There are many styles of brassieres, to be worn in a variety of situations and with a variety of outergarments. The degree of shaping and coverage of the breasts varies between styles, varying in both functionality and fashion, fabric, and colour, from purely utilitarian to sensual. Others include various accessory structures such as padding and 'underwiring'. Many bras will fall into more than one category, such as a maternity bra designed for facilitating access to the nipple, but also designed to provide the lift that a push-up bra would.
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There are many styles of brassieres, to be worn in a variety of situations and with a variety of outergarments. The degree of shaping and coverage of the breasts varies between styles, varying in both functionality and fashion, fabric, and colour, from purely utilitarian to sensual. Others include various accessory structures such as padding and 'underwiring'. Many bras will fall into more than one category, such as a maternity bra designed for facilitating access to the nipple, but also designed to provide the lift that a push-up bra would. Definitions are not always very accurate or exclusive (e.g. shelf bra). Currently underwired bras are the fastest-growing segment of the market.
Alphabetical list of brassiere designs
- Adhesive: a bra which adheres to the breasts; features no straps or bands of any sort and provide little support to the breasts. This type of bra is intended for backless and strapless fashions. There are two types: disposable paper ones that use a strong adhesive, and the re-usable ones that use silicone and can be washed and re-used.
- Bandeau
A bandeau , is a strapless garment worn around a woman's breasts. It may be fastened in the front or back or be sufficiently elastic so as to have no fastener at all. In a strict sense a bandeau has but two edges, although it is sometimes manufactured with a halter strap that goes around the neck...
, a simple band of cloth worn across the breasts, providing little support or shaping.
- Built-in bras, sometimes known as shelf bras (not to be confused with the shelf-bra described below), are supportive brassiere-like structures on the inside of another garment, such as a swimsuit
A swimsuit, bathing suit, togs or swimming costume is an item of clothing designed to be worn while participating in water sports and activities such as swimming, water polo, diving, surfing, water skiing, or for any activity in the sun, such as sun bathing...
or tank topTank top may refer to:* a tank top , a type of sleeveless shirt worn by men and women;* a tank top , also known as a sweater vest; or,* the plating forming the inner bottom of a ship hull....
, which provide support for the bust without the need for a separate bra. In most such garments, these built-ins consist of a horizontal elastic strip, although some do have cups and underwires as with other bra types. In some cases these may easily be removed, if desired.
- Bullet bras are a type of full-support bra with cups in the shape of a paraboloid
In mathematics, a paraboloid is a quadric surface of special kind. There are two kinds of paraboloids: elliptic and hyperbolic. The elliptic paraboloid is shaped like an oval cup and can have a maximum or minimum point....
of revolution with its axis perpendicular to the breast. Bullet bras often featured concentric circles of decorative stitching centred on the nipples. Invented in the late-1940s, they were still being sold well into the 1960s.
- Convertible bras have straps which may be detached and rearranged in different ways depending on the outfit. Alternatives to regular straps for strapless bras are beaded bra straps or clear plastic bra straps that provide support and style.
- Cupless bra
A cupless bra is a brassiere design composed of a frame with no support cups, or a bra which exposes the nipples with notched or contoured support cups...
s (also called open cup bras or portrait bras; cf. shelf bras below) consist of a brassiere frame with no support cups. They expose the nipples with notched or contoured support cups. Usually worn as erotic lingerieLingerie is a term for fashionable and notionally alluring undergarments. It derives from the French word linge, "washables" — as in faire le linge, "do the laundry" — and ultimately from lin for washable linen, the fabric from which European undergarments were made before the general introduction...
, a cupless bra can cause the shape of the nipples to be prominently visible on an outer garment.
- Demi bras, also known as balconette bras, are a half-cup bra style with wide-set straps and a horizontal bust line. Often seamed or boned, they give great cleavage and a frame-like effect. These offer less support, but enable low-cut garments to be worn without the bra being seen. Demi bras may be designed to provide lift as do push-up bras.
- Front Closure Bra: Bras that have closures, usually hooks and eyes, on the front rather than at the back. These bras lie completely flat at the back under clothing. Some feature a racerback-style back which is great for wear with tank tops and for lending a no-slip effect to the straps.
- Full support bras are a type of bra designed to offer good support for the whole of the breasts and, as such, are a typical, practical bra for everyday wear.
- Handbra
A handbra is a photographic pose in which a female model's nipples and areolae are covered with her own hands or with someone else's.- In the Media :...
is not a type of bra but a modeling techniquethumb|200px|Alesya Nazarova modeling a dress by [[bebe stores|bebe]]A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed for the purpose of displaying and promoting fashion clothing or other products and for advertising or promotional purposes or who poses for works of art.Modeling...
wherein the woman, though topless, conceals her areolae by covering both breasts with her hands.
- Mastectomy bras are designed so that a prosthesis may be held in place and are intended for individuals who have lost one or both breasts in mastectomy
In medicine, mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to...
treatment for breast cancerBreast cancer is a cancer that starts in the breast, usually in the inner lining of the milk ducts or lobules. There are different types of breast cancer, with different stages , aggressiveness, and genetic makeup. With best treatment, 10-year disease-free survival varies from 98% to 10%...
.
- Male bra
Male bra refers to brassieres that are worn by men. Adolescent boys and middle-aged men sometimes develop breasts and the estimates of those with the condition are presented as a range "because the definition of gynecomastia varies and the method of surveying varies." Although there are options...
s are bras worn by men with GynecomastiaGynecomastia, , is the development of abnormally large mammary glands in males resulting in breast enlargement. The term comes from the Greek γυνή gyne meaning "woman" and μαστός mastos meaning "breast"...
, usually to flatten and conceal rather than lift and support.
- Maternity bras are designed such that they can be expanded to adjust as the breasts increase in size over the course of a pregnancy. Maternity bras may also refer to nursing bra
A nursing bra is a brassiere that provides additional support for milk-filled breasts, and permits comfortable breastfeeding without the need to remove the bra. This is accomplished by special bra cups that can be opened to expose the nipple while the cup still supports the breast...
s.
- Minimizer bras are designed to de-emphasize the bust, in particular of large-breasted women (34 C or above). Minimizers, by compressing and shaping the breasts, help to create the illusion of being a cup size or two smaller, and are often more comfortable.
- Novelty bras are designed more for show and sensuality than for function. They may include unusual materials, such as leather, or be unusual in design, such as Peephole bra
Peephole bras are usually referred to as bras because they have the form of one. However, they are more frequently classified as lingerie, being generally intended for wearing in sexual situations, fully exposed and not as an undergarment, as a functional bra would be.They usually do not have cups,...
s whose cups loosely cover the breasts, but include holes around the nipples.
- Nursing bra
A nursing bra is a brassiere that provides additional support for milk-filled breasts, and permits comfortable breastfeeding without the need to remove the bra. This is accomplished by special bra cups that can be opened to expose the nipple while the cup still supports the breast...
s are designed to help make breastfeedingBreastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk...
simpler by allowing the baby easy access to the nippleIn its most general form, a nipple is a structure from which a fluid emanates. More specifically, it is the projection on the breasts of a mammal by which breast milk is delivered to a mother's young.-Anatomy:...
. Traditionally, the cups of nursing bras are covered with flaps of fabric that can be unclasped at the top and pulled down to expose the breast.
- Padded bras are simply bras with padding inside the lining. They are designed to provide a fuller shape for small breasts and are an alternative to bra stuffing, a practice among teen-aged girls in which tissues, sugar packets, cotton balls, or socks ("falsies") are placed inside a bra to simulate larger breasts. Unlike push-up bras, however, most padded bras support the breasts but do not significantly lift them. (see also Water bras)
- "Push-up" bras are structured so that the breasts are lifted and placed closer together to enhance
Cleavage enhancement encompasses a range of techniques used temporarily to improve the appearance of a person's breast cleavage or to create the illusion of breast cleavage on a person who has no such cleavage...
the cleavageCleavage is the cleft between a woman's breasts lying over the sternum revealed by a garment with a low neckline. It is associated with low-cut women's clothing, such as evening gowns, swimwear, casual tops and other garments, designed to emphasize the display of breasts.Some people regard use of...
. The best-known brand of push-up bra is the WonderbraThe Wonderbra is a type of push-up underwire brassiere that gained worldwide prominence in the 1990s. Although the Wonderbra name was first trademarked in the U.S. in 1935, the brand was developed in Canada. Moses Nadler, founder and majority owner of the Canadian Lady Corset Company, licensed the...
. Many push-up bras contain padding, typically made of foam or rubber, but some contain gel-filled pads. The main distinction between padded bras and push-up bras that incorporate padding is whether the padding is centred under each breast to simply lift them, or is centred outside the centre of each breast such that the padding pushes the breasts inwards.
- Racerback bras have shoulder straps that come over the shouder in a "V" pattern very close to the neck. This design is sometimes worn under strapless dresses or tops where "traditional" straps would be very obviously exposed. Many Sport Bras
Sports bra is a bra that provides the additional support for the breasts required during physical exercise. It is intended for wear during vigorous exercise that might cause the breasts to move uncomfortably or excessively, preventing discomfort and potential embarrassment during exercise...
use racerback construction.
- Shelf bras essentially a rigid band (underwired) along the inframammary line, that pushes up while covering none, or only a narrow strip, of the breast.
- Softcup bras have no underwire support in the cups. Rather they rely on the strength of the underband to provide support to the bust.
- Sport Bras
Sports bra is a bra that provides the additional support for the breasts required during physical exercise. It is intended for wear during vigorous exercise that might cause the breasts to move uncomfortably or excessively, preventing discomfort and potential embarrassment during exercise...
provide firm support for the breasts, and are meant to prevent discomfort or embarrassment during vigorous exercise.
- Strapless bras, with no shoulder straps, are designed for wearing with clothes that reveal the shoulders, such as halterneck
Halterneck is a style of women's clothing with a single strap around the back of the neck. This can refer to either a dress or a separate shirt, called a halter top. The latter is a type of sleeveless shirt similar to a tank top...
tops.
- T-shirt bras are designed without raised seams, so that a tight t-shirt
A T-shirt is a shirt which is pulled on over the head to cover most of a person's torso. A T-shirt is usually buttonless, collarless, and pocketless, with a round neck and short sleeves. The sleeves of the T-shirt extend at least slightly over the shoulder but not completely over the elbow...
may be worn without the bra being visible. These often have padded cups to conceal nipples and to provide a smooth line under t-shirts.
- Trainer bra
A training bra is a brassiere designed for girls who have begun to develop breasts but have yet to be considered "developed" enough to allow for a standard-sized bra to fit properly. They are of simple construction and offer little, if any, support...
s are designed for young girls who have begun to develop breasts but have yet to be considered "developed" enough to allow for a standard-sized bra to fit properly. They are of simple construction and offer little, if any, support.
- U-plunge bras allows you, according to its shape, to wear a deep décolleté or plunging neckline.
- Underwire bra
An underwire bra is a brassiere with a wire built into the underside of the cup intended to lift, separate, shape, and provide additional support for a woman's breasts...
s are designed to give extra support and endurance. They have a wire (metal or plastic) running under each cup to provide rigid support to the bust.
- Water bras or Gel bras: Bras which have water- or silicon-gel-filled cups to make your breasts look larger. Air bras were a similar concept.
- Other: There is no standardised system of bra-design categorisation. Other terms include Full figure, Bridal, BBW (see Big Beautiful Woman
"Big Beautiful Woman" is a neologism most frequently used in the context of affirmation of or sexual attraction to women who are above average weight...
), Underwire, Vintage, Teen (see Trainer), Belly dance.