What I’ve Learned from a Proper Bra

1. It’s important (to have a proper bra), and American (and most other countries’) bra companies have generally terrible ranges of bra sizes.

2. It’s a really difficult topic to bring up. It originally was, but now that I’ve learned to spot bad bra-wearing, it’s become a topic that I know how to discuss. I can’t go up to someone, whether a stranger or a good friend, and say “your bra is all wrong”. !! What do I do?

3. Despite the potential for ultra-awkwardness, it’s still an area where almost everyone needs a re-education. See the my first Perspectives post for my story about my aunt. (This incident is what pushed me off the decision/procrastination fence.)

4. Lots of people have said I lost weight.
i. Reasons why I might look like I’ve lost weight:
a. Most of the people who’ve said this haven’t seen me in a long long time and have no point of comparison besides a vague impression of a short chubby Asian girl;
b. my good bras lift my chest away from my stomach and hold my bust up properly;
c. my migrated breast tissue is re-migrating to its proper places;
d. for the last few years, I’ve been preferring more form-fitting clothes because they feel like they’re actually on my body as opposed to around it;
e. I probably smile more than I used to; not that I was perpetually grumpy before.
ii. I actually don’t really want to lose weight… I’m very comfortable where I am, thank you. I already get blown around by heavy NY winter winds; I prefer being sturdy on my feet than being less fatty.

5. Despite not having lost weight, I fit into (and look better in) clothes that I thought I’d outgrown. There’s this top and skirt set that I’d bought in Thailand- it’s gorgeous but I’ve never been able to wear it. Although it was in my size, my bra band would ride up to my armpits (kind of sad that didn’t tip me off that anything was wrong with my bra…) and it is not the kind of top that a traveling bra band can pull off. Now that I can wear it, the dyes have bled and shifted so while it’s still beautiful, there are some pretty noticeable flaws 😦

6. I have been playing some Kinect games that required heavy jumping and scampering around the room; NO PAIN! It was glorious. I might even be comfortable running! More elaboration in a later post on how support-less bras made my PE experience throughout school even more horrible than it had to be (but a note that I must clarify first: I loved playing most sports, it was just that my lungs don’t agree, so it was not a distaste for physical movement that turned me off of that class.)

Review: narue Princess Silk 3/4 Bra

This is the black-over-nude bra that I bought from Kaori’s Closet.

This was my first “good-fit” bra, and although I’m no longer this size, I still can’t help the occasional urge to wear it; in fact, I have it on right now. (In my defense, I’m not doing anything but sitting at home doing computer work today; one day of iffy support won’t hurt. Also, my obsession with using em-dashes has evidently translated directly into an obsession with semi-colons.)

The material of the lined cups is a very comfortable and soft cotton. The wings are some synthetic mesh-y material, but very soft, and the straps are your standard cotton elastic.

It’s a pretty basic high-ish half-cup bra with a low center gore. This works for me but it might not for people who need the strong separation. It comes with removable cushions (which I have never used because I tend to fervently favor less cleavage). The black trim kind of hides quadraboob issues (^^;) and helps camouflage under low cut black tops (or terrifyingly low cut graduation dress that aren’t actually designed to be low cut but don’t take into account 35+ inch overbusts on short Asian torsos!). The straps are not fully adjustable; only the back half is, but it’s never presented a problem for me.

The design is, as I mentioned in my Kaori’s Closet review, totally gorgeous. Honestly, it’s probably a luxury brand (it’s priced luxuriously enough). Beautiful mesh netting over the cups, trim around the edges and additional decorative accents between the cups and wings and on the center gore. The non-adjustable section of the straps is a unique double ribbon; it looks cool enough to be decent if it shows.

The one I have is a 32DD (so… pretty off but some days I have no clean bras and/or just don’t care). It’s available from a 30 band and I think goes up to a G (seems discontinued maybe so I guess let’s put that last sentence in the past tense). However, being a Japanese brand, I’m not sure how I’d be able to find anything else from narue without going back to Kaori’s Closet or learning Japanese and ordering through rakuten or Japanese Yahoo!Marketplace.