PLUS SIZE BRAS

A History

 

 100 years ago, in what would become the snap heard 'round the world, the Charles R. De Bevoise Company first labeled a woman's undergarment a "brassiere." In 1904 it was not a big deal. The Norman French term simply denoted a woman's bodice and was a nod to the De Bevoise's French Huguenot heritage. The product so labeled was a lightly boned camisole that helped stabilize the breasts.

Brasserie --But the word has come to mean so much more. Shortened to "bra" teeny-boppers in the the 30s, it means femininity and fashion, politics and power, excitement - because of what it contains the potential to ruin the whole day.

Every year, Americans spend about $ 4.4 4 billion on bras That amounts to 392 million bra. So if you figure there are about 128 million U.S. Women aged between 10 and 100, based on U.S. Census estimates that is three bras per woman.

And therein lies the story. Even considering that the bras wear out faster than other clothes because they are worn every day, buy three a year (and probably more, because, honestly, how many bras does that 10-year-old or 100-year-old need? It indicates a great desire in life for the modern woman: The pursuit of the perfect bra.

This is like the Holy Grail. Sure, out there in the middle of racks and rack-and more racks of lace-trimmed, lycra spandex, other skin anywhere, must be the bras that fit well and feel comfortable and look good and not make the wearer feel fat, frumpy and deadly conscious about wearing a bra.

Basically what bras are supposed to do is make your clothes look good and make you look good. A bra is the most important garment you can wear. So why do so many women wearing the wrong size? In recent years, women have begun to return to the bra fitters and discover their bra is completely wrong: Most of the small, sometimes large, usually digging or gaping, or squeezing the cruel ways.

The fact is that two-thirds of American women wear the wrong size, showed a recent Maidenform survey. General their cups runneth over. Although the average bra size has increased from 34B to 36C in the past 12 years, according to NPD Group, in locker rooms across America, women have a hard time admitting their bra size has changed.

Why the increase? For one thing, Americans are increasing larger. Then figure in the hormonal effects of contraception and the increase in breast implant surgery - around 249, 641 operations are performed each year, according to American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Women walking around wearing the same size, they have always worn, rather than go up a cup size, they will go higher around the band.

You'd think that they were only thinking of training bras. Maybe corsets were easier after all.