Tomima’s Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

I remember when I was in high school, my mom refused to let me buy some red high-heel shoes.  Her reason?  In her mind (as well as my father’s I later discovered) a woman walking around in red high-heeled shoes was considered a ‘woman of the evening,’ a ‘call girl,’  a woman with low morals.  Needless to say, this was news to me.  And, look how things have changed.  I frequently slip on one of my many pairs of red-heeled shoes for a fun pop of color.  And I’m not alone.  All the fashion magazines have woman parading around in red shoes. It’s the new black!

So, we just finished Valentine’s Day.  Red, without a doubt, is the color of this holiday.  I think if you polled most women, they would say that men love red lingerie.  We at HerRoom sold a bunch over the holiday. But, according to a recent British survey most men do not like red lingerie.  In fact, the color came in last as the sexiest lingerie color.   What a surprise!

According to this survey, black is men’s favorite color of sexy lingerie.  Coming in second is white.  Now, I find this very curious because neither black nor white is really a color.  So, this feeds right into the hand of another statistic, and that is that many men are color blind.  If you were wearing red, they may not have even known it!  It probably looks grey in their eyes.

Next Valentine’s Day, do yourself a favor if shopping for a fun little valentine outfit for your beloved.  Pick black or white.  Not only does he prefer it, but it can be used over and over again throughout the year.  Consider it lingerie recycling.

Find all colors of lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Sexy Lingerie

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I ran across this little piece of bra history and found it fascinating.  Many of us know that women were the ones working in the factories while the men were sent off to fight in WWII.  This marked the beginning of American women entering the workforce in mass.

 A California company, clearly in an attempt to increase safety in the workplace for women, had female employees wearing a hard, plastic bra while they worked in their factories.  I wish this photo had more detail, but, this was the only image I could find.

A couple of fascinating points.  First, the breast shape.  Unlike women of the day, the shape was rounded rather than conical.  It’s also seamless so could really be considered the first molded bra on the market.  And, this bra really looks to lift and separate.

But, I also wonder, how many sizes this safety bra came in?  Did one size fit all women?  And, you have to wonder how hot and sticky it felt at the end of the day.

I tip my hat to this innovative company for attempting to solve a potential safety concern.  When you think about it, by protecting women’s breasts from injury, they were also protecting future generations as well.

Find molded bras, although not plastic ones, at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

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An interesting article was posted in the United Kingdom Telegraph recently.  A London consumer watchdog group called Which? sent eleven mystery shopping women with cup sizes of DD or larger to 70 stores in the high street area to see how well they would be fitted in bras by the so-called experts in each store.

The results?  Only 29% of the bras sold to these women were rated as a ‘good fit.’  But even then, none of the eleven women felt the service they were provided at any of the stores warranted a recommendation.

Many of the women from the watchgroup were sold wildly different sizes.  For one of the women,  two different shops had fit her in bras that differed in cup sizes by 7 sizes.  Another went to the same store in two different locations–one sold her a 34C, the other a 34F.

Now, I have written on this before.  Yes, there are hard-working bra fitters out there who do a very good job of getting women into the proper bra size.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to know which are good and which are not.  And, keep in mind, that if they can convince you that you are a different size than what you walked in wearing, they can probably talk you into buying several new bras. The temptation is simply too great to get you into a different size – especially if the fitter is working for a commission or piece of the sale.

I have said this before, so I’ll gladly say this again.  I think we women are smart enough to figure out what size we are with a better understanding of bra sizing and how to translate your fitting symptoms into size changes.

I’ve spent hours researching and writing about bra sizing. Simply go to the HerRoom Bra Fitting Advice section located at the bottom of each page of HerRoom.com.  There are over 40 pages that I hope will answer any questions you may have on how a great-fitting bra should look and feel.

Read earlier posts about proper bra fitting and about understanding cup sizes.

Find bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

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