THE GREAT COMEBACK
Rethinking the bra in a post-pandemic world.
Editor’s note: This is the sixth installment of an eight-week series geared toward helping Renew readers prepare their bodies and minds to return to normal life this summer, as the pandemic wanes.
At Top Shelf Lingerie in Uptown Park, sales associates have never been busier. “The minute — the minute! — our governor opened up the no-mask rule, we were flooded. Inundated,” says Kathy Langhamer, the shop’s most senior employee, who has spent 28 years fitting Houstonians for bras. “I mean, honestly, the best two months we’ve ever had. Ever. In our existence.”
The post-pandemic bra rush, it seems, is on. But the legacy of this strange moment in time could have long-lasting effects.
The popularity of the traditional underwire bra has been waning for years now, thanks to the growing number of women who seek out sports bras or bralettes for their daily needs — a shift that Dana Donofree saw accelerate during the pandemic.
“We saw a steady, or heightened demand,” says Donofree, the founder of AnaOno, a bra company she launched in 2013, when she struggled to find comfortable bras that fit her after undergoing treatment for breast cancer, including a bilateral mastectomy.
Her company focuses on what she calls “boob inclusive” bras — underwire-free options that can accommodate women whose two breasts are perhaps different sizes or shapes.
Bottom line, she says, it’s about comfort over conforming.
“I love that in some ways, because of COVID and living the in-home lifestyle all day long, it changed the way we dress overall, how we express ourselves,” she says. “A lot of us are working from our computer. You don’t need to be strapped into your painful underwire bra for that.”
When Donofree first launched her business, she says no one outside the fashion industry was using the term bralette. Now, it’s everywhere.
“Our customers needed us more this year than they’ve ever needed us,” she says.
Bralettes aren’t as big at Top Drawer Lingerie, where many of Langhamer’s customers are fullchested women who need extra support from their bras.
“During the pandemic, smaller-busted women chose that they could go without. They didn’t have to worry about it. Especially when you’re quarantined at home. For a lot of women, they just got comfortable,” she says. “During the pandemic, we didn’t really sell a bunch of bras. We sold sleepwear.”
And that’s true. While working from home can require less traditional office wear, foregoing a bra entirely isn’t always a good idea.
“Breasts can weigh more than about 2 pounds when you’re a D cup or above, which is where the importance of a bra comes in,” says Jasmine Sandesara, an orthopedics and sports medicine nurse practitioner specialist at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Group. “It provides support to the thoracic spine and decreases the load to the musculature of your upper neck.”
Or, more simply: “Your shoulders will roll in if you don’t have the support,” she says.
Women who’ve been going without a bra this year may notice a difference in their posture, in addition to complaints about a sore neck. But getting back into the habit of wearing a bra isn’t as easy as hooking a clasp.
“Some patients that get back into the workforce and start wearing bras again, I’ve had patients who say, ‘My back is hurting,’ ” Sandesara says.
So how do you support the girls after a year’s vacation?
“Wear the bra,” says Sandesara. “And I would suggest working in strengthening exercises for your upper back and stretching the front part of your body.”
Focus on your pectoral muscles — the ones tucked beneath your breasts. For women whose backs are rolling in, the posterior part of the body is already stretching; by stretching the front part, you’ll allow your muscles to fight that rolling in.
“You want to stretch the front part of your body, and strengthen the back muscles and the back and the neck to help with the posture and the pain,” she says.
But here’s one of the biggest bra caveats to come out of the pandemic: Don’t assume you can immediately return to your go-to bra from Before Times.
Much has been written about the so-called COVID-15 weight gain syndrome, which has left the American public with a few extra pounds after a year cloistered at home. For women who are exiting the pandemic larger than they entered it, their old bras likely won’t cut it any more.
“The size of your breasts are always changing,” says Sandesara. “And it’s really important to make sure you’re wearing the right size bra.”
She notes that most lingerie shops will help fit customers for their bras — something Langhamer knows a thing or two about. (“You know, she fitted Barbara Bush,” Langhamer’s boss, store co-owner Dow B. Hickam whispered as she dashed away from the counter to consult with a client on a recent morning.)
Langhamer is confident in the theory behind this spring’s bra bounce back.
“It’s because they gained weight and they have to go back to the office,” she said. “Our bodies change. You gain 10 pounds, your bra is going to feel a little different. Your breasts are always the first place to show the signs of weight change.”
Finding an expert to help you ensure you’re properly fitted for the bra you truly need is an important step in return to office — regardless of whether that means you’re seeking out a highly structured underwire bra, or sticking with the bralettes.
“I really do think the true point of a bra is the first thing you put on your skin every day,” says Donofree. “If it’s beautiful, soft, gives you confidence, if you feel empowered, that will set the pace for the rest of the day.