Dolly Parton summed it up best when she said: “I was the first woman to burn my bra – it took the fire department four days to put it out.”
When people say bras are the most annoying item in their wardrobes, it’s not meant as an attempt at feminist humour.
For so long we’ve been at the mercy of a patriarchal construct that dictated for a woman to look attractive and sexy. Those perky breasts had to be snuggled in a size C cup, complete with padding and underwire.
Personally, I blame those WonderBra campaigns that famously went viral in the ’90s with the “Hello Boys” tagline.
The brand finally realised its boo-boo and re-imagined the same campaign with the new iteration “Hello Me” as a way of positioning itself as an ally to female empowerment.
It’s no wonder that when we get home, there’s a collective sigh of relief as we unclip those self-inflicted torture contraptions.
Surprisingly, it took a pandemic for women to really think about our relationship with the bra, namely the underwire garden variety, and say: “Hang on, I don’t really need to wear this.”
The work from home (WFH) aesthetic included baggy joggers, T-shirts and no bras. For the first time, we could breathe without feeling constricted by that ghastly underwire sticking into our ribs.
Global sales of jeans, high heels and formal-wear plummeted since the onset of the pandemic, reported US lifestyle website The Walrus.
According to the online publication, many began to speculate if the bra was on the fast track to extinction.
Even here in South Africa, women had had enough. So much so that when Twitter user @singfromthehair posted a picture of a discarded underwire in the street, it elicited a flurry of comments, many of them being so very relatable.
“Put my favourite tee shirt in the wash with an intact underwire bra. Cue the underwire coming loose and skewering my tee shirt and I can't get another one anywhere,” shared one online user.
Another said: “Accidentally slept in an underwire bra & now I hate everything.”
But get this, the problem isn’t as much the underwire in the bra, but rather our bodies and boobies changing.
During the pandemic, we went into a sort of hibernation mode, snacking and eating whatever caught our fancy. We’ve put on a few kilos, but forgot to invest in a new bra for the “new me”.
“Our breasts are made of fatty tissue and our bra size changes all the time,” Kimmay Caldwell, an “undergarment educator”, explained to The Washington Post. This means that people are wearing a bra that’s either too small or too old.
“Fluctuating hormones, weight loss, weight gain, bloating, menstruation cycles – even the amount of water we drink – all lead to a body that’s constantly changing,” added lingerie designer Suzanne Macbale.
“A good bra should feel like two hands holding you – two hands that you like,” noted one lingerie enthusiast to The Washington Post’s Karen Heller.
While previously chatting to IOL Lifestyle, Penny and Dimitri Parolis, co-owners of Inner Secrets Lingerie, said: “We believe that if one’s bra is ill fitting, why would they want to wear it all day?
“When one is professionally fitted and wearing the correctly sized bra, it should be so comfortable that in actual fact you forget you are wearing a bra.”
For many, an underwire bra doesn’t fill (excuse the pun) that requirement.
So, what is the alternative besides going braless?
TikTok has literally become the authority on self-care hacks. Thousands of videos demonstrate how to remove underwire from bras, to using anti-chafe stick to prevent it from poking into your ribs.
Brands are also coming on board with a focus being on comfort. According to The Walrus, trend forecasters predicted that bralettes and sports bras made of cashmere, lace and cotton will be the new normal.
“It’s time to celebrate the natural shape of women’s bodies, and the trend over the past two years has shown this,” said Janine Greyling, founder and designer of local lingerie brand Just Say Maybe Lingerie.
“Instead of wearing bras with underwire that tends to give an artificial shape, women are choosing to enjoy the comfort and beauty of bralettes and bras foregoing the discomfort of the wire.”
Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty lingerie line is changing the game. Its wide selection of bralettes prove that you don’t need added support to feel sexy.
As to the question of whether we’ll be seeing the last of the underwire bra, let’s not hold our breath.
“Whilst we certainly do understand that there are many women who during lockdown, have decided to throw out their wired bras and go bra-less, is this the death of the bra? We don’t think so,” added Penny and Dimitri.
In the meantime, if comfort and functionality is your style, invest in some good sports bras or bralettes.
This article first appeared in Saturday Insider, March 26, 2022