Tomima's Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

It was announced recently that Zoe Saldana will be the star of Calvin Klein’s Fall 2010 Global Advertising campaign.  So, who is this Zoe?

 I guess I’m getting old because the name meant nothing to me until I Googled her.  She was the oh-so-blue Neytiri in the movie Avatar, and the new-and-improved Lieutenant Uhura in the 2009 remake of Star Trek.  Oh… now I know her.

Anyway, she will be the model for Calvin Klein’s new Envy collection .

Find Calvin Klein lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties

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Posted by Tomima at 7:49am
Tags: bras, calvin klein, celebrity
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I seem to have a lot of racerback clothing in my wardrobe this summer.  I’ve been wearing my favorite (discontinued) strapless bra, but this year’s Overall Undie Winning Bra was a racerback style, so I decided to buy it and give it a try.  It’s the Vanity Fair Body Sleeks Flexi Back Front Close Racerback bra 75263.

I put it on and it was not an instant love connection.  On me, this bra was full coverage, and I’m not a big fan of bras that cover my upper chest so much.  I also wouldn’t call it pretty.  But, the damask neutral color was a good flesh tone for me, and the bra is seamless with contour padding in the cups which I like very much.  So, I pressed on.

What I have never liked about racerback bras is the straps coming so close to my neck.   There is this muscle called the scapula that goes from your neck to your shoulder.  I don’t like pressure on it, and every racerback bra I have tried seems to hit at the most painful point.

But unlike most racerback bras, the Body Sleeks Racerback actually has what they call a "flexi back."  The straps are not actually connected.  They cross in the back, but also move as you do.  So, I was able to place the straps farther down my shoulders and they stayed put.  It’s a simple design, but actually quite ingenious.

With this bra on, I went about testing it with all my racerback tops.  I was stunned.  Absolutely every top I tried on completely covered this bra.  I mean every one – including a racerback where the narrowest point was only about 2 inches wide. Not a strap showed anywhere. The full cup coverage prevented any bra lines under my tops. And, this bra has front-adjusting straps.  I figured out that by loosening them a little, the straps would sit wider on my shoulders.  When they needed to be up higher, I adjusted the strap tighter and it stayed where I needed it to. 

Conclusion:  Our Undie Award voters know their stuff.  I now understand why this bra won such high marks.  I’m a convert, and I know you will be too.  Unfortunately, the size range is pretty small.  It starts at 34B and goes to 40D. 

Find Vanity Fair lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

Posted by Tomima at 10:39am
Tags: best bras, racerback bras, undie awards, Undies, vanity fair
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There’s a curious reality to men’s underwear sizing; It assumes all men who wear the same size underwear have the same size…er, private parts.  So, to put this in bra terms, it’s like thinking that all woman with a 36 band size, for example,  have the same cup size.  And we know that’s not true.

I discovered this fact back in 2002 when I first went live with HisRoom.  I interviewed some mens underwear manufacturers and asked how a man is supposed to size his jock strap and thongs for a document I was creating.  Naively, I just assumed it was a similar system to a woman’s bra.  A few questions into my interviews, I found out I was wrong.  All the jock manufacturers told me that if a man’s "package" didn’t fit in the cup, he would need to go up a size (e.g. from a medium to a large) to get a larger cup – even if that meant his waistband would now be too big.

I admit I was surprised by this because it didn’t make sense to me.  Men are already size conscious when it comes to their package.  Why wouldn’t they have a sizing system in place to accomodate this?  Since over the years, HisRoom received very few comments on this subject, I chalked it up to sizing and fit not being a big deal with men.

So now,  along comes a new men’s underwear line, HARDDRIVE, with an attempt to address this issue.  They claim to have created proportion fit underwear for men, and it’s sized by both a man’s waist AND cup size.

When I saw this my mind immediately started racing…  How are they determining cup size?  I jumped to their size chart,  found their "How to Find the Perfect Fit" instructions, and let out a howl that brought my dogs running to my office.  Here is what it says:

"First, measure length.  Next, measure girth.  Multiply length & girth."  And, I particularly loved the footnote: "Remember… always measure yourself in the state of mind that you expect to be in while wearing." At last, giving men worldwide a legitimate reason to measure.

Not being one to totally dismiss an "out-of-the-box" idea, I decided to do a little research. Searching on "average penis size" I found that this apendage averages 6 inches long with a girth of 3.5-4 inches when at rest.  Their calculation therefore concludes that the average guy is a 21-24 measurment.  And, according to their size chart, this would be an "A" cup.  Oh, did I mention they decided to match the letters given to womens bra cup sizing?  At least I would have thought they would have chosen something more "guy-friendly" like, I don’t know, maybe coffee sizes… regular, tall, venti?  Or, maybe a car analogy like Boxter, Cayman, 911 and Panamera?  Oh, what about hamburgers: Junior burger, Big Mac, Quarter Pounder and Angus Delux? But, I digress.

Feeling that further research was needed, I grabbed a tape measure and headed for my pantry.  I wanted to find examples that represented the various cup sizes they are porporting in their size chart. Here’s what I found:  a can of tuna fish qualifies as an A cup.  A traditional soup can is a C cup.  A 16 oz. water bottle is a D cup.  And a mayonnaise jar or larger is a DD cup.

And this final suggestion from a male friend re naming the sizes: there’s no such thing as Small and Medium. Just start with Large and go up from there.

Shop for men’s underwear at HisRoom.

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Posted by Tomima at 7:40am
Tags: HardDrive, Men's Underwear, sizing
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