And now for something really basic
The women’s underwear section at Marks & Sparks. Good engineering. Boring styles.
Years ago when I was writing in TODAY, the column that elicited the largest number of reactions was not about world domination, movies, or covering books in plastic. It was the column about brassieres. At the time there weren’t many brands available locally, and we were getting our first email accounts. Now there are many more brands, and you can order underwear on the net, but we have the same complaints.
Breasts. That’s all I need to write to get your attention.
Everyone on earth has them (Some even have three nipples), but their omnipresence has not diminished the obsession. A multimillion dollar industry has been built on the desire to make them bigger. Transvestites take birth control pills in the hope that hormones will enlarge their mammaries. Starlets have attained fame disproportionate to their talent by displaying their boobies.
There is an entire branch of magazine publishing devoted to the worship of breasts. If for any reason you are dissatisfied with the volume and density of your chest area, you can go for plastic enhancements.
It’s when you happen to like the breasts you were born with that the problem begins. What if, like the classic Seinfeld episode, yours are real and spectacular? For committing the crime of contentment (which is inimical to the market which promotes dissatisfaction in order to sell you stuff), you are punished.
Real and Spectacular in Emotional Weather Report, today in the Star fashion section.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 12th, 2009 at 02:26
Hi Ms. Zafra,
I remember William and Anna Scott having a similar conversation in Notting Hill, remember that scene in William’s bed, the morning after their love making and before the press got to Anna Scott.
August 12th, 2009 at 08:06
I work for an intimate apparels manufacturing company which cater to customers in Europe.
I read in the Philippine Star article that one of the respondents had a problem with the plainness of the designs which are available for well-endowed women.
As much as we may have fantastic designs and couture lines available for the well-endowed market, it’s the talk of the law of supply and demand that we have to listen to.
We simply can’t distribute the items to Asia because, seriously, not many Asian women are in the DD – F range. And as for the limitation in styles, it’s still the market talk we have to listen to. If there is not much of a demand, it’s just plainly bad for the business to continue it.
As an engineer, my concern is more about the accuracy of the fit, the support, and the overall design (and the cost efficiency when it comes to manufacturing the,). Unfortunately, I’m bad with colors. This is why I have an aesthetics team to look over the overall design including, yes, the prints.
August 12th, 2009 at 12:55
I am not as well-endowed as most of you, even us of the size ‘A-B’ are having a hard time with bras. It seems like every brand has its own sizing system – in 2 brands I’m a size B, and with 3 brands I’m a size A, and they don’t even fit well. It’s annoying.
And I have a beef about push-up bras. It’s fine that the boobs look good with them, but they hurt. I’ve seen push-ups with no underwire, but they’re so damn expensive. There are lots of materials available; why can’t they come up with something less expensive and wouldn’t hurt us? And aren’t push-ups supposed to benefit guys more than girls?
Also, found this interesting column in Time Magazine’s innovation/design issue way back in 2007. Apparently, the Chinese are getting ahead with brassiere technology by trying to wrestle with ergonomics. Pretty innovative, but they’re Chinese. How about European and East Asian women?
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1677329_1678543_1677895,00.html