Let's take a look at the design of the bra and the limits it imposes.
December 30, 2020 6:18 PM Subscribe
"As the only person in North America with a master's degree in lingerie design, I've spent a lot of time studying bras." - Laura Tempesta gives a TEDx talk about bra design and fit (YouTube).
Also in this post: why are bralettes so popular?
“Bralettes are an easy access point for a lot of new and young designers either who don’t have the technical background or expertise to make underwires, or who have it and maybe don’t have the time to spend sewing and pattern grading all the sizes that would require.” - How Bralettes Became the New Normal (StyleCaster)
This isn't the chart from the video, but for a visual of sister sizes look here.
Bra comedy: Shalewa Sharpe talks about targeted bra ads, the number of bra companies, and underwire. (YouTube)
Previously.
“Bralettes are an easy access point for a lot of new and young designers either who don’t have the technical background or expertise to make underwires, or who have it and maybe don’t have the time to spend sewing and pattern grading all the sizes that would require.” - How Bralettes Became the New Normal (StyleCaster)
This isn't the chart from the video, but for a visual of sister sizes look here.
Bra comedy: Shalewa Sharpe talks about targeted bra ads, the number of bra companies, and underwire. (YouTube)
Previously.
Yeah, I'm not even clear if the bra I am currently wearing is foam or nonstretch fabric or something else. She's not even going to say where she got her bra? Looks like it fits great!
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:48 PM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:48 PM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bralettes don’t judge me.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:02 PM on December 30, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 9:02 PM on December 30, 2020 [14 favorites]
I am very interested in this subject, would love to see some real improvement in designing garments that support breasts better, but her cutesy pooh manner really turned me off. I want a team of women engineers and seamstresses running studies and generating prototypes, not someone patting me on the head about bras not preventing sagging and somehow making this about me being empowered.
Fuck empowered, I just want to be comfortable.
posted by emjaybee at 10:11 PM on December 30, 2020 [41 favorites]
Fuck empowered, I just want to be comfortable.
posted by emjaybee at 10:11 PM on December 30, 2020 [41 favorites]
I love bralettes. They're comfy, I can find one that fits, and they don't make me feel miserable about my body. They're perfect
posted by the tulips are too red in the first place at 1:03 AM on December 31, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by the tulips are too red in the first place at 1:03 AM on December 31, 2020 [9 favorites]
I was hoping she'd talk about design improvements in bra, but no. The speech was much improved by listening to it at 1.25 speed (available from the gear at the bottom of the video).
There was actual information about bras and sizing, but I wish it had been in about five paragraphs of text with the social generalizations left out.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:52 AM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
There was actual information about bras and sizing, but I wish it had been in about five paragraphs of text with the social generalizations left out.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:52 AM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
The most useful boob information I got this year was from from the mammogram tech who said "Well, I see you've lost weight since last time." One cup size and two band inches, as later confirmed by the bra fitter. Even when I think I have this confusing shit figured out, it changes!
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:44 AM on December 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:44 AM on December 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
I feel like an hour on the brathatfits subreddit gives more info than this maddening Ted talk.
Agreed! I used their bra size calculator and am finally comfortable
posted by Morpeth at 5:54 AM on December 31, 2020 [5 favorites]
Agreed! I used their bra size calculator and am finally comfortable
posted by Morpeth at 5:54 AM on December 31, 2020 [5 favorites]
The comfiest, best-fitting bra I have ever worn was a vintage one from the 40s with no underwire and almost no elastic and magical antigravity powers. If that was achievable 80 years ago with nothing but woven cotton, careful construction, and moxie, it should be achievable now. But the modern garment industry being what it is, probably not.
posted by nonasuch at 7:18 AM on December 31, 2020 [23 favorites]
posted by nonasuch at 7:18 AM on December 31, 2020 [23 favorites]
That TedX talk is very disappointing, there's barely anything worthwhile in it (a few seconds showing a sizing chart, nothing more). The most frustrating moment for me is when she misinterprets the audience laughing in (imo) horror at the inconvenience and expense of having to replace all your bras every year, and seems to think the audience is just surprised to find out this fantastic new life hack. SMH.
It seems like most of the so-called "information" that exists around bra sizing is just telling us over and over and over again that we are wearing the wrong size, with zero guidance on what to fix or how or where or with whose help.
The only help that does exist is on the subreddit r/ABraThatFits but that place has such extreme strictures that it has the vibe of a cult! A bra that fits correctly never leaves marks on your skin? A bra that fits correctly never leaves any extra flesh at your armpits? A bra that fits correctly will have a center that sits flush against your breastbone? A bra that fits correctly won't look at all lumpy on your back? I mean, come on. I hardly know whether this is cultish gaslighting to convince everyone of nonexistent bra fit standards or the fatphobic tendency to erase fat people from existence or rich folks assuming everyone can afford some magical $700 bra? I suspect it's a combination of all three. So even though it has been helpful to me, I have to dial the advice in that place down by 90% to even hear what they're saying, and I have no idea which of all their unrealistic-sounding standards are in fact legit.
posted by MiraK at 8:03 AM on December 31, 2020 [27 favorites]
It seems like most of the so-called "information" that exists around bra sizing is just telling us over and over and over again that we are wearing the wrong size, with zero guidance on what to fix or how or where or with whose help.
The only help that does exist is on the subreddit r/ABraThatFits but that place has such extreme strictures that it has the vibe of a cult! A bra that fits correctly never leaves marks on your skin? A bra that fits correctly never leaves any extra flesh at your armpits? A bra that fits correctly will have a center that sits flush against your breastbone? A bra that fits correctly won't look at all lumpy on your back? I mean, come on. I hardly know whether this is cultish gaslighting to convince everyone of nonexistent bra fit standards or the fatphobic tendency to erase fat people from existence or rich folks assuming everyone can afford some magical $700 bra? I suspect it's a combination of all three. So even though it has been helpful to me, I have to dial the advice in that place down by 90% to even hear what they're saying, and I have no idea which of all their unrealistic-sounding standards are in fact legit.
posted by MiraK at 8:03 AM on December 31, 2020 [27 favorites]
I've long given up on TEDx talks. TED operates an insane level of quality control, as discussed by Tim Urban from when he did his talk. TEDx events have limited oversight by TED and most of the resulting talks are... not great.
posted by zekesonxx at 10:20 AM on December 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by zekesonxx at 10:20 AM on December 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
My grandmother made all her own bras from first to last. It’s one of my biggest regrets that I never bothered to learn those skills from her.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:33 AM on December 31, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:33 AM on December 31, 2020 [5 favorites]
woven cotton, careful construction, and moxie
Moxie!
posted by clew at 12:20 PM on December 31, 2020 [5 favorites]
Moxie!
posted by clew at 12:20 PM on December 31, 2020 [5 favorites]
> I used their bra size calculator and am finally comfortable
I used it and am uncomfortable in a different way from how I was uncomfortable before.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:38 PM on December 31, 2020 [14 favorites]
I used it and am uncomfortable in a different way from how I was uncomfortable before.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:38 PM on December 31, 2020 [14 favorites]
I hardly know whether this is cultish gaslighting to convince everyone of nonexistent bra fit standards or the fatphobic tendency to erase fat people from existence or rich folks assuming everyone can afford some magical $700 bra?
I am not sure how their standards are "cultish gaslighting"? Providing fit guidance is not the same as saying you're a bad person if you can't find a bra that hits those standards. I feel like it's always been pretty clear in the community that the difficulty of finding bras that fit properly are not because people's bodies are wrong, it's because the bra-making industry is pretty shitty and bra construction is complex.
posted by Anonymous at 1:57 PM on December 31, 2020
I am not sure how their standards are "cultish gaslighting"? Providing fit guidance is not the same as saying you're a bad person if you can't find a bra that hits those standards. I feel like it's always been pretty clear in the community that the difficulty of finding bras that fit properly are not because people's bodies are wrong, it's because the bra-making industry is pretty shitty and bra construction is complex.
posted by Anonymous at 1:57 PM on December 31, 2020
Honest yet seemingly rhetorical question.
Why is this still a thing that hasn't been solved? Along with shoes that make your feet bleed, and clothes without pockets. I really don't get it.
It's the opposite of the old joke about "if men got periods*, they would have worked that shit out long ago; "Hey You, all the money and science, get over here, we got a problem. No put the cancer tubes down, this is important".
Do you have your Top Women working on this right now?
Why has no one built a better blousetrap?
posted by bartleby at 2:07 PM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
Why is this still a thing that hasn't been solved? Along with shoes that make your feet bleed, and clothes without pockets. I really don't get it.
It's the opposite of the old joke about "if men got periods*, they would have worked that shit out long ago; "Hey You, all the money and science, get over here, we got a problem. No put the cancer tubes down, this is important".
Do you have your Top Women working on this right now?
Why has no one built a better blousetrap?
posted by bartleby at 2:07 PM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
I am not sure how their standards are "cultish gaslighting"?
Scientologists tell you that when you're Clear, you will become telepathic. A Bra That Fits tells you that when you achieve the Correct Fit, your bra straps will no longer leave marks on your body. This is cultish gaslighting because neither telepathy nor mark-free bra straps are real things that exist in our universe except perhaps under purely accidental circumstances, yet they are touted as capacities that advanced practitioners of the art - clearing thetans or fitting bras - can supposedly achieve.
posted by MiraK at 2:19 PM on December 31, 2020 [10 favorites]
Scientologists tell you that when you're Clear, you will become telepathic. A Bra That Fits tells you that when you achieve the Correct Fit, your bra straps will no longer leave marks on your body. This is cultish gaslighting because neither telepathy nor mark-free bra straps are real things that exist in our universe except perhaps under purely accidental circumstances, yet they are touted as capacities that advanced practitioners of the art - clearing thetans or fitting bras - can supposedly achieve.
posted by MiraK at 2:19 PM on December 31, 2020 [10 favorites]
Um, why in the world should I not keep a bra for more than a year? How about she uses that master's degree and engineer some bras that can last as long as, oh, every other piece of clothing that I own?
posted by hydra77 at 2:32 PM on December 31, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by hydra77 at 2:32 PM on December 31, 2020 [12 favorites]
I wonder if bra fitting would be less mysterious if it wasn't bundled up with social norms that bras should hide your nipples and give you round, smooth Barbie boobs. I know I have bought bras that didn't fit *perfectly* but they had good nip coverage which is surprisingly hard to find* Like... what would bra fitting be like if we were truly shopping just for comfort and not "make my boobs look the way we think boobs should look instead of how they actually look." I realize some shoppers don't care about this, but the industry seems modeled on designing bras that struggle to meet a mutually exclusive model of "comfortable, but sexy!"
*Flashbacks to my mom mildly shaming me for buying semi-padded bras in my teens because I was "big enough" already, and what 16 year old wants to say "it's for my big, apparently promiscuous nipples, mom"
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:40 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
*Flashbacks to my mom mildly shaming me for buying semi-padded bras in my teens because I was "big enough" already, and what 16 year old wants to say "it's for my big, apparently promiscuous nipples, mom"
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:40 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
Um, why in the world should I not keep a bra for more than a year?
The irony of saying this so smugly, not bothering to even give us a reason for it, after spending the first half of her talk telling us even more smugly that bras don't matter and support isn't necessary....! Phew.
I wonder if bra fitting would be less mysterious if it wasn't bundled up with social norms that bras should hide your nipples and give you round, smooth Barbie boobs.
IDK, what I look for is support so my boobs don't flop painfully if I walk fast/run/jump; separation so I don't develop swamp issues between boobs; and no painful poking, itching, or chafing. It's REALLY hard to find bras that do all three!
posted by MiraK at 2:42 PM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
The irony of saying this so smugly, not bothering to even give us a reason for it, after spending the first half of her talk telling us even more smugly that bras don't matter and support isn't necessary....! Phew.
I wonder if bra fitting would be less mysterious if it wasn't bundled up with social norms that bras should hide your nipples and give you round, smooth Barbie boobs.
IDK, what I look for is support so my boobs don't flop painfully if I walk fast/run/jump; separation so I don't develop swamp issues between boobs; and no painful poking, itching, or chafing. It's REALLY hard to find bras that do all three!
posted by MiraK at 2:42 PM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
But how long can we keep our bralettes for??
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:42 PM on December 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:42 PM on December 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
The bra comparison 100 years ago versus today was really cherry picked. My bras look nothing like that. My bras are a marvel of modern engineering. They either make me look how I want to look by lifting them high or they hold my breasts in place so I can run without pain.
It might not be a big deal to replace your bras once a year if you are buying $12 bras from Target, but my bras easily cost more quadruple that.
I find it really condescending to say that bra wearers are doing it wrong rather than placing the blame on an outdated system. I would buy pants with workout pockets if they existed in the style I want, but haven’t found them yet. That isn’t me doing pants shopping wrong. The demand is there. There is just no supply.
posted by Monday at 3:15 PM on December 31, 2020 [11 favorites]
It might not be a big deal to replace your bras once a year if you are buying $12 bras from Target, but my bras easily cost more quadruple that.
I find it really condescending to say that bra wearers are doing it wrong rather than placing the blame on an outdated system. I would buy pants with workout pockets if they existed in the style I want, but haven’t found them yet. That isn’t me doing pants shopping wrong. The demand is there. There is just no supply.
posted by Monday at 3:15 PM on December 31, 2020 [11 favorites]
Bra fitting advice is always wrong on the outliers. I have natural cleavage - the gore sitting against my sternum will always be pushing my breast tissue into an unnatural configuration which leads to weirdly loading the band. The tissue is also naturally wider than my ribcage, so to deal with that I need a bra with a much deeper cup configuration than is standard. Polish bras are okay but I am also top heavy in terms of breast shape even at my ridiculous size, so there are very few bras even in my size least of all with appropriate configuration for my admittedly extreme outlier shape.
The way I am shaped, naturally, is considered either impossible or excessively slutty. I don't want violently coloured prints and lace (I don't mind pretty things but it's often a morass of brutal red, animal print, or a combination) I just want a bra to wear under my shirts. The 'everything in big sizes is grandma beige' has not been my experience except for nursing bras - I mostly have to work out which combination of print and lace is least disruptive. The structural nature of a bra at my size is paramount, but it is never going to be something that has no effect on my body - it is hoisting many many pounds of flesh into an unnatural state of immobility and has to anchor somewhere. But bra fitting advice ignores that, because my body is an outlier. Spaces that make me feel even more abnormal when attempting to find a garment I wear every single day are unwelcoming. It's difficult enough when I realise the brand is American and thus has nothing even approaching my size, that the 'inclusive' brands exclude me (I'm looking at you, androgynous and butch wear than has literally no space for breasts). Add in the excessively dictatorial assumptions around fit that literally erase my body? Or brands that assume anyone with my size and shape is surgically augmented, or interested in explicitly sexual/ornamental underwear? It makes for discomfort that goes well beyond the three year old bras I generally wear.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:55 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
The way I am shaped, naturally, is considered either impossible or excessively slutty. I don't want violently coloured prints and lace (I don't mind pretty things but it's often a morass of brutal red, animal print, or a combination) I just want a bra to wear under my shirts. The 'everything in big sizes is grandma beige' has not been my experience except for nursing bras - I mostly have to work out which combination of print and lace is least disruptive. The structural nature of a bra at my size is paramount, but it is never going to be something that has no effect on my body - it is hoisting many many pounds of flesh into an unnatural state of immobility and has to anchor somewhere. But bra fitting advice ignores that, because my body is an outlier. Spaces that make me feel even more abnormal when attempting to find a garment I wear every single day are unwelcoming. It's difficult enough when I realise the brand is American and thus has nothing even approaching my size, that the 'inclusive' brands exclude me (I'm looking at you, androgynous and butch wear than has literally no space for breasts). Add in the excessively dictatorial assumptions around fit that literally erase my body? Or brands that assume anyone with my size and shape is surgically augmented, or interested in explicitly sexual/ornamental underwear? It makes for discomfort that goes well beyond the three year old bras I generally wear.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:55 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
The only help that does exist is on the subreddit r/ABraThatFits but that place has such extreme strictures that it has the vibe of a cult! A bra that fits correctly never leaves marks on your skin?
Those aren't strictures on what anyone can wear, they are fitting guides to help a person determine which fit issues come into play and how they might be mitigated. In some cases they can't! From their FAQ:
Q: Are red marks from my bra a bad thing?
A: Red marks are not a bad sign unless they are painful or last more than about an hour after removing your bra. Bra bands are elastic and need to grip your body in order to support you, much like the elastic in underwear and socks, and so if they are doing their job they will leave some marks.
It's perfectly fine to not like the subreddit, but they even point out in the FAQ that no one has to wear a bra that "fits", wear a bra at all, or take the advice of the subreddit in any way whatsoever. At no point does it say that a perfect bra has to be all the ways that you describe and that's what people must wear.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:56 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
Those aren't strictures on what anyone can wear, they are fitting guides to help a person determine which fit issues come into play and how they might be mitigated. In some cases they can't! From their FAQ:
Q: Are red marks from my bra a bad thing?
A: Red marks are not a bad sign unless they are painful or last more than about an hour after removing your bra. Bra bands are elastic and need to grip your body in order to support you, much like the elastic in underwear and socks, and so if they are doing their job they will leave some marks.
It's perfectly fine to not like the subreddit, but they even point out in the FAQ that no one has to wear a bra that "fits", wear a bra at all, or take the advice of the subreddit in any way whatsoever. At no point does it say that a perfect bra has to be all the ways that you describe and that's what people must wear.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:56 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
I fucking hate my 34GG breasts and that it is primarily because there is no way to clothe them that that does not make me desperately uncomfortable at all times. Sometimes I wonder what life might have been had I not had to lug this cumbersome mass around. The ability to live in bralettes is something that I dream of like people dream of a lottery win. This vid has nought for me.
posted by freya_lamb at 7:26 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by freya_lamb at 7:26 PM on December 31, 2020 [8 favorites]
A while ago I read an interesting post-mortem of a company that was trying to solve the problems of bra sizing with math, the Internet, and maybe a little Artificial Intelligence. It's way more interesting than it sounds, and brings science to a lot of the points raised in this thread.
posted by rhizome at 9:24 PM on December 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 9:24 PM on December 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
I fucking hate my 34GG breasts and that it is primarily because there is no way to clothe them that that does not make me desperately uncomfortable at all times. Sometimes I wonder what life might have been had I not had to lug this cumbersome mass around. The ability to live in bralettes is something that I dream of like people dream of a lottery win. This vid has nought for me.
34FF and, ugh, pendulous here and trans masc non-binary to boot and my life has gotten a lot more better since I gave up on the $120 underwire bras that /r/abrathatfits told me to buy, which felt like heavy corsetry, and started wearing nothing but sports bras (or, as I've heard them called online, bras for butches . . . ). Mostly ones that cost around $7, mostly from Amazon, though I have one of these that I essential wear as a binder (sorry, gc2b, but if underworks couldn't flatten me I don't think you can, either) but also a bunch of these that are totally "bras to wear around the house so my boobs don't look all swingy and weird" and they feel like more or less nothing--I can sleep in them, have, if I've been in a situation where I don't want to wake up braless. It's not perfect--I think I need more of the core10 ones based on how euphoric I feel in it and good god do I contemplate top surgery at times--but it's better than when I was doing the underwire thing, which frequently made me crawl out of my skin with discomfort.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:16 PM on December 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
34FF and, ugh, pendulous here and trans masc non-binary to boot and my life has gotten a lot more better since I gave up on the $120 underwire bras that /r/abrathatfits told me to buy, which felt like heavy corsetry, and started wearing nothing but sports bras (or, as I've heard them called online, bras for butches . . . ). Mostly ones that cost around $7, mostly from Amazon, though I have one of these that I essential wear as a binder (sorry, gc2b, but if underworks couldn't flatten me I don't think you can, either) but also a bunch of these that are totally "bras to wear around the house so my boobs don't look all swingy and weird" and they feel like more or less nothing--I can sleep in them, have, if I've been in a situation where I don't want to wake up braless. It's not perfect--I think I need more of the core10 ones based on how euphoric I feel in it and good god do I contemplate top surgery at times--but it's better than when I was doing the underwire thing, which frequently made me crawl out of my skin with discomfort.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:16 PM on December 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
From the customer point of view what's missing is that for a lot of body types and use cases, bralettes and sports bras (which really are "bralettes with more heavy duty fabric") are plain more comfortable than heavily constructed underwire, exactly because they're more forgiving for varieties in body form.
I have E-cups that are set apart and wide enough at the base to get away without a bra under loose clothing, and that was how I dressed for years because getting even expensive specialty corsetry to fit me was an exercise in "how much rib pain I can actually withstand on a daily basis", usually giving up around the tenth one the bra fitter threw at me in despair. I now have half a dozen of these and pre-pandemic, I actually showed up in a bra every day because they're as comfy as a t-shirt and as forgiving. That model goes up to F, but I know people up to H who have been converted to no-underwire ways.
Mass-produced clothing always fits some finite number of model bodies, and the more rigid it is, the less tolerance. I fully believe that a made-to-measure underwire bra could be amazingly comfortable on me, but considering how fast elastic wears out, if I do ever spend that kind of money it'll be for a custom corset instead.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 3:19 AM on January 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have E-cups that are set apart and wide enough at the base to get away without a bra under loose clothing, and that was how I dressed for years because getting even expensive specialty corsetry to fit me was an exercise in "how much rib pain I can actually withstand on a daily basis", usually giving up around the tenth one the bra fitter threw at me in despair. I now have half a dozen of these and pre-pandemic, I actually showed up in a bra every day because they're as comfy as a t-shirt and as forgiving. That model goes up to F, but I know people up to H who have been converted to no-underwire ways.
Mass-produced clothing always fits some finite number of model bodies, and the more rigid it is, the less tolerance. I fully believe that a made-to-measure underwire bra could be amazingly comfortable on me, but considering how fast elastic wears out, if I do ever spend that kind of money it'll be for a custom corset instead.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 3:19 AM on January 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
I went underwire free in 2020 and it was one of my best decisions.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 5:38 AM on January 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Gin and Broadband at 5:38 AM on January 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
I've worked from home since mid-March 2020 and I haven't left my apartment since September 24. Bras are only an abstract concept to me. Benefit: it's one less thing to think about.
posted by bendy at 11:59 PM on January 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by bendy at 11:59 PM on January 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
I own about 50 bras. Some are Lane Bryant, some Target, some from Ross. I'm a 44b. I round robin them and hand wash. My tits are important to me. I love them. Didn't always, but at 49, they are a constant comfort and joy.
I'm not watching that.
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 4:26 AM on January 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm not watching that.
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 4:26 AM on January 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
To all my fellow large topped mefites, I, too, have suffered the cages and tribulations that is modern bras and after searching high and low, Change Lingerie saved me. I'm a 34K and K isn't even the largest size they make. They're incredibly well engineered, come in a range of colours, cup shapes, and styles, and K isn't even the biggest size they make.
Based on the deeply familiar complaints here, I'm also going to skip the talk, but I couldn't in good conscience go without offering my bra saviours to you all.
posted by foxtongue at 7:22 AM on January 2, 2021
Based on the deeply familiar complaints here, I'm also going to skip the talk, but I couldn't in good conscience go without offering my bra saviours to you all.
posted by foxtongue at 7:22 AM on January 2, 2021
Elastic puts pressure on your body. If the elastic is stretched to fit, the elastic will return to its original length. "Comfort" elastic applies ~3 lbs of pressure. "Power" elastic can apply up to 30 lb of pressure.
Prior to the 1920's, breasts were controlled and contained by corsets. Corsets were made of woven material and they did not stretch. Any adjustments in fit were made by the lacing or the hook-and-eye closures. Also, corsets distribute the weight of supporting the breasts over the rib cage and back. Shoulder straps are not intended to support from above.
LONGLINE BRA
Exquisite Form Fully FRONT CLOSURE Original Longline Posture Bra has hook and eye closure. Cups and body are made from non-stretch, woven cotton/polyester blend to provide superior support. The non-stretch, 3-piece seamed cups give an uplifted, soft feminine silhouette. Mesh paneling and a secure elastic base help the bra to conform to your body, and non-stretch cushioned shoulder straps offer the ultimate support. Be very honest with yourself about your chest measurement. Don't use historical measurements or the sizes from bras in your lingerie drawer. MEASURE yourself in a supportive non-padded bra.
SARI/SAREE BLOUSE
Also interesting: the saree blouse worn with a traditional sari worn by women of South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, SriLanka). Originally made of lightweight woven fabric, it is fitted with darts and has a wide band under the breasts. Instead of narrow straps, it has shoulders and sleeves.
Here are instructions for drafting a pattern made to your own measurements.
Some vendors on the internet, Etsy, and Ebay will design and sew a custom fit sari blouse to your measurements. Always ask for 2 rows of hook-and-eye tape, which allows you to tighten or loosen the fit.
posted by ohshenandoah at 11:44 AM on January 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
Prior to the 1920's, breasts were controlled and contained by corsets. Corsets were made of woven material and they did not stretch. Any adjustments in fit were made by the lacing or the hook-and-eye closures. Also, corsets distribute the weight of supporting the breasts over the rib cage and back. Shoulder straps are not intended to support from above.
LONGLINE BRA
Exquisite Form Fully FRONT CLOSURE Original Longline Posture Bra has hook and eye closure. Cups and body are made from non-stretch, woven cotton/polyester blend to provide superior support. The non-stretch, 3-piece seamed cups give an uplifted, soft feminine silhouette. Mesh paneling and a secure elastic base help the bra to conform to your body, and non-stretch cushioned shoulder straps offer the ultimate support. Be very honest with yourself about your chest measurement. Don't use historical measurements or the sizes from bras in your lingerie drawer. MEASURE yourself in a supportive non-padded bra.
SARI/SAREE BLOUSE
Also interesting: the saree blouse worn with a traditional sari worn by women of South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, SriLanka). Originally made of lightweight woven fabric, it is fitted with darts and has a wide band under the breasts. Instead of narrow straps, it has shoulders and sleeves.
Here are instructions for drafting a pattern made to your own measurements.
Some vendors on the internet, Etsy, and Ebay will design and sew a custom fit sari blouse to your measurements. Always ask for 2 rows of hook-and-eye tape, which allows you to tighten or loosen the fit.
posted by ohshenandoah at 11:44 AM on January 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
I am rapidly oscillating between "I am an awesome mad scientist" and "I am a clueless techbro" imagining magnetorheological fabrics for breast support instead of hypothetical bulletproof vests.
I know, I know. "Why not both?"
ohshenandoah, the force distribution mechanics of corsetry had not occurred to me at all. Neat! Thanks for posting.
posted by effugas at 4:16 PM on January 3, 2021
I know, I know. "Why not both?"
ohshenandoah, the force distribution mechanics of corsetry had not occurred to me at all. Neat! Thanks for posting.
posted by effugas at 4:16 PM on January 3, 2021
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I feel like an hour on the brathatfits subreddit gives more info than this maddening Ted talk. But also, I love reading about bras, so thanks for the in depth post!
posted by Valancy Rachel at 7:11 PM on December 30, 2020 [12 favorites]