Berlei Supreme White Fit Bra

So here’s a question for all our Brastop Blog readers: can you remember your first ever bra?

If you’re relatively young (ie. under 30), you probably picked up something fro Debenhams, La Senza or maybe even one of the early Bravissimo stores. The chances are, you had a reasonably decent selection to choose from – although, probably not much in the way of colours or styles – especially if you’re in the big-bust range.

If you’re just that little bit older, like me, you might remember that your first bra probably wasn’t the most elegant purchase of your teen years. For long and weary, bras tended to come in two broad categories: practical (ie. ugly but comfortable) and sexy (beautiful, but impractical AND uncomfortable). And, as has been well-documented here on Brastop blog, sizing was often catastrophically unreliable, non-uniform and downright confusing.

It’s an illustration of how far along we’ve come in the last 10-15 years that lingerie is now seen as one of the most important purchases a woman can make. More and more women are aware of the health risks of not wearing a properly-fitting bra – and there is significantly more choice in terms of style, function, shape, size, comfort and colour – especially if you fall into the “big bust” category, as mentioned above. In fact, it’s only been in the last five years that decent bras for bigger women have become a reality on the UK market – and we truly are now living in the Silver Age of D+ bras (forgive my Greek metaphors – but I reckon the Bronze and Modern ages are yet to come!).

I *think* I can remember my first bra, but I’m a little bit cloudy on what brand it was. I know I purchased it in a big department store like Marks & Spencers (possibly Goldberg’s or Lewis’s) when I was around 13 (possibly 14), and I think it might have been a Berlei bra.

From memory, it was white, impractical and wire-free. It was one of several bras that lasted me for quite some time, but eventually gave up the ghost at some point further down the line when the seams couldn’t take any more strain, not to mention repeat rinses in the wash – and the lovely white colouring turned to a sad, worn-out looking, dull, battleship grey.

So what is the point of this little trip down bra memory lane? Oh, I had almost lost my train of thought: Berlei bras.

The reason I’m waxing lyrical about the good-old days is because Berlei (an Australiam lingerie company that first plied its trade in 1917) has recently released a classic wire-free range of bras – based on some of the original designs the company produced in years gone by.

Brastop currently has a selection of them on sale right now – including the Classic Support and the Classic Cotton and the quite gorgeous Supreme, which hark back to the Golden Age of lingerie when a bra was meant to be worn and not seen – but with a modern twist to the design (ie. they now come in decent sizes, are made of much more suitable materials and actually fit D+ women without making them feel like they’re wearing a parachute harness).

I haven’t tried one yet, but I plan to. They look gorgeous, if a bit minimalist – and, more importantly, they’re sturdy, wire-free bras that are fit for everyday use.

Let us know if you try one out, and, post us a comment below telling us what your first ever bra was (if you can remember, that is!). We’re also doing some research on first bras and would love any comments you can give if you ever wore an under-wired bra as your first bra and what affects the wires had on you? Was it comfortable or uncomfortable? Did the wires ever bruise you or mis-shape you in anyway?  Let us know below.