Boobs, I mean, Bras, and the eternal frustration

i used to have the bra that horseshoe pictures...that was back when i was wearing the wrong size though. i wore a too-small cup size for years and years.

i hate hate hate that padding is the trend for bras now. padding looks ridiculous on me and those bras are uncomfortable without fail. i don't think that's exclusive to padding, of course.

the only bra style that i like is no longer made of course, so i bought a bunch of them at a yahoo store a few months ago. one of them is wearing out already. shit. delicate cycle, air-drying, lingerie bags...doesn't seem to matter.

i was all excited to go into VS in san francisco the other weekend, for the first time... and there was maybe one bra i found that wasn't hugely padded!! i like a really lightly lined bra, for shape and support and also nipple-invisibility, but anything with up-lift padding just makes me look ridiculous and causes me to fall out the top because of the way my boobs are shaped. gah.

Julia - I just rinse my bras in woolite in the sink. Washing machines are evil!

I love how everyone hates padded bras. Everytime I try to find a bra I am always wondering who is buying all the padded bras. They look so horrible.

I used to like them when I was 13 and it was a slight improvement over papertowels/socks

i wld never in 5 million years wear that giant bra, horseshoe
unless it is meant for jogging/sports? in which case maybe but just for that purpose

dkny bra is pretty :)

haha rrrobyn. it's apparently a "soft cup" bra. i actually don't think it's meant for sports. but yeah, it looks crazy.

Another vote for Wacoal here, but mine are diff than the pic above--much plainer, like a very smooth "t shirt" bra. No padding, medium support (neither push-uppy nor droop-inducing). The only problem is that because they have a molded cup they are kind of a pain in the ass to wash. I'll try to find a pic. If they ever stop making them I will have a double masectomy, I swear.

wow super xpost but a water bra just has little inserts made of plastic & water instead of fabric & stuffing... it's just squishier and I guess sort of encourages the tops of my breasts to bounce a little more than they may otherwise do? Nothing special.

haha i do not need the tops of my breasts to bounce MORE!
at least not for everyday going-abt-my-business purposes
maybe i am just being too demure. but no not really.

the walcoal bra yr describing sounds good, q!

I used to buy molded-cup bras for office-wear but I always had to dry them over a couple of soup-cans or else the foam would get flat spots and funny shapes in it! I consider "molded up" padding these days, just can't deal anymore.

oh i skimmed over the molded cup part... yeah i don't want that either really.
sigh

i will say though that of the padded variety of bra, which is good for winter and even some spring/fall/summer wear, there is a maidenform style that is very lightly padded and not hueg so as to be more 'thick' than padded really, that i like. but again, i still like the free & real but supported look/feel. leave it to me to turn bras into ideology.

ah i have been looking a bit online and yeah padded bras remain the norm even if they are not fully padded - they're called "lightly lined" or "molded cups" - gaah. i guess that one day soon enough gravity will come for me and i will be all about these bras.

a friend was telling me that urban outfitters had some bras that might be what i'm looking for but i have my doubts. but i will go there and see.

Yessssss not all padded bras are "push-up" bras but I am objecting to any kind of padding at all, even light kinds. I don't mind nipping out a bit, but then I don't tend to be a person who feels cold in office environs (and/or I just put a jacket on).

But without some foam padding what good is a bra? My primary purpose is just to not let my nipples poke out all day. Gravity thwarting is nice too, but for me it's all about pretending I don't have nipples! I had a lot of Barbies as a kid.

Uh. Support of the central mass of breast? Keeping them from bobbing around quite as much when you walk? That's about it, for me.

Maybe mine aren't of the pokey variety.

haha yeah well to each her own! i srsly didn't even think abt this until abt 8 years ago when a co-worker told me she wore nothing but padded bras b/c of nippyness. but i guess this is part of why i wear the maidenform 'lightly lined/padded' bras in winter - plus they are an extra layer of warmth!
i think nipples are awesome
xposts

guys, i know you hate victoria secret but their uplift ipex bra is pretty freakin amazing

haha that bra's name makes me think of glass elevators going up snow-covered mountains
for some reason

There is this place here called FACTORY 2 U which is like the factory outlet store that takes all the stuff the other factory outlet stores couldn't sell. (Like at Halloween last year they were selling Star Trek: TNG kid-size costumes!) Anyway, I discovered they have WICKED CHEAP bras of all kind, most in A & B cups and 32 or 34 band but I did manage to find a few 36 Cs (my size), and they're bra/undie sets for only $4. OMG I now, for the first time in my life, own more than three bras. It is fucking sweet.

VS used to have one called 'push-up without padding' that i liked bc it was just a v light pad in the bottom corner of the bra and the rest was a nice lace. i think somehow, through pos manufacturing changes and bodily shifts for me, their bras do not fit me nearly as well as they used to, though :(

that is insanely cheap and i am envious, abbott!

An ibex bra? For this guy?

http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/images/stories/altai/ibex2.jpg

No one likes my ibex. u_u

i do! and i find it weird that somewhere in my subconscious i knew what an ibex was or at least that mountains were involved

I was pretty sure that was the case when I GISed him. :)

where can i buy an old-fashioned slip? or do i need a girdle or something?

and is girdle the least sexxy word ever?

macy's, probably.

Am I the only girl on the big side who likes padded bras for support?

I was also thinking of slips recently. Has anyone worn Spanx?

2nd-hand places always have slips, in my experience - some of them are bad, but if you cross your fingers and pray real hard, you can find a silk one!

i haven't tried spanx. they frighten me.

omg Susan who are you?? why do i love your username?

Miss Misery. Uh, maybe b/c it's my real name? Glad to be lovable.

I have tried the Spanx bra (I think Le Lechera tried one too), and it was both ugly and awful. They have a good return policy though, so less risk if you want to try one yourself.

oh you're back! missed ya :D

I loves me some Spanx power panties. Never tried other Spanx products, though.

Am I the only girl on the big side who likes padded bras for support?

No. I'm not big big, but I'm not small.

I wear slips and half slips all the time.

I've always had the polyester slips, half ones, mostly. But I got a stretchy microfiber one recently, with no defined waistband, and I really like it. It's not poufy at all, and if I'd bought one size smaller it would probably do a little holding in, too.

Deptartment store in Michigan, though, so not convenient for NY.

In any case, girdles and slips don't really do the same thing, so it depends on what you wanted it for. Frankly if I'm going to wear a girdle I figure it might as well have garters attached because there's no point in only being HALFway uncomfortable.

i basically just want something to smooth over my gut, i got a new dress that clings to it in a particularly unflattering way. maybe i should look into spanx but they just seem so uncomfortable!

i got a bra from victoria's secret yesterday that isn't so bad - it's wireless and pretty comfy. it did have a stupid bow on it that i have already snipped off though.

a slip isn't going to do that, bell. it's just going to add another layer. if you want smoothing, you need some kind of bodyshaper.

hm yeah. maybe something like this would work http://www.barenecessities.com/SPANX_product_SPANX060_,size,.htm
i wish it didn't cost more than the dress itself, though

some brands (bali, miraclesuit, etc) are cheaper than that, although i haven't seen much for under $50. still, you should be able to do better than $72.

Anybody noticing too much VPL with spanx?

A slip doesn't hold you in, strictly speaking, but it keeps outer layers from sticking to you, so that clothes slip over the parts you would like people not to notice. Slips are like...lubricant -- motor oil -- in keeping parts from wearing on each other. It can make a surprising difference. But for compression, yeah, you need a shaper.

I have one girdle-ish thing which I occasionally wear and it's tight but you know what? With the girdle smoothing my waist out, I don't even feel the waistband of my skirt, which would otherwise feel like it was cutting into me all day. The girdle keeps all of me tucked in and not being pinched.