Dita Comes to the Rescue

Recently I realised I was in need of a new skin-toned strapless bra. I had too many summer tops and dresses that I was unable to wear because they required a strapless bra – either spaghetti-strapped tops and dresses, or racer-back tanks. Nothing more quickly ruins the elegance and simplicity of these styles than superfluous bra straps.

However, to my disgust, I very quickly realised that there was a dearth of pretty strapless bras available in Melbourne. I searched high and low in three department stores and two boutiques, and discovered that nearly all of the strapless bras available were in that horrible dark beige seamless polyamide, and of those, it was virtually impossible to find any without any excess padding.

Dita von Teese designs for Wonderbra – the world’s most famous push-up braI consider it false advertising to wear a push-up bra – what you see is what you get in my world. And all these padded brown bras were extremely plain – neither a trim of lace nor satin bow was to be seen on a one. The only pretty strapless bra I found was in the Elle McPherson range – it was all white lace – too ornamental and textured for everyday wear, as well as the wrong colour.

And just a note on these so-called ‘nude’ toned bras: I didn’t find any the colour of my skin. If you are a woman of colour – hooray! But if you are very fair skinned, you are doomed to wear a brown bra for all eternity. You can get different shades of beige and brown in stockings, and foundation – why not bras for heaven’s sake?

I jumped up and down to test it – it passed with flying colours.

Dita does black lace strapless corsets tooThen I discovered the Dita Von Teese lingerie range in Myer. In amongst the red and black racy lacy numbers, I found a 50s-style peach satin bra that reminded me just a little of that bra Jean Paul Gaultier made for Madonna way back when (except for the pointy cone bits). It was pretty, just decorative enough without being frou-frou, and it was sturdily constructed: the strap around the back was wide, with three hook-and-eye closures, which makes for more security. (I jumped up and down to test it – it passed with flying colours.) The only odd thing was that it seemed to be a smaller fit than usual, and I had to go up a size in the band. It comes with removable straps, so it can be worn as a regular bra too.

I must ask though, WHY do lingerie manufacturers seem to think that strapless bras must necessarily be ugly bras? It just doesn’t make any sense. Thank goodness Dita came to the rescue!