Underneath It All

Isn't it funny how we get used to new things and after a while it feels like the new things are the way it's supposed to be? I clearly remember back in the 70s, watching TV with my mother and seeing a Bali bra commercial on TV. They were showing beautiful, happy models wearing Bali bras and they bragged about the wonderful, natural shaping and Mom said something about how it would make you look like you weren't even wearing a bra. I didn't have as strong an opinion as she did about it but I tended to agree with her. I was young and still happy to even need a bra and I didn't want to wear anything to reduce the appearance of what little I had.

Fast-forward to the present. Now almost all bras are the more rounded "natural" shape and the few that are not get reviews on Amazon complaining that they are "too pointy" and "cone shaped" as if that was the most horrible clothing faux pas in the world.

Recently Tasha wrote about sewing retro bras and linked to her earlier post about retro bras. Now this got me interested in trying one myself. My fitted dresses and blouses never seem to fit quite right and it occurred to me that maybe a different shaped bra would make a difference.

The main limitation I have is that I am absolutely fanatical about having seamless cups so making my own is probably not going to happen. Fortunately, we have Amazon reviews and sometimes it's the negative reviews that are most helpful. By reading a whole bunch of these reviews I managed to find two retro shaped bras that are also seamless. Both are Playtex brand.

This one has unlined cups and the sides and back are wider than normal. I'm probably not going to be able to wear this with anything sleeveless. Also, I get just a bit of wrinkling on the cups but, overall, it's not too bad. It's wearable, at least in the winter.

And here's the other one. It's my favorite of the two. I think it will work fine for summer clothes although it is lined, which can be a good thing or a bad thing just depending.

Now, I hope you're still reading because here's the funny thing. When I first tried these on I was a bit freaked out. These bras don't look pointy at all on the models in the pictures but when I looked down at the girls I was like, OMG! they're so pointy! I thought, "I can't wear these in public; everyone will be staring at my pointy boobs." But when I looked in the mirror it didn't look quite so bad so I decided to keep them and give them an honest try. After wearing each of them for a whole day I was sold. My clothes definitely fit more like I feel they're supposed to.

I bought several more of the second one and for about a week it was the only style of bra I wore. Then I put on one of my modern shaped bras and a strange thing happened. I felt like it looked kind of wrong. Actually a little bit gross. Now don't get me wrong. I don't think modern bras are gross or that anyone else looks gross when you wear them. It's just how I felt about myself wearing one after a week of wearing so-called "pointy" bras. It's really funny how easily we get used to things and then whatever we're used to seems right.