FWD101 Model wears the "Breakthrough Backless Bra" by Maidenform designed by Elaine Cato. [Agencies]

There's a certain category of summer fashion that can send any woman unable to dispense with a bra running for the hills. Whether it's something strapless, backless, a halter, or anything else where the sight of visible bra straps is less-than-lovely, these sexy looks seem difficult, if not impossible to pull off if you're not flat-chested and able to go bra-less.

While bra manufacturers have certainly acknowledged the conundrum of wearing a bra with strapless or halter tops and have come up with a host of bra solutions (silicone-lined underwire, straps that go around the neck instead of the shoulders, to name a couple), when it comes to backless tops or dresses, there haven't been any winners. Until now.

Last week, Maidenform unveiled the "Breakthrough Backless Bra," designed by Elaine Cato, the Nashville native who appeared on the ABC show "American Inventor" last June, a sort of "American Idol" for product inventors. While her design for a 6-in-1 convertible bra didn't win the grand prize of $1 million (she was a runner-up), she took home an even bigger reward: Maidenform approached her about manufacturing a design for a backless bra.

"The concept of the "6-in-1" was that we tucked the back wings into the sides of the bra," said Cato via email on Monday, April 7. "Basically it was like the standard convertible bra, able to be worn as halter, strapless, et cetera, but also had pockets to tuck the wing into."