Ruminations: Pandemic Restraints Fallout

"Things were changing prior to COVID, big time, within the bra industry. What has happened alongside the pandemic is exploding interest in comfort, more flexible wires, softer fabrics and thinner fabrics."
"The bottom line is that all this fabric innovations mean you have a choice of softer, thinner and more comfortable fabrics We no longer have just two choices; thick padded or totally thin fabrics."
"If you take a look back at the last 100 years of bra manufacturing and design, it's easy to see how often styles change, as fashion does."
"There's a bra out there to meet everyone's needs, from super sexy to super sporty and everything in between."
Elisabeth Dale, founder, Breast Life

"Intimate apparel used to serve as an item of clothing that was really worn for someone else. Now it's become a symbol of empowerment."
"It's about how it makes me feel versus how I look to you."
Kristen Classi-Zummo, apparel analyst, market research firm

"It used to be just cotton, but now Lycra, tricot, spandex, Spanette, latex and nylon are all blended together to achieve specific purposes."
"Higher spandex typically means more support and form will provide shaping."
Jene Luciani Sena, author, The Bra Book

And then there's another option. No bra. Freedom, comfort, truly 'relaxed fit'. "My body doesn't want me to strap it in for fashion's sake or because culture says I should. Nope. No more", was the expressed view of 51-year-old Colorado life coach, Kate Chapman. "It's a delicious feeling". Well, it is for women who don't boast large breasts. For women who normally take D-size cups it's another ball game altogether. Unless they dress constantly in shapeless, large and wide garments like a MuuMuu and reconcile themselves to a tent-like appearance, they haven't the cultural/social freedom to go without.

Sales associate Rita King finds a specific size for a customer at Top Drawer Lingerie, a store in Uptown Park, on Thursday, June 3, 2021 Annie Mulligan, Houston Chronicle

Broadly speaking, however, the effect of the novel coronavirus pandemic has been to isolate people, to convince health and government authorities to instruct on the virtues of keeping people safe by transitioning to remote work, working from home in an effort to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that brought the social order and the world economy to an abrupt pause. Not going out to the office any longer and working from home? Dressing casually, what could be more comfortable than ditching that bra? Instant relief.

Little wonder there's been a drop in the sale of brassieres. The popularity of soft 'sports' bras has risen, as an alternative to the more pointed, structured architecture of the usual under-worn accoutrement of female attire. The obligatory, polite bra. The uncomfortable, stricturing brassiere. Women waking to the reality of pleasing themselves, ditching the intention to present a structured profile that exacts a fairly uncomfortable price on comfort.

They've experienced the freedom of being without a bra for well over a year, and it's been a huge hit. Some women will willingly revert to wearing a bra as they return to work in person in an office or shop setting. Others will be reluctant to, but feel that it is required of them. Others yet will devise alternatives new to the market and to satisfy convention by covering up their nipples to ensure that embarrassing shapes don't reveal their choice; stickies meant for that purpose come in handy.

"Some women have so thoroughly enjoyed not wearing a bra throughout this time working from home that they are telling clinicians that they are internally debating if they will ever go back to wearing one."
"Anecdotally, some women coming to the clinic share that it can be incredibly difficult finding a bra that works for them."
"This is a valid point — why should women return to wearing something that's uncomfortable, expensive no matter the price point, and a bit hit-and-miss with fabric options, lining, underwiring, padding, straps, presentation and long-lasting wear?"
Spokeswoman for Osteopathy Australia