A bralette is a lightweight

bra A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appea ...

without an underwire, designed primarily for

comfort Comfort (or being comfortable'')'' is a sense of physical or psychological ease, often characterized as a lack of hardship. Persons who are lacking in comfort are uncomfortable, or experiencing discomfort. A degree of psychological comfort c ...

. Bralettes are also sometimes worn as

outerwear Outerwear is clothing and accessories worn outdoors, or clothing designed to be worn outside other garments, as opposed to underwear. It can be worn for formal or casual occasions, or as warm clothing during winter. List of outerwear *Academic g ...

top A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...

,Linda Dyett
The Bralette Is Back. This Time Blouses Are Optional
''The New York Times'', 2019-07-31 and are also designed as

undershirt An undershirt in American English (vest in British English, British and South African English, South African English, banyan in the Indian English, Indian Subcontinent, or singlet in Australian English, Australia and New Zealand English, New Zeala ...

s for girls developing breasts.

Popularity

In the 2010s and early 2020s, bralettes and soft bras started gaining in popularity, at the expense of underwired and padded bras. Some brands such as

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

failed to follow this trend and adjust; as a result of which their sales decreased significantly. In 2017, the sales of cleavage-enhancing bras fell by 45% while, at

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

, sales of wireless bras grew by 40%. Some have attributed the rising popularity of bralettes to a new focus on the "athletic body, health and wellbeing", more than "about the

male gaze In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosex ...

," while others suggest a connection to the #MeToo movement. Bralettes also became popular during the

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

due to a focus on comfort while

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

ing.Alicia Lansom
Trade In Your Underwired Bra For Something A Little More Comfortable
''Refinery29'', 2020-04-19

References

{{Lingerie, state=collapsed Brassieres Undergarments Women's clothing

Popularity

See also

References