Boobies triumphant!

Posted on April 15, 2011 by busts4justice

A school who banned breast cancer awareness charity Keep A Breast Foundation‘s brilliant “I heart boobies” campaign has been ordered to overturn the rule by a judge on the grounds that it contravenes the First Amendment: the students’ right to freedom of speech.

And though it does seem bizarre that one principal’s problem with the (brilliant) word ‘boobies’ could end up in a federal court case, it will at least generate lots of much needed exposure for Keep A Breast’s work and, in doing so, perhaps save lives.

And to celebrate, in tribute to the work Keep A Breast do I think we should all give our own boobies a good feel to make sure they’re in perfect health. Early detection is our best weapon in the fight against breast cancer: make sure regular self-examination is in your arsenal…

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Ultimo Real Women show off new range

Posted on April 14, 2011 by busts4justice

In an encouraging trend, Ultimo are the second brand in a week to announce the use of more mature models in their marketing.

Ultimo’s ‘real women’ campaign uses women aged 22-46 – with two women in their forties – and of different shapes to model their new season lingerie. And as well as a great way for Ultimo to include and celebrate their fans and customers, it’s useful as a buyer to see underwear modelled on figures more identifiable to your own too.  While ‘real women’ is not a term that we at Busts 4 Justice find particularly helpful, it is fantastic that another lingerie company is celebrating its customers in all their ages, shapes and sizes.  Who knows – could Ultimo will be a shade braver next season and recruit a woman in her fifties?

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Freya Deco: Boob Defender

Posted on April 14, 2011 by busts4justice

Yesterday I prayed to the lingerie gods (that is, asked on Twitter) for a bra that I could ride my bike in. After a long cycle through cobbledy Amsterdam on my scarcely roadworthy (but so beautiful) bike on Tuesday, my violently jiggled boobs hurt and my trusty Panache Tango plunge – usually my most reliable and practical day bra – had taken an premature trip to bra heaven. May she rest in peace.

Loathe to lose any more of my precious (and limited, for now) lingerie, I decided I needed a bra with added suspension: a  normal and fashionable bra that gave you additional support for moderate activity without you having to wear your sports bra down to the pub. Alas Twitter could not help me. I shuddered to think how many more lives The Bra Destroyer (AKA Cecil, above left) would claim.

And then I made a tremendous discovery. I don’t usually associate bras that give you eye-popping cleavage with support, but last night my Freya Deco avenged the death of its Panache friend.  Cycling in heels at rush hour and unsteadier than ever, my boobs felt fine.  Because it pushes the boobs up in the cup, the top of the breast can comfortably move and absorb the road shocks – like a wobbling jelly – without the painful judders I experienced in a less structured underwired bra. My boobs were comfortable and supported and safe and sound from Cecil’s non-existent suspension and the uneven Amsterdam roads.  And because the fit is good, it can do all of this without even needing to readjust on dismount.

I liked the Freya Deco before, but now I love it. It’s wonderfully contradictory: feminine and sexy, but practical and – it would seem – a little bit boisterous and sporty. And that is, I think, what underwear should be: something that simply enables you to get on and do and be all that you want to. Even if what you want to do is as contradictory as cycling stupidly fast to dinner in a push-up bra and heels…

It’s also just been released in delicious pistachio, which I think I need immediately. Not only is it a tremendous bra, but don’t you think that colour matches my bike…?

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Ruth Langsford new Playtex ambassador

Posted on April 14, 2011 by busts4justice

Though I hate the expression ‘real women’ (all women are real, size has nothing to do with their materiality, etc etc…), Busts 4 Justice celebrates anything that makes beauty and fashion more inclusive and less about conforming to a prescribed and mostly unattainable ideal.

But while curvier silhouettes are becoming more familiar in lingerie marketing, one demographic still missing is older women.  Which is absurd, not only because older women wear lingerie, but because it means young women have been used to model lingerie clearly designed for more mature women.  This makes the product look disproportionately frumpy, and must also alienate the very market it is supposed to be targeting.

At 51 Ruth Langsford isn’t particularly old, but her appointment as ambassador and model for Playtex indicates that at least one company has realised that their core ‘older’ customers deserve more than to be invisible.  It’s a small step, but one in the right direction against a popular culture that pushes swathes of women out once they reach middle age.

It might not be a brand I would choose (nor would they expect me to…), but Playtex deserve top marks for making mature women visible in lingerie marketing.  I only hope more brands take notice, and follow.

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20,000 leagues under the G: B4J’s European Adventure

Posted on April 13, 2011 by busts4justice

When Busts 4 Justice hit the worldwide news, we had lots of messages from women in the US and Europe explaining how much worse they had it, and could Busts 4 Justice hurry up and help them get better fit and sizes at affordable prices once we’d vanquished Marks & Spencer.  It seemed that while things were far from perfect on the UK high street, things could be a lot lot worse.

Two years later, and whilst massively excited to be moving with B4J HQ to one of the most beautiful and exciting cities in the world, my thoughts returned to those cries for help I never acted upon. I panicked: the view and culture and food and people in Amsterdam are all amazing, but where on earth was I going to feed my lingerie and swimwear habit?

We drove in to Amsterdam, my bag stuffed with bras I couldn’t bear to part with, and immediately spotted a Freya poster at a tram stop.  And then another Freya poster, and a massive Triumph one too.  So while things are still undoubtedly bad – like going back 10 years on the British high street – there is hope.  And that’s good news for my boobs, and for the good boobs of Europe too.

So in addition to all the usual UK focussed lingerie and related blogging, B4J’s European adventure will be hunting out and reviewing European DD+ brands, stores, and finding bargains wherever possible. We’ll champion all who get it right, and join with campaigns against things that are wrong. Who knows, once we’re settled we might even start agitating ourselves…

Kusjes uit Amsterdam! x

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