Is the £79 bra with more parts than a radio worth the cash?
To look at it, you would never imagine this pretty blue bra was such a complex construction. Take a guess at how many pieces it takes to make one — ten perhaps?
With two straps, underwire, panels for the cups and back, lace for a feminine touch, elastic, the hooks and eyes to do it up and a couple of sweet little ribbons.
Triple that number and you still wouldn’t have enough. It takes an astounding 45 separate components to make up this bra — three times as many as any High Street model.
What you see is a veritable feat of engineering — indeed, the Madison, one of the best-selling models sold at lingerie firm Rigby & Peller has more parts than a digital radio, which has an average of 20. And each has a crucial role to play in giving women a comfortable and flattering fit.
The lace has been rigorously tested to give just the right amount of stretch. Those boomerang- shaped pieces are ingenious panels positioned at the side of the cup to push the bust into a central position.
The all-important underwire, meanwhile, is curved rather than flat, and designed to flex in every direction so it doesn’t dig in. Even the lining is made of a power mesh material to give lift and forward projection from the inside.
Seeing this design laid bare will no doubt explain a lot about the pitfalls of the bra you are wearing, unless you are one of Madison’s devotees. All too many High Street models have a far simpler construction, which can result in a poor fit.
‘Have you ever had an underwire that squeaks when you wear the bra?’ asks kelly Dunmore, chief lingerie stylist at Rigby & Peller. ‘That happens when wire is fixed in the casing so there’s no room for movement, which makes it squeak,’ she explains.
kelly discusses her pet hates about cheap bra construction as we walk into the factory where the Rolls-Royce of bras is made by Belgian firm Van de Velde.
All too often, the emphasis in High Street stores is on how a bra looks — rather than how well it supports you. Until now, with competition in the lingerie industry so fierce, the company, which has been making bras since 1919, has been keen to keep their design and manufacturing secrets close to their chest, as it were.
But we’ve been allowed access to see how these luxury brassieres are made and it’s staggering the time and effort involved. It takes 35 minutes to stitch each bra, with between 40 and 50 people involved in the manufacturing of each one.
While most of us dream of wearing a sexy wisp of lace and silk, for anyone over a B-cup, a bra needs to give a flattering shape, while being comfortable and washable, not to mention becoming in the bedroom.
GET it right and a bra can transform your silhouette, fashioning a waist by positioning the breasts in a pert position and creating curves.
‘A good bra is a psychological purchase,’ says kelly, and surveys have found that the wrong bra has a big impact on self-esteem as well as contributing to back ache and bad posture, not to mention pain and discomfort when straps or underwire dig in.
You can end up with a mono boob, multiple boobs, the back boob . . . A bad bra literally ruins a good outfit.
Avoiding all these pitfalls is the chief aim of the Van de Velde design team, which is headed by liesbeth Van de Velde, third generation in the dynasty.
‘A good bra can be lifechanging,’ says Van de Velde. ‘Women with large cup sizes don’t want to be discriminated against — they still want a sexy look and a comfortable fit.’
The Madison bra is made in 69 different sizes (30-46, B- J cup) to fit just about every shape. Just a few millimetres makes all the difference.
Advances in high- quality technical fabrics, stretch lace and embroidery have vastly improved options for modern bras, and materials are sourced from all over the world, including bows from Brooklyn Bows in the Uk, lace from France, embroidery from Switzerland and printed fabrics from Italy.
As the fabrics arrive from abroad, all are vigorously hand checked and tested. The work is so intense that staff are rotated every two hours. The pattern-cutting system is equally precise. layers of material are placed on top of each other to form what’s called a ‘mattress’ and then the air is vacuumed out so they all lie flat and can be cut accurately. once prototype bras are made, it’s time for human testing. The Van de Velde mission statement promises that they are ‘shaping the bodies and minds of women’, and the staff take this seriously. Before a bra goes into production, each design is personally tested by the staff who wear, wash and comment on each sample they receive.
We walk past pigeonholes where finished bras await the testing panel. kelly will be taking home a black bra with pink detailing in a 30D to wear and review. A sports bra and several other designs in a generous 32G cup await lize.
When a design goes into full production, the pieces are cut in the factory, and sent to be handsewn abroad by a bank of seamstresses in Tunisia and China.
The Van de Velde company ships 5.5 million finished pieces to 65 countries around the world per year and they only have 0.3 per cent returns on sold items; a mark of their rigorous testing process and tight controls.
What is evident at every step is the attention to detail. The end result is expensive (the Madison retails at Rigby & Peller for £79), but it’s definitely built to last.
‘our bras will last at least two years and many women tell us their favourites go on in good condition for much longer,’ says liesbeth. Compare that to a massproduced bra that can cost £30, never quite fits properly, and falls apart within a few months, and the Rolls-Royce of bras suddenly seems like a wise investment.