Our life in eight BRAS
... that’s how many the average woman owns —and here, three share the revealing stories behind their choices
EVER looked at that dispiriting tangle of lingerie in your underwear drawer, only to reach for one of the same trusty two bras that you seem to wear day in, day out?
If so, you are like a third of women who own an average of eight bras and yet, according to a new survey by luxury brand Rigby & Peller, only wear two of them.
What is more, in many cases, none of the bras fit properly.
‘Women tend to hold on to bras for all kinds of emotional reasons,’ says Natasha Harding, lingerie stylist at Rigby & Peller. ‘One may have been a present from a partner; another, they perhaps wore on a special occasion.
‘They’re also likely to have a range of sizes, reflecting the different sizes they have been. Some bras perfectly suit a particular outfit, but when they stop wearing that top or dress, the bra languishes in their drawer.’
According to Natasha, a bra worn every day, and washed by hand, should be replaced every six months, while two worn in rotation will last a year before the material becomes too stretchy to do its job.
‘I’ve spoken to women who tell me they’ve been wearing the same bra for ten years — but I wouldn’t like to imagine the condition it’s in,’ she adds.
Hannah McDonald, a 35-yearold physiotherapist and mother of two from London, had lost track of how many bras she owns when she agreed to allow Natasha to have a rummage in her underwear drawer. ‘ I’ve been rotating the same two, both from M&S, for a couple of years now, while the others go unworn,’ admits Hannah. Mother-of-two Anne Bruce, of West London, was alternating between a cheap Primark 36B bra and a lace 34C one from M&S, but after being scrutinised by Natasha, she was deemed to be a 32DD. ‘My last fitting was back in 2012, so I had a drawer full of bras that didn’t fit me at all,’ says Anne. Natasha advises a bra fitting every six months, as well as after weight loss, during the menopause and at the end of pregnancy or breastfeeding. For Sonia Smith, 45, an A&E nurse and mother of two from Manchester, day-to- day bras have to pass the ‘jump and wiggle test’ after one mortifying incident wearing her scrubs when she ended up revealing rather too much, thanks to an illfitting number she’d held on to for far too long. ‘I’ve always been busty, but as I’ve got older, I’ve become more self-conscious about my bra size,’ she says. ‘I want to wear glamorous styles, so occasionally I will splash out on a more risque design, but when it comes to it, I don’t feel comfortable enough to wear it — so back in the drawer it goes.’ So all that’s left for these three women is to throw out their bra stockpile and start again. But first, here’s what their eight bras say about their lives . . .