May 21, 2021
In the early scenes of the Hitchcock masterpiece, Psycho, we see star Janet Leigh in a white bra and slip. These images were even featured on movie posters, which was quite scandalous for 1960. However, later in the film, after Marion has unmarried sex, steals thousands of dollars and becomes a fugitive, Hitchcock presents her in a black bra to illustrate she’s now a good girl turned bad.
Nothing can tell a woman’s story quite like her underwear.
For ages and ages, women’s lingerie has been a subject of great fascination and fetishization. From vintage Sears catalogs to an entire pageant featuring stately models clad in lingerie and angel wings (???), some folks simply can’t get enough of ladies in their unmentionables. For many women, however, bras can also be a subject of great annoyance, shame, and abject disappointment. ESPECIALLY if you’re a “full figured girl” as movie bombshell Jane Russell used to say in Playtex bra commercials from the 70s and 80s.
Finding foundations that fit can be challenging for more voluptuous bodies and though, to some it may seem like a high class problem, I assure you it’s much more of a high class pain in the ass.
Enter Jenette Bras.
As they say on their website…
"Most women blessed with a figure like ours are wearing the wrong size bra. Chances are that right now half of your boob is bulging out somewhere or other. I call it Mall Bra Syndrome. It’s a low inventory, low wage, low skill business model that just about works for gals up to a C-cup, if they’re not too picky. If you need a bigger cup you’re likely to be offered a bigger band instead. Seriously? Instead of fitting bras to our bodies, they expect our bodies to fit their limited selection of bras.
Well, I come from a long line of women who are big on bosom and short on patience. So, enough already."
Jenette Goldstein, a working actress who appeared in numerous blockbuster films and hit TV shows, decided to do something about the difficulties of finding a perfectly-fitted bra for the “full figured gal.” So she opened Jenette Bras, where their slogan is, “The alphabet starts at D.”
Since I totally qualify and was in dire need for some new foundations thanks to a 50 pound weight loss, I headed over to their brand new Burbank, CA store where, and I am not kidding, my life changed.
How did my life change at a bra shop? Great question, thanks for asking. As you’re about to hear in this episode, it was thanks to a simple photo, snapped at my request, by highly trained bra fitter. For the first time in my life, I finally saw what my body really looked like.
And I liked it.
In this interview we cover…
- How Jenette convinced director James Cameron to shoot her and her plentiful rack in a very specific way
- How bra sizes are completely arbitrary, meaningless and stupid
- The importance of being professionally fitted for a bra
- Why spending more for a handmade bra makes a lot of sense
- When it’s actually okay to get a cheap bra
- The surprising physical trait shared by Black women and Jewish women
I also get very real about my own personal struggles with body issues and trauma.
This episode is about a lot more than tits, but, we all know that’s always a great place to start.
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Janet Leigh photo from Psycho, Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons