeks back, Bar Rafaeli, and Kelly Brook.









Worst of all is what Audrina Patridge has in the picture above: a bony hollow between two sagging sacks--unfortunately similar to what Lindsay Lohan is also showing to the right after losing a great deal of weight. Lindsay used to be more attractive, but now, eh. Of course Patridge has it worse, because the pose shows one of the perils of subglandular placement of breast implants: they can look like "oranges in socks" if not properly done.

Anyway, them's my thoughts on cleavage.