BBB Linkage

• Yesterday, the Today Show tackled the tough question of how much is too much cleavage in the work place. (They did not however venture into the issue of nippleitis at work).

• And, while we’re on the subject of nipples, has anyone ever heard of the nipple badge? They were originally designed to teach about sexual health and support the fight against breast cancer but with Halloween just one day away, they could serve as some sort of costume in a pinch (no pun intended), don’t you think? (via Buzzfeed)

-3D

Form follows function

My last post on Halle Berry’s ginormous boobs got me thinking about the photo I saw earlier this week of Spice Girl Mel B, the one who recently had Eddie Murphy’s baby.

A lot of celebrities (and pseudo-celebrities) think boob jobs are the way to go but they’ve got it all wrong. My advice: just start having babies. The hottest boobs of all seem to come before and after a pregnancy.

-3D

Big boobs we like – Halle Berry

I noticed a photo of Halle Berry earlier this week at the London premiere of her new movie “Things We Lost in the Fire” (what a horribly timely title).

It looks like she decided to distract attention from her pregnant belly by giving us a magnificent view of her brand new cleavage. (Or maybe she was just trying to distract us from the anti-semitic comment she made on The Tonight Show). Either way, it worked. Check it out:

I meant to post about “Halle’s valley” (as one BBB reader cleverly put it) but just didn’t have the chance to do it until today. Clearly I was asleep at the wheel because Halle’s boobies are big news exploding all over the Internet. I apologize loyal readers for not being on top of this story!

Now for a bit of history: Halle’s has always been hot, even pre-baby boobies. Check out this video of an interviewer who was so taken with her breasts a while ago he had to interrupt the interview to acknowledge them:

-3D

“My Big Breasts and I”

There must be a reason we have so many readers in the UK. A reader points me to a television show in Britain called “My Big Breasts and I” which follows the lives of women with big boobs. According to the BBC, British women have the biggest breasts in Europe and the show “unearths the true and often traumatic lives of pain and misery that some young women endure due to their large breasts.”

Here’s some more info about “My Big Breasts and I”:

Britain is weighed down by the biggest breasts in Europe. The average chest size of a British teenager has grown dramatically over the past 10 years and is now a whopping 36D.

For some young women this is a cause for celebration, for others it can lead to a life of misery as they face bullying and physical pain. Thousands of teenagers – some as young as 13 – are now going under the knife in order to reduce their bust size and “fit” in.

My Big Breasts And I follows the lives of young women who have large breasts and differing attitudes towards them. Some have to go under the knife for medical reasons, as they suffer from osteoarthritis and curvature of the spine, while others undergo surgery to move down a cup size or two for emotional reasons.

The film unearths the traumatic, poignant and true stories about what it’s really like to be a young woman with enormous breasts in Britain today.

The show premiered last spring, I’m not sure how it did. It had some stiff boob competition, with other shows premiering at the same time called “Me And My Man Breasts,” “Teens Addicted To Porn” and “F*** Off I’m A Hairy Woman” among others.

-3D

Breast plushies

Come on, admit it, who doesn’t like to cop a feel once in a while? The problem is, there might not always be a boob around when you want one. . .that is until now. Check out this surrogate the Japanese have come up with.

Funwari Milk-chan breast shaped plushies are adorable little breast shaped plush toys for when you feel the need to clutch at a disembodied breast. But they’re not just cute to look at, there is personality behind the plush!:

Each character has a distinct personality and background. Funwari Milk-chan (pictured above, center) is easygoing. Despite her dream of growing large, she remains small. She loves collagen, and napping is her favorite pastime. Can Milk-san (top left) is a celebrity entertainer, always aglitter. She has an American boyfriend and loves going to beauty salons. Ganguro Milk-chan (bottom left), despite being a gyaru with a pierced nipple, is mature and level-headed. She spends all her time practicing para-para dance, and she enjoys purikura. Peach Milk-chan (top right), a spider-hating fashionista who is scary when angry, is well-informed and into anything lowbrow. Milko-chan (bottom right) is still a baby — but a genius. She loves to invent things, and her pacifier apparently holds the secret to her smarts.

All that for the price of a beanie baby.

via Buzzfeed

-3D

Breasts like martinis

I saw this poem today and thought of this blog.

Breasts Like Martinis by Jill McDonough

via Slate

-3D

Catching a glimpse

I had an exceptionally good hair day today so I thought that if anybody was looking at me at work, they would be checking out my ‘do. Instead, I caught a few people checking out my bra, more precisely the fact that you could see my bra poking out over the top of my dress. I got dressed in a rush this morning and commited the fashion faux pas of wearing a light bra under a black top. I noticed only after I had left the house that parts of the bra were noticeable and the color of the bra made them even more noticeable.

I guess I wasn’t surprised that people stared. I stare too when I see a woman who is showing a little cloth. I just can’t figure out why. Is it the idea that we are catching a glimpse of something not intended to be seen? Is it because it helps us imagine the woman naked, or at least without her outer garments on? Does it make us feel sexy? Perhaps for women it’s just a bit of schadenfreude; we like to see other women looking messy because it makes us feel better when we look neat. I’d like to think of it as just more research on bras and boobs for this blog.

-3D

The dead giveaway

When I was about 13 I had a really short haircut. Well, it was more like a really bad haircut that happened to be short. I hated my hair so I started wearing hats to cover it. I was lucky that hats happened to be in fashion back then so most of the time, they were just cute accessories.

But sometimes I liked to wear baseball hats which weren’t exactly cute, nor feminine. I have a vivid memory of wearing one in a diner in Florida with my sister and cousins. I placed my order wearing my hat and the waitress mistook me for a boy. It was incredibly embarrassing and reminded me just how much I hated my hair and how I couldn’t wait for it to grow back.

It’s funny now to think back on that moment. I must have had boobs, but I guess they were just a normal size and probably strapped in by a bra. I was probably wearing jeans and a T-shirt and I’m quite certain I didn’t carry a purse or wear any makeup. I didn’t even have my ears pierced. Maybe I really did look like a boy.

There is no way anyone would mistake me for a male today. No matter what I do to my hair or what I wear, my boobs are just too obvious; the dead giveaway that I am a woman.

I remember someone, I think a friend’s mother, once told me that she couldn’t remember her life before she met her husband; she claimed her life changed so dramatically when she got married and later had kids that her former life was unrecognizable. I thought the story was ridiculous (and actually a bit sad) but thinking about it now in the context of breasts, it kind of makes sense. My breasts are what make me female and I enjoy being female. My femininity informs so much of what I do and think and say and I can’t imagine a time when I didn’t feel this way or look this way. I can’t imagine a time when someone wouldn’t have picked that up about me.

For all the grief my breasts sometimes give me, I love that they are the outward representation of the person I am inside.

-3D

We’re big in Japan. No, we’re not actually. . .

but we do seem to be quite popular in the UK. I’ve learned that British women think an awful lot about their boobs and enjoy reading this blog! Thanks so much for reading, especially Sara who runs brasense.co.uk who was kind enough to tell her readers about us.

-3D

As it turns out, your breasts are a threat to national security

Remember last month when I blogged about how my bra set off the metal detector at a Los Angeles airport? Well, it seems I was lucky that I was only wanded up and down by a female TSA agent before being allowed to proceed through the terminal.

According to the Associated Press, an Idaho woman named Lori Plato wasn’t so lucky. When she and her husband entered a federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene, her bra also set off the security alarm. Plato claims the U.S. Marshals Service then asked her to remove her bra before entering the building! And not only that, she says they gave her no viable options for doing so with any measure of privacy. Plato said, “I asked if I could go into the bathroom because they didn’t have a privacy screen and no women security officers were available. They said, ‘No.’” She also claimed that when she placed her bra on the security conveyor belt, “One of the officers said, ‘It’s a girl.’”

via Salon

-3D

BBB Linkage

While we think about other big ideas for posts, here is some big boob reading on our radar:

• The bra celebrates a big birthday (via Grace magazine)
• Last week I mentioned another kind of smart bra that is currently in development but this one is even better, could it help detect breast cancer?
• Speaking of breast cancer, this woman wants you to “feel your boobies.”

Happy Thursday!

-3D

Bra Fittings – A Bust-have

There are a few things I think every woman in the world should do early on in life: have your heart broken, travel alone at least once, and get fitted for a bra.

These days, you can get fitted for a bra almost anywhere you can buy a bra (thanks, Oprah!) but I would suggest a specialty shop, especially if you’ve got big boobs like DeeDee and I do. There really is no substitute to having some older, pushy, chubby lady feel you up and strap you in.

But, for those of you who like to do everything online, I found the “ultimate guide to finding your perfect bra” which has some good pointers to get you started.

-3D

Bra Review – Wacoal Slimline Underwire Minimizer

One of the first bras I ever got when I had my awakening and realized I was not wearing the right bra size (I promise I will eventually get to writing a post on that) was the Wacoal Slimline Underwire Minimizer (Style #85154). It’s a bra I seem to keep buying over and over again and continue to really enjoy.

The Slimline is a classic everyday bra which is probably why I wear so many of mine to shreds. It’s my go-to bra when I reach into my lingerie drawer in the morning and want something that I know will be comfortable and supportive all day long. I have a really old white one that I actually wear to the gym because I don’t have a good sports bra and it works as a substitute until I find one.

The cons of this bra are that I have only found it in three colors: white, nude, and black. Since it’s one of my favorite bras, I’d love to see it in every color. I also think that is loses support after many wears faster than my other bras do. Though, that could just be because I wear my Slimlines more than other bras so maybe I just put more mileage on them than anything else I own.

The pros definitely outweigh the cons on this bra. In addition to the support and comfort, I love the Slimline’s simplicity. Its design allows for the fabric and underwire to connect with each other beautifully. When I move, my Slimline follows me flawlessly. Even at the end of the day it’s there letting me know it’s up for the next challenge (salsa dancing? no problem!). It’s like we are navigating the day in concert with one another. It’s a great feeling.

I also like that the Slimline isn’t overly feminine, meaning you can wear it under a T-shirt without having a ton of lace or design poke through, but at the same time it still looks and feels like a sexy bra. The sides of the cup are embroidered with a floral design and a cute ribbon with a trio of pearls ties it together in the center. The straps are also wide enough to give you comfort and support but not t0o wide that you can’t wear it with a tank top.

It’s also helpful that this minimizer doesn’t cut so high at the top of the cup meaning I can wear it with most low cut shirts without my bra showing (see photos below). That’s probably one of the best things this bra has to offer. I can’t think of any other minimizers I own that go so low.

Here are two shots of me in my Slimlines, one is nude under a white high cut shirt, the other is black under a low cut black shirt:

This bra retails for about $62 dollars. I have bought it at Bloomingdale’s and Town Shop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan but have found the best prices for it at A.W. Kaufmann on the Lower East Side in New York (they also do phone orders – ask for Miriam). Kaufmann’s makes you order a minimum of two if they don’t have your size in stock but if you don’t live in New York, they will mail you your bras and you don’t have to pay sales tax. The bra comes in sizes 34C – 40DDD.

-3D

This is why I love minimizers

I don’t have a ton of time to post today but I thought I would write something that will remind me to come back to the topic of minimizers later on.

I wore a minimizer yesterday and was really pleased with the way it toned down my big boobs. As much as I love them, sometimes I don’t want my breasts to be the focus point of my outfit.

Here’s a shot of me wearing a Chantelle minimizer yesterday. Maybe I’m kidding myself but I actually think I could pass for a D here.

Does anyone have any great minimizer recommendations?

-3D

Blogs we like – “Knickers: A Lingere Weblog”

I came across Knickers: A Lingere Weblog yesterday:

“Knickers is a fashion weblog dedicated to all things lingerie: it features new collections, coupons, designers, and of course, points out beautiful lingerie for women every day. Our aim is to find something to suit every women (sic), from the virgin to the vixen and everyone in between.”

This woman spends a lot of time obsessing about bras, just like we do. I am looking forward to reading more of her reviews and advice.

-3D

Coincidence? Or the mark of a good bra?

I wore a fairly new Chantelle bra to work today. I’ve blogged about this one before; it’s the one that set off the metal detector at a Los Angeles airport last month. I thought nothing of it when I got dressed this morning but later in the afternoon someone I work with (but don’t know very well) passed my desk and commented “3D, you look lovely today. Is this a new look for you?”

I was struck by his compliment; it caught me by surprise as I’m not used to older men in the office taking notice of what I’m wearing. Also, there was absolutely nothing new to my look. . .except for the fact that under my layers of officewear was a super supportive new piece of lingerie!

I let out a nervous laugh because I wasn’t sure what to say. He laughed (less nervously) with me and then walked off. I was left to wonder, was it my new bra or did he just like my sweater?

-3D

Big boobs we like – Jessica Collins

The “Big boobs we like” posts seem to be pretty popular according to our WordPress stats so I thought I would throw out another one. This one is sort of nuanced though:

Jessica Collins isn’t too well known. The fact that “Big Shots,” the new ABC show she is on, isn’t doing well probably won’t help that. But, I bring her up because she has remarkable cleavage. I saw a few minutes of her in “Big Shots” and noticed she filled out a nightgown quite nicely.

The other reason I bring her up is because when I sat down to research her, I came across some talk on the Internets about how Ms. Collins’ wonderful cleavage might be the result of some surgical enhancement (most of the posts are too X-rated to link to on this wholesome blog).

The Big Boob Blog has not yet taken a position on boob jobs; as you can imagine, they are something DeeDee and I rarely think about. So, I’m not quite sure what to say about Ms. Collins. I just knew that when her chest graced the screen, I had to write about her one way or the other. What do you think?

This website seems to admire her a whole lot.

-3D

Nipple as fingerprint?

Back in high school, a friend painted a portrait of me for her art class. It was based on a photo she had taken of me where I’m dramatically posed with my arms flung outward. The portrait was hung on a wall in our high school, along with other paintings by her fellow students in A.P. Studio Art. She was a pretty good artist, and I thought it looked like me, but the girl in the portrait had rosier cheeks and slightly rounder facial features. On one side of the portrait was a card that said the name of the artist, and on the other side, a card read, “Portrait of DeeDee.”

After the portrait went up (I didn’t really mind, because it didn’t look too much like me, and anyway, I came out looking okay), I asked another friend — “Mitch” — what he thought of my portrait. Did he think it looked like me? He replied that as soon as he saw that my friend had painted it, he immediately knew it was me because he recognized the nipple that was poking through my shirt.

A point of clarification: Mitch had never seen me topless, nor had he ever felt my breasts, so he shouldn’t have been too familiar with my boobs, but I guess, unbeknownst to me, he stared at them a lot.

I was kind of weirded out that he was so familiar with my nipples. I also feared that after realizing that it was a portrait of me, horny teenage boys would point and nudge, and bitchy (and perhaps jealous) teenage girls would poke fun at my exhibitionism. In a very watered-down way, it was the equivalent of showing up to school naked.

Because Mitch was really a generally freaky person to begin with, I decided to try out someone else. “Kevin,” I asked, “did you notice the portrait Michelle painted of me hanging in the corridor, the one where I’m posed like this,” flinging out my arms to demonstrate.

“Uh, yeah, I think so.”

“Could you tell it was me, because Mitch said he was able to recognize it based on something really weird. . . . It’s kind of embarrassing. Never mind, I shouldn’t tell you.”

“Did he mean your breast?”

In fairness, I basically led Kevin to the right answer, and he didn’t really even give the right answer anyway. But, still, it got me thinking. Do all nipples have a distinct shape such that they can be used as a means of identification, or are mine just particularly distinctive? In a criminal trial, could the key witness say, “I recognize the defendant by her nipple?” Or is the point of the story that Mitch, and all teenage guys, are really just a bunch of horny freaks?

-DeeDee

Big boobs we like – Sonya Walger

I was watching HBO’s new show “Tell Me You Love Me” tonight and noticed that the actress who plays Carolyn, Sonya Walger, has really big boobs. They were all over tonight’s episode and they’re quite beautiful.

-3D

The physics of bras

I found an article today with some interesting facts about big boobs. It tries to break down exactly what breasts are, how they evolved as part of the human body, and what kind of support they will need from bras over time.

It’s a good read and I was surprised to learn the following. Did you know that:

• A pair of D-cup breasts weighs between 15 and 23 pounds—the equivalent of carrying around two small turkeys.
• Breasts contain no muscles at all.
• The first sports bra was created in 1977, (I can’t believe it took that long!!) when two American women took a pair of jockstraps, cut them apart, and sewed them back together. They dubbed their creation the Jogbra.

The article also mentioned a team of designers working on the development of a “smart bra”:

“Steele’s team is taking fabric technology another step. Six years ago, her laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Wollongong’s Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, began work on the world’s first smart bra. It uses intelligent materials and electronic textiles to sense when breast motion increases and tighten appropriate parts of the bra in response. ‘When you’re sitting around the office, it isn’t restrictive,’ Steele says. ‘But if you need to run for a bus or something, it will sense that you’ve started to run, and it will give you the support of a sports bra.’”

Doesn’t this sound just too good to be true? I definitely need to do some more research on the “smart bra.” I’ll let you know what I find.

-3D