Remember when these 1990s Wonderbra ads shocked the world?

In an era of discreet lingerie adverts, Wonderbra’s brazen billboards flipped the script on marketing and made Eva Herzigová a salacious style icon.

Controversial advertising campaigns are almost a rite of passage for brands and companies looking to grab headlines. The outrage is rarely fatal, and the innovation behind eyebrow-raising commercials often outshines the indignation generated. The infamous 1994 Wonderbra ads, which turn 30 this year, are a case in point. The poster campaign was intended to promote the trademarked plunge push-up bra — a lingerie piece first popularized in the 1960s — to a new generation of consumers. Shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, the ads featured renowned runway model Eva Herzigová in nothing more than a pair of black lacy briefs and a matching brassiere. The accompanying slogans used in the UK market were as subtle as a slow-motion wink. “Mind if I bring a couple of friends?” read one ad, as Herzigová leans forward to demonstrate the bustier’s gravity-defying technology. “Or are you just pleased to see me?” was another. But the best-known iteration of the campaign was much simpler: “Hello Boys,” it read. Push-up bras weren’t new, of course — one of the earliest padded bras dates back to 1948. The Wonderbra brand, which dates back to the late 1930s as an offering from the Canadian Lady Corset Company (later known as Canadelle), introduced its first push-up model in 1963. Canadelle first trademarked the Wonderbra name in the US in the 1950s, and later gave British hosiery brand Gossard a license to sell the bras in the UK. But in the early 1990s, Sara Lee Corporation (which by then had acquired Canadelle and wanted to expand its presence in the intimate apparel market), reclaimed the license and relaunched the Wonderbra in the US and UK markets via its own lingerie brand, Playtex.