Maidenform, started by Ida Rosenthal in 1924, changed women’s apparel forever. These images are important pieces of history that speak volumes about the company and its influence on American culture. Maidenform employees posing outside the front doors of a factory in 1950. A woman at work in a Maidenform factory in 1950. Beatrice Coleman, daughter and successor to Ida Rosenthal at Maidenform, stands with Head Designer Ray Pioli (c. 1970). Enid Bissett opened a small dress shop called Enid Frocks with Ida Rosenthal in New York City in 1922. A Word War II paratrooper exiting the hatch of an airplane, carrying a homing pigeon in his Maidenform vest. Maidenform created these vests to secure a “declaration of essentiality” and keep their factories open.