Tomima's Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

(un)covering what's under everything

What Bra Style Prevents Nipple Show-through?

October 08, 2008

One of the most common issues fielded by my fabulous customer service department is inquires about nipples showing through a bra and how to prevent this. It’s actually kind of fun reading how women try to pose this inquiry. It can be as subtle as "I’m looking for a bra that provides modesty" to "I need to turn off my headlghts" to "I want a bullet proof bra" to "I’m trying to hide my huge erect nipples!"

I have heard various lingerie experts claim that nipple show-through can be handled many ways. For example, some feel a lined bra will do the trick. Others have said that placing the nipple on a bra seam in the cups will mask the look. And, of course, there are those contour bras where the cups have a thin layer of foam or padding fused inside the bra cups.

Being skeptical of some of these claims, I decided to bring in a model of ours who has constantly erect nipples (For the uneducated, one side-effect of breast augmentation can be permanent nipple erection). I had her try on a standard molded bra, a lined bra, a seamed bra and a contour bra. I then had her put a t-shirt on over each of the bras. Let’s see what worked.

 

Molded	Lined

 

Seamed	Contour

As expected, the molded bra did nothing to conceal the situation. The lined bra seemed to have little or no impact as well. I found this a little surprising given that so many women and manufacturers swear by this solution. But, if you look at the t-shirt shots, the molded and lined bras look virtually identical.

The seamed bra did a pretty good job of reducing the "headlights." However, you have the two-edged sword of having the seam show through the t-shirt. So, basically, you sacrifice "bullets" for seams.

The contour bra option, also known as the t-shirt bra was the best performer. A thin layer of padding or foam can turn your headlights right off. But, the downside to this style of bra is for women with larger breast size who don’t want to add volume. Even that small amount of foam can make their breasts look larger.

Though I only showed these 4 bra styles, I want to also let you the reader know that there are other solutions to this problem. For example, an earlier blog post of mine discusses the Bali Concealer bras currently on the market. They too are contour, but have a very rigid flower shaped decal on the inside of the cup to keep a woman smooth across her breasts. Other options are to put one of the nipple concealer products directly over your breasts. This will smooth over your nipples and allow you to wear your existing bras. Some of the more popular products include Dimr’s, Smooth’m nipple concealers, No Peek Pads, Sassybax Nips and FashionForms Breast Petals.

For a link to all these options, go to:
Nipple concealers

Posted by Tomima at 1:12pm
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Another Broken Underwire! Why Do My Underwires Keep Breaking in My Bra?

August 05, 2008

 

Strange but true: the underwire in your bra can occasionally break.  Usually right in the center and without warning.  Why does this happen?  I know of a couple reasons for this phenomenon, but as every good researcher knows, you also need to ask the experts. I  put the question to several designers and experts in the industry.  What came back was rather enlightening.  There are a number of causes for underwire breakage. Here is a list of  the 7 reasons bra underwires break.

1. Washing your bra in the washing machine without a lingerie bag. – Now, we’ve all heard that we should stick our bras in a lingerie bag before throwing them into the washing machine.  But do you know why?  One reason is to protect the underwires. Without a lingerie bag, the wires can get caught in the agitator, stuck in one of the holes in the side of the drum, or get tangled up with another article of clothing.  All this this puts a stress on the underwire and causes it to break.
2. Putting your bra in the dryer. – The heat from a dryer can affect the chemical make-up of the steel in the underwire and cause it to become more brittle.  Additionally, if put your bra in the dryer without a lingerie bag, the wires can get caught in the dryer’s drum hole and be twisted into a shape that reduces its strength.  And, similar to what happens in the washer, your bra can also get caught on other clothes thus causing stress to the underwire and compromising its strength.
3. The metal used in less expensive bras may not be tempered (or heated) to the appropriate temperature and therefore is brittle and will break more easily. – My friend Ellen Jacobson – designer/owner of Elia bras – explained this to me.  Tempering is critical when making steel for underwires.  She went on to say that most underwire manufacturers have excellent product.  This usually becomes an issue when a manufacturer is trying to cut corners and buys their underwires from an unreliable source.
4. Round underwires break more easily than flat underwires. – Wire as we think of it is round.  If you hit it with a hammer, the shape becomes flatter.  Most underwires today are flat.  However, again, in less expensive bras, manufacturers may purchase round wire because it is cheaper since less production goes into molding round underwires.  You can quickly tell if an underwire is round or flat by simply feeling the underwire between your fingers.
5. Underwires without a plastic coating are more susceptible to breaking. – My good friend John Gilpin at Wacoal – America turned me on to this reason. As John explained, the better bras use underwires that have a plastic coating over the wires.  This coating smooths the edges and allows the underwire to slide more easily in its channel.  This movement reduces the chance of pressure or torque on the wire that could cause it to break.
6. Your bra band is too tight. – Underwires are designed to splay when the bra is worn.  This helps the bra to actually grab your breasts and give them support.  If your bra band is too tight, you are pulling the underwires apart farther than they are designed to be pulled.  This stress will eventually cause the wires to break.
7. Your cup is too small. – Underwires are designed with a certain volume of breast tissue in mind.  If you exceed that designed amount of mass, the underwire is again stressed and forced to splay beyond what it was designed to do.  This kind of pressure on the underwire over time will eventually cause the underwire to break in the center where the greatest pressure is being exerted.  The Le Mystere design team told me they’ve seen underwires under this kind of stress actually shred (rather than break cleanly) and create thin sharp shards of metal… ouch!

So what’s a girl to do?  Well, there are several precautions you can take to prevent underwires from breaking.  First, be careful how you launder your bras.  Ideally, they should be hand washed and hung to dry.  If you can’t do this, at least fasten the hooks and place your bras in a lingerie bag in the washing machine.  Never put your bras in a dryer.  It simply ruins them.

Next, make sure you are in the proper size bra.  There are more wire breaks because the cup size is too small than because the band size is too small.  A bigger cup size will capture more breast tissue and have a larger underwire to catch the sides of your breast more comfortably.  The wire will then anchor more smoothly in the breast crease without stretching to its eventual breaking point.  And, you get the added benefit of eliminating that pesky pinching feeling because your underwire won’t be as narrow and resting on top of your breast tissue.

Finally, get a good feel on your underwires.  Are they flat?  Also, If you can feel a sharp edge to them, they probably aren’t coated and will eventually saw through your bra and/or break.

Treat your bras with proper care, make sure you’re wearing the correct bra size, and buy quality bras.  This will reduce if not eliminate the chances of your underwires breaking.

The fitting guide on HerRoom has solutions to many more common bra fitting problems.

 

 

Find underwire bras at HerRoom in this department:
Bras

Posted by Tomima at 10:33am
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Bras Made with Simplex Fabric – What Does this Mean?

May 19, 2008

I’ve been seeing the word "Simplex" a lot lately. In fact, a quick search shows HerRoom offers 16 items made with simplex, and several of them incorporate simplex into their product name. It looks to be a trend in lingerie. So, what is simplex and is this a good thing to look for in lingerie and specifically bras?

Let’s start with defining simplex. For that, I’ve turned to two great sources. My friend, Ellen Jacobson, President of Elila Lingerie, and Beverly Johnson, Author of "The Bra-Makers Manual" and a true expert in bra construction and fit. Beverly has written about simplex several times on her blog. True simplex is a nylon knit with a little stretch – not like nylon that’s combined with spandex. Molded simplex bra cups can stand on on their own – even in the bigger cup sizes – without needing interfacing or other fabrics fused or layered onto it. And, simplex tends to have a matte finish. Ellen takes the definition a little farther. She first points out that the word simplex in Asia or Europe simply means a knit or "tricot" fabric you see in bathing suit material but without the spandex.

However, simplex’s more correct definition is a type of knit that has a "V" shape pattern to it’s knit. This makes it great for molding to the body. And, because of this type of construction, rather than just stretching up and down, and left and right (known as a 2-way stretch), simplex has what is called a mechanical stretch – it can stretch in every direction. But, it also gives great support because the stretch is controlled and not overly stretchy. It’s more like our skin, it stretches a little in any direction, but bounces back and gives great support. So, seamless molded bra cups made in simplex will be light-weight, but hold your breasts firmly without sagging – even in the larger cup sizes. A simplex cup will feel like wearing a second skin because of it’s all around firm support that stretches to give your breasts a natural look.

Here are some bras using simplex fabric in their seamless cups:

The Fantasie Smoothing T-Shirt Bra style 4510

 

 

 

 

 

The Lilyette Technocomfort Unlined Bra style 947

 

 

 

 

 

Also, Olga company is also launching throughout 2008 several underwire and minimizer seamless cup styles that will be using molded simplex in the cups.

You can find bras made with Simplex on HerRoom.

Posted by Tomima at 7:47am
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