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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Summer 2011: top swimwear picks (for now…)

Posted on April 12, 2011 by busts4justice

It might be April but, with the sun shining and the days getting longer, it’s definitely about time to start narrowing down our favourite swimwear picks for the summer.  We’ve been keeping our eyes peeled for a few months now and found an inordinate amount of beautiful suits to choose from, but (for now at least), here are our top five…

First up, we have Miss Mandalay’s Harbour Club stripe bikini. Available from Bravissimo at around £64 for a complete set it’s not cheap, but I (and British Vogue) love the simple, breton elegance; and in sizes 28D-38HH it will cater for a wide spectrum of figures too.

Finding this-season DD+ swimwear on a budget is virtually impossible, but ASOS’s range of DD+ swimwear is pretty and colourful, and at under £30 for a full set it’s very affordable too. This pretty blossom print halter is available in a 30D-34F, and a great option for the limited few who will fit it. More sizes next swim season please, ASOS, but well done for making a start…

We wrote about Figleaves’ Midnight Grace range a while ago, and I still think this floral number is great. Frilly, silly and fun, it’s a great buy from a great range.  It’s about £46 for a set, in sizes from 30D-38G. We’re not the only ones to love it though and sizes are selling out fast, so get in quick before they all go!

Another review revisited is this lovely Lucille, the only bandeau bikini on my wish list. Its structured shape makes it more secure than your average strapless swimwear, and the red stripes are perfect for the beach.  Available in sizes 30D-38G from a number of stockists, for around £46 a set.

And finally…? I can’t do it.  Freya’s swimwear this season has been so brilliant, and I’d be very happy with any of it (even happier with all of it…).  But my top two have to be (l-r) the Flamingo and the Mirage for their vibrant prints and their lovely shapes.  Both are available in a wide range of sizes (up to a GG in Flamingo and HH in Mirage), with different style options for top and bottom.  At £50-£55 a set they are a bit more expensive than some of the other swimwear options available, but from my experience they stand up well to wear and are worth the investment.

We’ll restrain ourselves and stop at 5ish, though really we could go on. And, with new arrivals and with 2wenty8 launching Slinky Dip swimwear for 28-32 DD-H cups in May, who knows how the top 5 will shape up as season progresses? It feels as if our boobs have never been so well catered for. All there is now is to find some sea and dive in…

What would your top picks be?

 

P.S: for tips about how to help your swimwear last longer, visit our care guide x

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