MARCH 2–15, 2020 | THE CUT 25these undergarments, most agreed they had seen
better days.
“Most of them are in really sad condition,” one
woman wrote. “Old outlines from sweat, under-
boob galore, and even some stretched-out bands.”
“Too long” was also how long bra sellers said
people keep their bras. “I’ve had a girl come in,
she was in her 50s, and she said she’d been wear-
ing her bra since she was 16. The same bra,” said
Rebecca Apsan, the owner of Greenwich Vil-
lage’s famed lingerie boutique La Petite
Coquette. When I visited her and her sister at
the store one afternoon in January, they showed
me the trash can where they sometimes instruct
customers to deposit the loose old bras they
come into the store wearing.
How long you should keep your bra depends
in part on how you care for it, Apsan says. Ide-
ally, one should own six to eight bras and rotate
them every single day. “I never wear the same
bra two days in a row,” she said. “And I have my
bras for a decent amount of time. I have them
for years.”
Lori Kaplan of BraTenders in midtown said the
reason many people keep their bras well past their
prime is that they form an emotional attachment
to them—“like a teddy bear.” For some, this
attachment comes from the fact that it’s difficult
to find a bra in their size, so they cling to the ones
that fit them. For others, it’s that the style they like
has been discontinued or that their bodies have
changed and their breasts aren’t the same size
they used to be. And there’s the financial chal-
lenge as well.
As one respondent explained, she needs to go
to specialty stores to get the G-cup bras she
wears. And while she knows her current bras
need replacing, “to drop $400 to $500 on new
bras is not a luxury I can afford right now.”
Regardless of the reason, Kaplan and Apsan
agree that having a well-fitting bra is key to any
outfit. “You can buy a $2 T-shirt and you’ll look
like a million bucks if you’ve got the right under-
garments, and you can buy a $30,000 dress that
will look like a rag if you’ve got the wrong under-
garments,” Kaplan said.
A few days after I spoke to Apsan and Kaplan,
I decided to add two new bras to my limp collec-
tion. When they arrived, their bands and straps
were taut, their cups sturdy. They didn’t gape or
droop. They held my breasts firmly aloft. I didn’t
think I looked that different in my clothes, but
I liked the idea that maybe this was the person
I might be from now on—someone whose bras look fresh and
not like something that was pulled off a disinterred corpse. This
person, I imagined, always has a fresh manicure instead of
chipped nail polish. She gets all her clothes tailored and grows
fresh herbs on her kitchen windowsill. She is someone I aspired
to be but whom I knew, at the bottom of my newly contained
heart, I didn’t really care enough to make the effort to become.
Still, I was happy to playact as her for a while, until these bras,
like my others, eventually dissolve, 15 years from now. ■Madeleine, 28
36B
PURCHASED
2018
“When I first got this
bra, she was vibrant
and full of life. Now,
after over a year
of heavy wear, she
has the general
complexion and
energy of an old
pack-a-day smoker.”
Sophie, 23
32FF
PURCHASED
2018
“I don’t hate the way
this bra looks, but it is
a little sexless. I refuse
to wear any other bra
on most occasions,
though, so I’ve had my
fair share of times
when I’m unexpectedly
hooking up with
someone and realize,
Oh God, they’re gonna
see my beige minimizing
mom bra. I’m not too
bothered by it at this
point, though.”
Emily, 25
32A
PURCHASED
2017“I bought this when
I was seriously dating
a woman for the first
time, and I remember
it helping me feel more
confident and sexy
during the nerve-
racking early stages
with her.”
Madison, 27
36DDDD
PURCHASED
2018
“This is my favorite
everyday bra.
I’ve bought it easily
a half-dozen times
in various sizes and
colors over the years.
This particular
one I wore essentially
anytime I wore
something black
(read: every day)
for the entire eight
months I had
it in my rotation.”