Big Breast Archive: Jenene Swenson

Types Of Bra

A range of styles exist, to be worn in a variety of situations. The degrees of support varies between styles, with some being designed from a highly practical point of view, and others to provide a deliberatly sexually alluring form. Some names of bra styles include: front-closure, back-closure, strapless, convertible, push-up, demi-bra, full-cup, three-quarters cup, half-cup, longline, underwire, padded, triangle, soft-cup, shelf-bra, sports, and T-shirt.

Full Support Bras

Full support bras are a type of bra designed to offer good support for the breasts, and as such are the usual bra for everyday wear. Although some such bras are made entirely of fabric, it is more usual for the structure of the cups to be supported by either an 'underwire' or plastic boning. They can be worn by women of any breast size, and are specially suited for those with larger cup sizes. These bras offer a shapely cut and are built more like bikini tops than underwear. These also come in padded or unpadded version and are flattering on any figure type.

Training Bras

Training bras, which are smaller than standard bra sizes, offer very little support and are generally have a simple fabric construction, without underwired cups. They are intended to be worn by girls in the early stages of breast development during puberty, and allow them to get used to the feeling of wearing a bra before their breasts develop to the point where significant support is required. Training bras were invented in the 1950s in response to the desire of adolescent and pre-adolescent girls to "fit in" amongst their more developed peers who could fill a standard bra. The acquistiton of a training bra by a girl is often seen as a siginificant turning point in her development, and a first step toward motherhood and a sexually alluring figure, at least as it was defined in the 1950s. Some observers believe that training bras serve no functional purpose, and are exploitative in that they allow entrepeneurs to benefit from, and even encourage, precocious sexuality in young girls.

Nursing/Maternity Bras

Nursing or Maternity bras are specifically designed for breastfeeding mothers. Unlike most bras, they have cups which fold down allowing easy access to the nipple when the infant is to be fed. Many women find underwired bras uncomfortable during breastfeeding and the latter stages of pregnancy due to the increase in both size and sensitivity of the breasts, and so most, though not all, nursing bras are constructed of fabric only.

Push Up Bras

Push-up bras, are a type of bra that lifts the breasts and add shape to them with extra padding, the most well known of which is the Wonderbra. Some more innovative push-up bras use silicone inserts or water sacks to imitate the fullness of natural breasts. They are said to "lift and separate", creating a full cleavage look on breasts of all sizes. These bras always offer a lot of support.

Shelf Bras

Shelf bras are bras that are built in to various other garments, such as swimsuits and tank tops. They consist mostly of a separate layer of fabric between the breasts and the outer garment, with a band of elastic along the bottom of the separate fabric layer. In some shelf bra garments, there may be molded foam cups as well.

Another kind of shelf bra is not related to the first definition, and is a bra designed with cups that lift and support the breasts, but the cups come just under the nipples, putting the breasts and nipples on display.

Strapless Bras

Strapless bras, with no shoulder straps are designed for wearing with clothes that reveal the shoulders, such as halterneck tops.

Sports Bras

Jogging or sports bras are a more recent innovation for women to wear during exercise. They are more sturdy in their construction than regular bras, and offer greater support for the chest, thus increasing comfort and reducing the chance of damage to the ligaments of the chest during high impact exercises such as jogging. They are usually made of a stretchable, absorbant fabric such as Lycra, and may be designed to draw perspiration away from the skin to reduce irritation. Many women, particularly those with large breasts, find sports bras essential for exercise, as breasts bouncing can cause pain and discomfort, as well as embarrassment. Some sports bras are meant to be worn as outerwear.

Copyright: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on Brassiere.