Support systems part 1

I found support this weekend in the strangest of places: a great bra and very tasty soup. Yes you can argue with me tomorrow about whether or not food qualifies as support. Nurturing and comforting for sure but support? No argument about the supportive powers of a great bra though. In fact someone said "friends are like bras; close to your heart and there for support." I would like to add that unlike a friend-gone-wrong, especially a male-friend-gone-wrong, a great bra will never let you down when you're starting to sag on a bad day.Bras help you fake it in more ways than one. Bras like friends and support systems make you look good when you don't feel good on the inside.

I needed to look good on Sunday. I suppose in the end nobody noticed or cared what I was wearing so let me correct myself I needed to FEEL good on Sunday. We were church shopping. I HATE church shopping for all of the obvious reasons. (I'll go into those someday....) I didn't want to do it. In fact according to my first facebook status on Sunday all I wanted to do was hang out in bed with a good book and a bowl of the split pea soup I had just made. But cooler heads and a good dose of anti-anxiety meds prevailed and I decided to go. Obviously I couldn't go until I was dressed. (Although church in PJ's would be very cool.) Not just DRESSED but WELL dressed no matter how casual the church claimed to be. Little Miss Teen will tell you that much to her shock and horror clothes really don't matter to me; I'm just not that into them. Except for when I HAVE to be and on Sunday morning I HAD to be. I knew that getting dressed was half the battle.

I remember the day of my mom's funeral; a friend called and asked me how I was doing. I took a deep breath and told her that I was dressed. We talked about what I had decided to wear for a few moments and then she reminded me that she hadn't asked what I was wearing but how I was doing. Ahhhhhhhhhh but getting dressed when you don't want to is a HUGE step. The fact that I had gotten dressed said a lot about my state of mind at the time.

Not only is getting dressed the first step in the progress of the day; after all nothing is going to happen until you're dressed, (except in my house where I can accomplish a heck of a lot of work in my PJs) but it's an important physiological step in that it denotes that you're committed to moving on with the day and all that it's going to bring. (Until you're sitting on the toilet having an anxiety attack insisting that you can't possibly move out the door, or sitting in your car wondering if this really is a good idea.) And if you're going to actually go ahead with a day that you just know isn't going to turn out well, then you had better employ every trick you have up your sleeves (or in this case bare arms) to make you feel better about the day. Hence the bra.

We pause now for a brief (yes I promise I'll just skip to the good parts) history lesson in bras. Please note that in this blog we will usually pause for a history or useless facts lesson because...................? After yesterday's disastrous encounter with Wikpedia I tried looking for other sources of historical information. Then I tried even harder to find a source that didn't insult my intelligence.
　
" Bra fashion history began as far back as Cretan times, (Cretan?) but 1907, was the year when the word brassiere was first reported in an American copy of Vogue. The original French meaning was support, (see I told you!) but the word was out of use and the French chose to call a bra soutien-gorge. Cretan women wore bras thousands of years ago.
In England bust improvers were available in the Edwardian period. By 1905 BBs as they were known were usual wear.
Bra fashion history truly began with the first bra to be patented. The first bra was patented in 1914 by Mary Phelps-Jacobs an American. It is not thought to be the first bra ever, but it is the first patented record and that gives her the credit. Mary Phelps-Jacobs patented her bra design under the patent name of Caresse Crosby. Some suggest it was her French maid who provided the idea or the stitching help. Two silk handkerchiefs were tied together, baby ribbon sewn on to make straps and a seam set in the centre front.

Utility Bras 1940s
Fashion history is always affected by material shortages during and immediately after wars. In the war era after 1940, bras were made from minimal fabric when they bore the Utility mark. Utility bras were serviceable bras using broche, a cotton backed satin or drill and often peach pink in colour. Supplies were very limited and were best ordered. Twilfit manufactured utility bras and Twilfit were a household name for roll-ons and bras in the 1950s.
Women also made their own bras from paper patterns or magazine guidelines for making bra and French knicker sets. The fabric they used was sometimes parachute silk, parachute nylon or old satin wedding dresses. Once the 1950s arrived changes in textile technology saw new developments in all underwear items, but particularly in the costume history of bras." http://www.fashion-era.com/bras_and_girdles.htm (not a bad website that although pink in background color, for the most part didn't offend me.)

Raise your hand if you want to sew your own bra? (Anita my historical costumer friend and Heidi's mom who has probably tried it please put your hands down!)

I'm glad that I didn't have to sew the bra I wore on Sunday. Heck I'm glad I didn't even have to shop for it because bra shopping is right up there with church shopping for me. Blue, padded and with under wire, the bra I wore is actually a hand me down from my sister in law. Ok now everyone give me a sigh of pity about wearing a used bra. Honestly I don't care where it came from as long as it doesn't have flaps. Having just finished nursing my son the only bras I had previous to this one, were bras with flaps that rarely got done up. Ahhhhhhh but THIS bra doesn't have flaps or stretched out elastic. (I just read that you're not supposed to wear the same bra more than 2 days in row, that would explain my elastic problem!.) THIS bra shoves my girls right up under my chin. THIS bra gives me confidence. Confidence, whether it's for a funeral or a first day at anything, is really all a woman needs. Who cares if nobody will see it. A confidence inspiring bra sits beneath your clothes like an invisible Super Woman cape. You know it's there and that's all that matters. It doesn't draw attention to you but it makes you feel good when people are paying attention.

Bra on, outfit on, go to church, do church, leave church and then home to soup; the second support system of the day.