Bras
Let's talk all things bra.
You spend weeks looking for a bra that's comfortable and fits well.
You find the perfect bra. You buy four, and when you need to replace one you get exactly the same. You wear the same make for years.
Then they stop making it.
That's where I'm at now. Wearing worn out bras and searching again. I'm grateful for online shopping and the ability to return if it doesn't fit.
No luck so far.
I like 80% cotton, no underwire. Some makes are beyond my price range.
You spend weeks looking for a bra that's comfortable and fits well.
You find the perfect bra. You buy four, and when you need to replace one you get exactly the same. You wear the same make for years.
Then they stop making it.
That's where I'm at now. Wearing worn out bras and searching again. I'm grateful for online shopping and the ability to return if it doesn't fit.
No luck so far.
I like 80% cotton, no underwire. Some makes are beyond my price range.
Comments
A waste of bloody money and who gives a flying f**k about the lack of uplift; as a septuagenarian I know full well that no-one is looking….
I guess a gym bunny or mad runner might want one of those crop top thingies ( to prevent a black eye as my naughty granny once said)
For me it's not about looks, it's about comfort.
I'm much more comfortable in a bra. I even wear an old bra in bed. If I were a size where they didn't drag down I'd very happily go without. I'm not huge, but big enough to find the droop a drag.
My naughty granny said "Black eyes and bruised knees".
I’d say she’d done that before, bless her…
I like this card - https://photos.app.goo.gl/BgQBxnDG2MComVtLA
Since I moved to Europe I have not the first clue as to how to shop for a bra. I know my North American size, but since they are all made in the PRC, it's like they are all sized for miniature Asian and European women. I am not overweight or even overly large breasted, but I feel like a behemoth here, and my bra size seems to veer towards dimensions made for medieval catapults.
I need one because it just takes a few years and pounds off to have them sitting correctly. I go into Dunnes (the Irish version of Marks and Spencer) and cast about for an hour in the dressing room and come out empty handed.
There's one M&S lingerie store in Malaga but they never seem to carry my size as it is known in North America.
Braless feels great in the heat and humidity, but if I'm stepping out, I do like to do so in reliable and attractive foundation garments.
AFF
Nightmare! Target sells an inexpensive bra that fits me well, but I went through the whole discontinued perfect bra thing some years ago ... ugh.
You've just triggered a memory. Mr Boogs and I were with friends and she asked me what make my bras were. He chipped in and said 'Harland and Wolff' (Shipbuilders).
He loved the fact that my maternity bras were called 'Großenbüstenhalter' in German. 😂
Thank you for this I will look it up.
Yes there are size conversion charts, but it seems to me that the manufacturers pay no attention to them whatsoever.
I will see if there is a Bravissimo in Malaga.
Thanks again.
AFF
Previsouly I’d assumed that - for example - the C cup on a 38in band had the same volume as the C cup on a 42in band. Why does no one tell you this !?! This gives info in cm.
Ultimate Bra Tedtalk.
I finally discovered a make called "beauty bras". They are not available in shops but sold by a consultant who works from home. The woman I buy from has even taken a tuck in one cup as I am not symmetrical.
These bras don't have underwires and, as well as the usual hook and eye fastening at the back, there is a fastening on each shoulder strap which positions the breast in place.
They took me some getting used to, but now I wouldn't buy anything else. They are a bit more expensive than the bras I used to buy but much more comfortable and longer lasting, also due to the absence of underwires I will never have the experience of having one break and pinch me.
As someone who has never got the hang of putting an outfit together, the ease and total no-brainership of wearing matching bra and knickers delights me. It's impossible to get wrong! Unlike any other aspect of my wardrobe.
So why are M&S now making bras with the matching knickers part of a pack of three, two of which are just random knickers? I don't want random knickers. I don't want my underpinnings to be as dispiriting as my outerpinnings.
The average woman apparently wears a bra about three times before washing, so a ratio of one bra to three knickers makes sense. As to why they choose to package three different pairs of knickers rather than three identical pairs, I have no idea. Although a significant number of people do seem resistant to buying multiple copies of the same article of clothing, so perhaps that's it.
Actually Bravissimo DO make bras for men as some trans men wear sports bras before being able to get chest surgery, and Bravissimo actually has specific trans-friendly events in their stores.
All bras are for people with boobs, and sometimes those people are men.
I found a great bra 10+ years ago, ordered about 12 of them at considerable cost, and am now facing the reality that they are all wearing out at once and no doubt the line has been discontinued.
I like a front opening bra, except when they get twisted in the putting on and you have to start over from scratch. I now wear a brand that in my teens I described as an old lady bra, one that lifts and separates. Comfort is now my motto.
When I was under 10 I used to visit some neighbours whose grandma lived with them and whose assets appeared to sit just above her waistline and I vowed that would never be me (and I didn't have boobs at the time). I think people should be free to make their own choices for comfort, maybe she had shoulder issues that made wearing just too difficult, but it's not for me. Maybe that might change as I become more elderly.
My problem has been that so many bras hook with only two in the back and finding one with four takes a bit of searching and they are a bit more costly, probably a recognition of needing that extra structure built into them.
Finding a good bra is like finding a good life partner, definitely to be held close to the heart!
You have my sympathy @Trudy trying to locate some more of the satisfactory make and style. I find not all styles suit me and even being measured professionally wasn't a huge help!
They are the first I have ever had in 65 years of bra-wearing a that I can wear for an entire day without being uncomfortable somewhere or another, and don't have to have a good scratch when I take it off.
I've bookmarked Big Bloomers not so much for the bras as the tights. I rarely wear skirts/dresses not least because of the difficulty of finding tights that are not that critical inch or so short of coming high enough.
(And opacity / how effectively you can button up a short is the main issue - you can’t really wear a thin white t shirt braless to go to work.)
I do, however, enjoy the associated 'show 'n tell' events.
Doreen gets my vote.
Indeed.
I'd hate to be a man with flappy things between the legs to deal with!
To which Caissa replied: I think that's a completely different thread.
well you can, but the productivity of your heterosexual male colleagues will collapse, and they will suddenly look very nervous when eye contact is required...
Apropos my my soft dangly bits, which dangle ever lower as the years pass, it took time to find the correct, supportive and comfortable M&S underpants for playing and coaching table tennis. Day by day, it's posh silk ones, loving and expensive gifts from Mrs RR.
This evening I'm going to a party for visiting antiquarian bookdealers (there's a book fair in the castle tomorrow). We'll be having it in the garden of the bookshop where I work, and I will be wearing a sports bra under my fairly see through top. I normally wear a long sleeved tshirt under the top, and don't bother with a bra, but it's far too hot for that today!
It is a whole different thread, but if I were a man I'd only be able to wear the boxer briefs my husband wears. The idea of loose boxer shorts gives me the exact same (imagined) level of discomfort as going bra-less. Things flapping about loosely!!
You are right there. Flopping down your leg at the wrong moment is disconcerting and uncomfortable especially as, even if you can lodge it all securely in the middle, sooner or later it will suddenly escspe to one side or the other. Pants need to be supportive enough to keep the meat and two veg securely in place.
I couldn't possibly comment.
On this tangent - I have no personal experience - but social media keeps showing me ads for meundies. They make a big fuss about their ball caddy - that is said to lift and separate. I’m unclear if this would solve your problem.
More interestingly, what on earth are you searching for to get those in your feed?
Or - as my wife says - you buy the same bra from the same retailer in the same size ... and it doesn't fit.
Not that I'd know, of course ...
Give you a very nasty prick, that could.
Men will never know the pleasure of discarding a bra mid evening. Unclipping, pulling it down one sleeve, then the other and casting it away. Sheer bliss!