Have you ever felt personally victimised by an uncomfortable bra?
Over my career, I have written multiple features on airport style; what to wear for the journey to and from our chosen holiday destinations. These articles have always aimed to create inspiration that straddles both practicality and aesthetic appeal. But the foundation for all these looks is rarely mentioned; a comfortable, supportive bra that also looks nice. What we’re looking for are soft materials and thoughtfully constructed silhouettes that we’ll wear on our holiday, as well as the journey.
All of us have likely been on the receiving end of an under-performing bra, the kind that pinches, digs-in or causes unnecessary bulges. In my experience, rarely does a bad bra choice feel quite as apparent than on a flight when comfort is tantamount. The obvious choice is to go for a sports bra, but if (like me), you’re someone for whom this type of undergarment has no use whatsoever on holiday then it seems a waste to wear a piece you won’t repurpose again on your trip. The challenge is working out which non-sports styles actually tick the comfort box; this piece is dedicated to finding them.
There are a few lingerie brands who are trying to do things differently, whether it comes to fabric innovation or design. Gillian Ridley White decided to launch ethical lingerie brand Peachaus after deciding the underwear market wasn’t serving women as it should. Having worked at Topshop as fashion director and M&S as buying director, she drew on her experience to create a lingerie concept that upends tradition. The result is featherlight, soft fabrics, recycled materials without harsh seams. “We flip the process, starting with the great, not the bra,” she told us. “It’s not about building a rigid garment the body has to fit into, it’s about designing something that gently moulds to the body, moves with you, and feels like wearing nothing at all. Our bras are light, soft, and made to be truly transformational in how they feel.”
She also decided to launch a different sizing model in a bid to make the existing process more straight-forward. Much like ready-to-wear, bra sizing varies wildly from one store to the next. “At the moment, each brand does it differently, and it often feels like the industry is dictating how a woman should feel in a bra, rather than listening to how she wants to feel,” she says. “We said, ‘enough, let’s make it simpler.’ Women understand their body frame, so we’ve broken it down into small, medium, large, and we’ve paired that with an intuitive cup system we call SimplySized. It goes from cup one to eight, covering a broad range of bust sizes. So for example, I’m a 34D, and I wear an M3 – medium frame, cup 3. It makes the process clearer, less intimidating, and gives women more control.”
Peachaus isn’t the only brand that follows a different sizing guide. US cult favourite Thirdlove offers half-cup sizes, after finding out that standard sizing doesn’t fit 37 percent of women. Its 24/7 classic T-shirt bra is a long-standing bestseller, offering ease-of-wear, multiple colour ways and understated, fuss-free design. This summer, the brand launched TempSync™, a collection of temperature-regulating essentials, aimed at perimenopausal and menopausal women. “ThirdLove started at our kitchen table,” its CEO and co-founder Heidi Zak said recently on Instagram. “Back then, we didn’t set out to ‘disrupt an industry’ (those buzzwords came later). We knew women deserved better. Better fits. Better comfort. Better choices. Just bras that actually fit.”
24/7 Classic T-shirt bra, £53, Thirdlove
Freda organic cotton underwire bra, £58, Dora Larsen
Commando is another leader in the field, with fans including Rihanna, Leslie Bibb and Kendall Jenner. It’s best known for its fabric innovation, which birthed the label’s trademark Butter material, a super soft material used to create underwear and loungewear, but also its perfectly smooth silhouettes, which originate from raw-cut, elastic-free design.
“I source luxury-technical fabrics from some of the finest mills in Europe, testing them for softness, stretch, recovery, and breathability before a single sketch is made,” explains Commando founder, chief designer and CEO Kerry O’Brien. “Once I find a fabric I truly love, I build the design around it – ensuring the material’s natural qualities work with the body, not against it. The result is a product that not only fits impeccably, but also feels like a second skin – even after a long day.”
In need of more inspiration? Here, we’ve found the most comfortable, overachieving bras to travel in:
Lead image courtesy of Peachaus
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