Where I write

Where I write

April 30, 2012

Bras -- We've Come a Long Way Baby!


My blog is suppose to be about either writing or working as a waitress, but this week it's about bra shopping. In my defense,  I did go to a writer's lecture before I went bra shopping at the mall on Saturday and, after I bra shopped, I tied on the old black apron and played server. So it sorta pertains.
The photo above is what bras looked like when I first began wearing them, when I was considered a junior miss. What does that mean anyway? I always wished my hair would swoop and look shiny like the girl on the bra box, but I digress. Most women remember buying their first bra, and in the old days it meant standing in a tiny dressing room with white walls, unflattering lighting, feeling totally embarrassed,  while your mother handed you ugly white bras and stood outside the door asking, "does that one fit, dear?" When I got a little older, and shopped without my mom for a bra, it didn't improve except now I was totally alone, again in the white dressing room, attempting to pick out a bra by myself which was as difficult as deciding on my major on college. So fraught with possible errors!  As any woman of a certain age knows, times have sure changed.


Now bras are as varied as cup sizes, as unique as each woman. I dislike using the word unique, but I'm going to allow myself the word this time.  I recently went to Victoria's Secret, and decided that if government was run as efficiently as the lingerie store, well, let's just say there would be a lot less angry citizens.  Victoria's Secret has an army of young, attractive sales women dressed in black, wearing microphones and sweet expressions. They whisked me, with a smile, from the front door to the dressing room to the register in record time. In record time, I had a bra that fit perfectly. And it was pretty.

There's something about all that pink that makes you feel so girly. Maybe they pump in estrogen into the cooling vests.  I saw one man shopping by himself in this pink paradise and he looked afraid which struck me as normal. Men who look too comfortable in Victoria's Secret....I think they must have a secret.

 As I stood in the pink dressing room, with its subdued lighting and pleasant music, it even smelled good in there, I felt as if I could stay awhile, unlike years ago when I couldn't wait to flee the confines of the dressing room and leave with any white bra. Those days are over. The pink dressing room was so pretty and the laughter and voices of women trying on bras so comforting, fun even.  I even had two young women who treated me as if they were my handmaidens and I their queen. They looked at the bras I tried on (show us each one they insisted!! )  and scrutinized the fit, assured me I didn't have a fat back, assured me that I was doing fine, no worries, even when I drooped in one particularly unfortunate bra. "It's all about the straps, " the pretty and wise young woman told me. Indeed it is.
I think about my mother and grandmother and how they had less bra options beyond white and pointed. I bet they dreaded bra shopping, as I once did. Sometimes the good old days weren't such good old days after all. Then there are those women who attempt not to wear a bra, which is okay for some, but not every woman.
Can you believe Barbara even attempted this! Where was her stylist?  Those girls at Victoria's Secret could have found a bra for her in no time. I could afford just one, but I bet Barbara could buy a dozen! There comes a time, for some women, when the days of  hanging loose and free need to end.

Finally, when I was searching for photos of bras this man's picture appeared among all the photos of bras. I couldn't understand until I saw his last name. Bras. This is Mr. Bras. No wonder he's so happy looking. He must have seen a few women in their bras to bring that big smile on his face. So I have my new lovely bra, but I'm still wondering...is there a diet for back fat?

6 comments:

Rita A. said...

You never cease to amaze me with your versatility.
I was roaming around the craft store the other day and came across a display of mixed-media items for accenting jewelry, boxes, journals or whatever. I was so surprised to find one packet had a garter clamp in it. The people who are in to steampunk now obviously never had to wear these things. And to think they are now art embellishments. I did not buy them.

C.B. Wentworth said...

If there is a diet for back fat, I would love to know! ;-)

I hate bra shopping. HATE it. Mainly because it never fails that when I find a bra I like, they stop making it. What's up with that??

Anonymous said...

Ooooh Susanne, nice one again. My first bra was really just a stretch piece of mesh for a cup--the TRAINING bra! What a horrible idea. Remember those stiff cotton ones with circular seams going around and around the cup to make it poof out and if you did not fill it, might indent and make you look FREAKY. Caved in nipple anyone. Love, Tracy

Karen C. said...

Very funny Susanne, I love all those pretty colored bras!

C.B. that always happens to me too. I buy one or two then go back to get more and they don't make them anymore. Then start all over.

Stella said...

And I thought you were going to be writing about birds! This is great. I remember training bras too! Oh, and Barbara, Barbara, Barbara. What indeed was she thinking?

SunsetCindi said...

I remember in grade school, maybe 4th? that me and a girl named Gretchen were the only girls big enough to wear bras. I could never keep the straps up and they were always falling out of those clips and hanging down my back. Gretchen wore hers with such grace and dignity and I was such a schlup. Where was Victoria when I needed her??