his past year I've completely changed my perspective on bras. Growing up I gathered that once I was a woman I'd be endowed with overflowing breasts, and bras would be required to hoist them upwards to achieve a natural, pleasant décolletage. Fast forward from prepubescence to late-20's and yo, look, it's never going to happen. These small tits? They're here to stay, and I've discovered that I rather like that. As a teen I looked around at my peers' growing chests, and then down at my own modest chest, and hoped that one day I'd graduate to larger cup sizes, meanwhile compensating with underwire padded bras. Unfortunately most bras were uncomfortable and due to my small shoulders, most bra straps would fall down about 100 times a day, driving me insane. But I plodded on, strapping them on everyday, trying my best to get as close to an "ample" chest as possible (boys like boobs, right? I've heard boys like boobs), even though my boobs couldn't make cleavage if I tried smashing them together forcefully (they barely even touch with this method applied, so I'm not sure why a bra would have better results). After high school I kind of lost interest in hoping for bigger boobs because it was clear it wasn't going to happen, but by then I had bought the lie that the only bra out there for me was an underwire padded contraption whose straps fell off multiple times per hour. Whenever I bought a new bra, it was typically of that ilk.
In the last year I've stopped wearing most of the bras I have bought over the years. Sometimes I don't wear a bra at all, and I've discovered that it's awesome. Like, one of the most awesome things ever. "Aren't you worried about your boobs getting saggy?" NOPE. In order for gravity to pull them southward there kind of has to be something there to pull. Sorry, gravity, but you don't have much to grab onto. Also, if they do end up sagging a bit after years of living life and possibly nourishing children, so what? Once I realized that wearing a bra was really not doing much for me other than frustrating me and making me uncomfortable, I started looking around for bras that made sense for me and my body. For someone who doesn't have much to hold up, but also wants the comfort of having them contained (or at least keep from nipping out too much) and the peace of mind that I'm not going to flash someone if I have a loose top on. I wear quite a few sports bras, but sometimes they're a little to aggressive in the containment department and aren't comfortable for a full day's worth of wear. Plus, I do like how a cute bra can make me feel sexier, so plain old sports bras aren't always going to do the trick for that.
Wearing bras like this make me feel like I'm loving my body in a whole new way, rather than trying to force it to be something it's not. I never have to pull a strap back up onto my shoulder ever again. I feel so much more comfortable wearing these bras than the underwire, padded contraptions I'd worn for 15 years. I literally forget that I have a bra on all day and sometimes have to peek in to check if I actually put on one that morning.
Since the straps on most of these bras are so interesting and cool, they're awesome to wear with backless dresses where I'd otherwise be forced to wear a stick-on bra (or have a normal, ugly bra strap cutting across the back). It's nice to be able to throw on a bra with visually appealing straps instead of trying to make a backless bra work. So much more comfortable.
My mom bought me my first Coobie bra to try about a year ago after chatting about my shifting perspective in bras. We have very similar body types and some years ago, after an injury from a car accident caused underwire bras to be too uncomfortable to wear, she began wearing this kind of bra. After buying it for me she joked that she should apologize to Dan for giving me such an "un-sexy" bra, but the best part was that the first time he saw me wear it he asked if it was new and said it was really cute. I like feeling sexy in my own way, and while I'm sure lacey bits are nice for some, I prefer a more casual, comfortable brand of sexy. I'll take boyshorts and sports bras over thongs and pushup bras every day.