The Enigma of the Bra

a dress not exactly made for a bra

Fashion is pain, and pain is beauty. Right?

I complimented a friend on a new sundress recently, and she thanked me and then showed me her clever solution to the dress’ lacy strap area – she put a scarf on to hide her bra peeking through. As cute as the ensemble was, there was that voice at the back of my head saying – why? Why does my friend have to have a whole other accessory in order to accomplish wearing a dress?

We all have outfits like this. I have 3 or 4 gorgeous dresses where a tank top is required underneath to ensure classy cleavage. 3 pairs of adorable heels where I need to make sure I’m wearing a band-aid on my heel. They’re small little sacrifices – the daily grind of being a modern young woman. But I couldn’t help but wonder – why can’t designers keep in mind things like bra straps? Different chest sizes? No two women are built exactly the same; and some clothes look better on certain people than others. I understand that. But it often feels as though we’re struggling to fit a certain body type – not only in our own body image and what magazines tell us; but into the clothes that society makes and promotes as ideal.

The bra alone is an enigma, it seems, to many fashion designers. There is a long history of bras (available at Jezebel) and bra patents; different ways to enhance or reduce or support our two favorite ladies. But somehow, fashion designers can’t seem to take bra straps into account when they design fashion dresses – because they only think of stick-thin models that need less support for their chests.

This, of course, isn’t the fault of the designers, or of the models, or of us. It’s a system, industry-wide issue. We should compliment brands or designers who get it right consistently, and speak our displeasure out loud to those who don’t. It’s up to us to change our wardrobe!