Rather than the conservative garments worn by earlier Chinese women, women of the Tang era deliberately emphasized their cleavage. By the mid-19th century, it was generally used to mean splitting along a line of division into two or more parts. Immerse yourself in the "All I Want" campaign, where the joy of giving is intertwined with the allure of our finest collections. Around this time, cleavage-revealing gambaz gowns became accepted among married women in the Levant, where bosoms were regarded as a sign of maternity.

In aristocratic and upper-class circles, the display of breasts was at times regarded as a status symbol; a sign of beauty, wealth and social position. Wide-set breasts will have a wide cleavage even after surgery because implants cannot correct the condition. In some forms of exercise, breasts unsupported by a sports bra are exposed to greater risk of droopiness.Across history and cultures, other parts of women's bodies have sometimes been viewed as more enticing than breasts, including buttocks, legs, necks, ankles, hair, and feet. According to psychiatrist Larry Young, attraction to breasts "is a brain organization effect that occurs in straight males when they go through puberty.

The term was also applied in the evaluation of the British films The Wicked Lady (1945), starring Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Roc; Bedelia (1946), also starring Lockwood; and Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945), starring Googie Withers. century news correspondents wrote that "otherwise polite, genteel women looked like common prostitutes". In 2020, several lingerie and shapewear manufacturers, among them Wonderbra, Frederick's of Hollywood, Agent Provocateur and Victoria's Secret, produce bras that enhance cleavage and offer more than 30 types of bra, including underwire, padded, plunge and push-up bras. Director Howard Hughes' overemphasizing of her cleavage prompted the Motion Picture Association of America to take actions against the film and make the first use of the term cleavage in association with breasts.Among these mamillare was a particularly strict leather corset for suppressing women with big busts. This summer, in a blog post entitled Free the Nipple, she wrote: “I really don’t see what the big deal is with going braless. The popular style of the era was long gowns of soft fabrics that were cut with a pronounced décolletage and very wide sleeves, or a décolleté knee-length gown that was worn over a skirt.