This makes my parents proud

By Mir
August 25, 2010

Plenty of parents dream of their offspring becoming doctors, lawyers, superstars, and world-renowned scientists. We all have big dreams for our kids. I just hope that my parents always hoped that someday their darling daughter would grow up to talk about her boobs on the Internet. Because if so, dude, they TOTALLY scored.

Now that the students have flooded back into town I am reminded of one of the current fads I find puzzling, and—not coincidentally—one way in which I suspect I am a little bit strange. It seems to me that every young woman in this town has an entire closet full of strapless tops and dresses. I don’t know how or when or why this became The Thing, but there they all are, parading around with completely naked shoulders.

And me with the overwhelming urge to walk up behind them and yank down their shirts.

I could tell you that it harkens back to my years of sleepaway camp, and my penchant (as a young girl) for tube tops, which you know were standard attire in the 70s. We all wore tube tops; we all occasionally had a rotten boy sneak up behind us and yank it down, the joke of course being on him because as soon as any of us grew boobs, we stopped wearing tube tops. Obviously. Anyway, that might be part of it.

I could tell you that it stems from a deep discomfort with my own breasts, which isn’t true at all, so nevermind.

I could tell you it’s because I have such a mighty rack that strapless bras are simply insufficient, but that’s not true, either.

No, I think it’s more an intersection of 1) pragmatics and 2) what I assume to be true even though it’s not, anymore.

The pragmatics of it are something like the same reason why I never keep my nails very long or bother to put polish on them; it gets in the way, or ends up looking crappy because I’m not careful with my hands. In the same way, I can’t see a strapless bra and a shirt that has the potential to make a break for my bellybutton being a sensible thing to wear while dog-wrangling, carrying groceries, or otherwise simply living my life. Call me crazy.

The assumption thing is something more like: Hey, didn’t it used to be that you only went strapless to dress up? And doesn’t that make SENSE, as strapless isn’t very practical? I mean, clearly I’m wrong on this, because I see strapless EVERYTHING, but then go back to the pragmatics thing, and I don’t get it.

But there’s also the just-me-being-weird bit, which is that I just Don’t Do strapless. Ever. I didn’t wear a strapless wedding gown, even. I am just a fan of straps and knowing that what I’m wearing is going to stay on my body. I don’t think I’m particularly over-modest and it’s not about covering my chest and/or shoulders, but more—I’m just going to say it—a probably irrational fear of my clothing falling off and my boobs springing free. (Okay, they may be too small to spring. They could certainly fall, though.) (The more I talk, here, the more depressed my boobs become. Poor things.)

I also wonder if this is an age thing. Is this a style for young women, and I’m “too old?” (Though let me note that I see plenty of women my age going strapless, and not in a “OMG SHE IS A CRAZY FLOOZY” kind of way, but looking lovely, even though it makes me neurotically cringe because HEY YOU ARE NOT ALL DRESSED.)

In short, I need to know if this is just me. My boobs want to hear from you(rs). Am I totally weird about this, or is anyone else anti-strapless and wondering how the heck this became everyday wear? Help a girl out.

I promise not to pull your shirt down.

65 Comments

  1. M

    I wish I could do the carefree summer strapless look or even halter tops, alas my quite large and – ahem, breast fed two babies, ahem – boobs don’t really allow it. I’ve tried many times to wrangle the girls into a strapless bra and cute halter top, but I always feel like my boobs are sagging down to my waist and I have to keep adjusting and hiking things back into place. I’ve only recently become comfortable with the bra straps showing with a strappy tank top look. Comfortable meaning I might wear it to the grocery store or park.

    But Mir, YOU should wear cute halter tops. All the allure of bare shoulders without the fear of your top falling off. Some even have that nifty shelf bra thing sewn into the top – I assume this works very well for ladies that are members of the IBTC.

  2. Susan Getgood

    There’s no option for “I used to, but now I don’t because I do not want to be mistaken for one of those desperate 40-something woman trying to look like a 20 or 30 something.”

    That’s my vote.

    Also why I will never use Botox. Or have plastic surgery. I earned these wrinkles, damn it.

    My hair though. That is another story. Not entirely sure what the natural color is anymore. And do not wish to.

  3. Ellen

    I, too, have lived in a succession of college towns. I knew I was getting old when I thought to myself one fine day at the beginning of the semester, “Since when did people start wearing their underwear on the outside of their clothes?”

  4. Kelly

    I hate strapless bras, but will NOT go braless… therefore, I limit it as much as possible. Really I hate any dress that requires anything other than a nice normal bra.

  5. Angela

    As a member of the IBTC (I barely fill out a 32B), I agree that halter tops are the bomb, especially with the shelf bras in them. I have never been able to wear anything strapless though, and I don’t even need a strapless bra! Occasionally I will try one on, to see if they work for me yet, but nope. For one, the strapless tops/bras are ALWAYS falling down and I’m constantly tugging them up like a dork. And two, for some reason I have this chicken-skin thing going on over the top, right above the boobs/next to the armpit, ya know?? NOT a good look for me! I’m athletically built and in good shape, but for some reason, I have the chicken skin. And of course, the terror that my boobs would just randomly pop out, I can’t handle that! Sigh.

  6. elz

    I also don’t get the obsession with wearing a bra with your tanks so that we can see your bra straps. I was raised with hiding your straps at all times. Presumably so nobody would know you are wearing underwear? Hmmm, have to talk to mom about that. Anyhow, if you are wearing a white tank top, wearing an electric blue bra underneath is not a fashion statement, it is trashy.

  7. Karen

    I am a bit of a freak. I do wear strapless tops and dresses in the summer. BUT I will not wear tank tops of sleeveless tops with straps. I feel they may my arms look obnoxiously large. So if I am having a strap, it better be attached to a sleeve. I am aware that it makes no sense. :-)

  8. Suzie

    If I had a perfect body and a gorgeous tan, I maybe would wear strapless dresses. (i.e., if I wasn’t ME.)

    Not at work, though. But yes on the weekends.

  9. Dawn

    I’ve never really thought about how I felt about strapless as an everyday look (probably largely impractical, but if it’s your thing? More power to you), but I am TOTALLY going to be overwhelmed with the urge to start pulling down strapless tops spotted in public. (So, would that be “shirting” someone? Sort of like pantsing, but with their strapless top?)

    Also, it might just be a southern thing, because I haven’t really noticed it here in Seattle. Then again, it’s barely been above 70 this summer, so that could have something to do with it.

  10. Tonia

    No strapless anything for me!! I have flashbacks to the strapless bra I would wear with a sundress as a teenager. It always somehow ended up around my waist. No, no, no and no!

  11. Megan

    Where’s the TOO LAZY option?? I recognize that this takes lazy to a whole new level – like TURBO LAZY maybe, but honestly? I have one single strapless dress that is very, very pretty and even stays up without me feeling like I have to breath in constantly but I have worn it a grand total of two times. Two. Because then I have to FINE the darn strapless bra (always buried) or fish out the converta-bra thing (and hope I won’t lose the detached straps and then the bra has to be properly adjusted so it feels like it’s doing it’s bra-ish job but it doesn’t show anywhere and…

    man, fashion is exhausting. I vote for yoga pants and tanks as the uniform for everything.

  12. Summer

    I will admit to wearing a strapless wedding dress (with a lace bolero over it for the church part of the event) and have worn strapless gowns to black-tie events a few times. But it takes a LOT of engineering to keep my rack in place without straps — they’re stupidly large and they’re natural, what can I say — and it’s not particularly comfortable for me to go strapless.

    My honest opinion is that unless there’s a lot of boning and corseting in a strapless top, they’re not very flattering to women of any size or shape. Strapless tops that rely on elastic to stay up just smoosh the boobs down, and who wants to look droopier?

  13. Anna

    I could say the same for halter tops. I would like to find a feminine dress to wear, but most of those seem to be strapless, spaghetti straps or halter. And I just feel…. exposed. ick.

  14. Kai

    I do strapless because it (ironically) makes my arms look smaller than straps. I have an average-size chest, so I usually feel secure in them and have never had an issue with them…relocating themselves inappropriately.

  15. Amanda

    Maybe it’s regional…I don’t think I’ve noticed a proliferation of strapless casual tops?

    I did the strapless wedding dress – but those are engineered so that they CANNOT fall down/come off, so no worries there.

    But casually? Never worn strapless, too many logistics (especially as I’m currently nursing a 7 month old…well, not currently as in RIGHT NOW, but currently as in ‘many times a day’).

    I like my regular strapped bras too much :) and I’m too lazy to figure out the right undergarments/precautions to keep the boobs from being exposed.

  16. Leandra

    For me it’s all about comfort. I don’t want to be pulling and tugging on my shirt all day. Plus, I have YET to find a strapless bra that is even remotely comfortable. So, no, I don’t do strapless.

    We won’t even talk about the little flap of fat that sits right where my arms meet my body and which is highlighted by strapless anything. I generally try to hide my fat flaps, not show them off.

  17. Julie (Etsy Stalkers)

    I also hate, hate, hate wearing strapless bras. They are uncomfortable and make my boobs look all smushy and saggy (and they don’t need any extra help with that) . I’ll only wear one if I’m dressing up and that’s about once a year. I don’t get out much :)

  18. hollygee

    I used to be on team Mighty Rack, but oh! how the mighty have fallen. I was stupid enough to wear a strapless bra with spaghetti strap tops when I was in high school. Never since. I do think that a tube top bra in the privacy of my own home during heat wave/heat rash times is a comfortable thing to do.

  19. Kayt

    I haaate strapless things, but I have crazy broad shoulders and large upper arms, so I always look like a sausage popping out of its liner. I ended up falling in love with a strapless wedding dress, and then had a tailor add sleeves to it.

    And I’m glad that I’m not the only one that has to resist the urge to yank them down. It’s the same feeling I get when I see the super droopy pants on guys.

  20. My Kids Mom

    Argh! Memories of prom! Help me – please! I spent the day of prom outside with my fair skin in the sun without sunscreen (I wanted to cover the non-existent strap marks on my skin which had no color to even make strap marks) all this while my poor mom was sewing my prom dress since I had only decided to go the day before. To make this less lengthy, I was sunburned. The dress needed a strapless bra. I was sore. It was scratchy and sliding south all night. Not good. Make these memories go away now- pretty please you are so pretty Mir?

  21. Dawn

    Well, I’m older than you, so I can be a curmudgeon if I like. The amount of skin that young women have been expected to show over the last decade has left me wondering if it’s not some kind of plot that ends up with us all practically naked in public. I am SO glad I’m not in my 20s right now.

    Also, never could do the strapless look after the age of 15 or so. Mother Nature was very, very “KIND” to me.

    Somewhere there is a 7′ women with little, teeny, tiny boobs who wonders were her real boobs are.

    I have them. On my 5’2″ body. Why yes. They do look ridiculous. Even with straps. *sigh*

  22. Stephanie

    My experience with strapless sightings suggest that their are two interpretations of the look. The first is extenda-boob (think National Geographic); the second is cup tunneth over (think muffin-top). Neither look appeals to me for some reason.

  23. Headless Mom

    I have one strapless casual-ish top that can be worn with capris/pants/skirt. I’ve only worn it out with my husband, never as an every day-type thing. Maybe it’s our age, like you said. I have horrible memories of the tube tops of the late 70’s early 80’s. See also: got my figure early and was super conscious of the stares. Scars, I have ’em.

  24. 12tequilas

    I think that if you are concerned about your clothes betraying you and causing embarrassing exposure, then you don’t look good in those clothes, because you are going to be adjusting them and checking them until you get home and change into your pajamas with a sigh of relief.

    Speaking of impractical styles, in a magazine interview with actress Diane Kruger, she said she wore a beautiful dress to an event, and that this dress had a “full bodice,” and that this meant she could not go potty unless she got herself entirely out of the dress, which would have taken an hour, so she didn’t. She implied that the dress was worth it!

  25. Katie in MA

    I have a strapless bra for the shirts that sort of have straps, but I wear it only when absolutely necessary. Asking said strapless bra to keep The Ladies in check is a bit like asking a brand-new substitute teacher to handle a classroom full of thugs. :)

  26. Casdok

    No its not just you!

  27. Alyce

    When I was growing up I remember that tank tops were wild and crazy. Never mind spaghetti straps, they just weren’t done. And now kids wear strapless and halter and spaghetti tops with shorts that are 4″ from top to bottom. I would be shocked if I cared what other people wore. Hee!

    I hide my arms and don’t ever wear a tank without something over it for arm coverage, so I’m definitely anti-strapless.

  28. Alyce

    (cont.)
    For me. Anti-strapless for me.

  29. kim

    I am close to your age and live in a college town in California. I’ve been surprised that strapless tops seem to be the clothing item of choice almost year round around here. I don’t get it and I truly hope my 8 and 10 year old daughters don’t start wanting to wear them. My 10 year old already wants halter tops and a couple of off the shoulder things, yikes. I’m with you in that I don’t really think OMG a floozy, but more huh? I just don’t get it. I actually don’t find that look particularly attractive. It doesn’t seem to make the most of anyone’s figure – especially since most of the strapless tops and dresses around here seem to be loose and flowy. Just weird, weird.

  30. Little Bird

    Contrary to popular belief, the smaller the boobs, the more secure the tube (top).
    Bigger boobs cause the tube tops to sorta … roll up or down. Neither are good looks.

  31. meghann

    I don’t think I’m too old, I wasn’t even alive in the 70’s, but I won’t wear strapless either. I have the same paranoid fear, that it will fall down, or get yanked down by someone. I also have the same issue as another commenter, where my boobs are just a little too big for strapless bras. I’ve tried, and the bra just inches down and down, and major sagging happens.

    I NEED straps, yo.

  32. Jamie

    I’d need an entire roll of duct tape and probably some corset boning to keep these babies in place without straps. Not something I really look forward to. I did wear a skinny-spaghetti strap dress for my sister’s wedding back in 1999, with a long-line strapless bra and it worked. But, that was 2 kids and 25 pounds ago, so it wouldn’t work anymore.

    However, if I could wear something strapless, for a night out, I definitely would. I agree that they aren’t practical for the life of a mom during the day (except maybe Peg Bundy; I digress), but as something for dress up, I’d do it with the right fitting and maintaining undergarment.

  33. Mon

    I don’t wear strapless because I have a permanent red “U” shape on my fair skinned chest. And then out by my shoulders, it’s nice and white with blue veins showing through. Just not a good look when the strapless thing is happening. Or tanks. Or spaghetti straps. Hmmm…I’m searching for my turtleneck unitard right now!

  34. dad

    In case your readers are interested, I am proud.

    Everything else that I might say about this post is la-la-la I can’t hear you….
    I think almost everyone worries about the sudden, inexplicable falling off of their clothes.

  35. Jan

    Big boobs –> No strapless.

    I really have no need to think it through any further so …

  36. Shannon

    And it’s not just casual clothes. When did all wedding dresses become strapless? It’s one thing to occasionally see a strapless wedding dress. But now that’s the only kind I ever see, and it’s gotten kind of boring.

  37. Donna

    i have 3 characters for you – 44D – does that answer the question?

  38. Lindy

    Sometimes when it’s really hot outside I wish I could get away with a strapless something. They are unpractical, but my biggest problem is that I have a rather substantial set of bazongas myself, but any strapless bra -especially coupled with elasticky shirts – sort of pulls them down and points them up at the same time, giving my boobs this kind of weird v-boob shape. V-boobs. No thank you.

  39. Jenan

    I vote no for strapless but then I also get tired of low cut boob flashing teeshirts too. I see way to many women coming into my office hanging out all over my desk – I don’t like getting flashed by boobs! Whatever happened to a little modesty?

  40. the celt (jessica)

    I think I know of one person who can wear a strapless shirt (not dressing up) and not look like she has two rabid beasts struggling to get out. I myself am too, ah, endowed to even think about wearing something without at least straps, and I’m so odd as to require real sleeves for my own clothing. I tried on strapless gowns when I was getting married, and I’m pretty sure the dress would have been around my ankles before I got down the stairs to even start down the aisle area. There’s something about physics and going from super big (chest) to small (waist — at the time, anyway) that almost definitely means your dress is goin’ down like water in a funnel. (I’m not partial to the strapless wedding gown being worn during the ceremony. I may get stoned for saying this, but I agree with Miss Manners on the strapless wedding gown: It’s your wedding ceremony, not a hot date where you’re looking to show off your wares. In her own words, “And why are they now wearing the sleeveless, often strapless, white ball dresses traditionally associated with ladies who are out looking for husbands rather than those who have found them?” ** Also, armpits showing during your wedding? *shudders* I hate armpits. Don’t throw the stones too hard…)

    **citation: http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/02-00/02-29-00/zzzadman.htm

  41. djlott

    I don’t see the purpose of wearing clothes you have to constantly fiddle with…and it’s distracting watching them adjust, and readjust!! My oldest daughter liked the style from the movie “Ever After”, so she picked a pattern (yes, I sewed it) for her prom with these long bell sleeves and all she had to worry about was someone stepping on the short train her dress had. The other girls who wore strapless were not able to relax and have fun, they were constantly fussing with their dress. My daughter’s don’t wear strapless while I have anything to do with buying their clothes!

  42. Kathy

    Totally with you on this one.

  43. Diane

    I was sitting in the (eleventy-billion degree) shade at our State Fair, people watching. A lovely young lady and her husband (oh, Lordy, I hope it was husband and not date!) stopped just opposite me.

    She was wearing a strapless, tube-topped sundress, with a strapless bra. How did I know about the bra? The dress had slipped down a bit on one side, and the bra was peeking out. That would have been fine, but…

    …HER HUSBAND (GOSH, I HOPE IT WASN’T JUST A DATE!!) CASUALLY REACHED OUT AND PULLED IT UP FOR HER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE VERY, VERY PUBLIC FAIRGROUNDS.

    I went home and washed my eyes out with bleach.

  44. Leanne

    Last time I wore a strapless dress, I was about 3 sizes smaller and many years younger. It also had bones in it, so good luck with the slipping down of that.

    I have worn a strapless bra in the last few years – it stayed in place too, oddly enough. But I no longer fit into the sundress or pants suit I used to wear it under. Neither of these were strapless btw.

    But yes! The pulling down of the top/dress! My sister and I used to do that to each other soooooo often when we were kids! :D

    On another note, as a teenager I remember my mother wearing a strapless dress around the house. Forever etched into my nightmares is the vision of my father sidling up to her, pulling the top out and looking down…. *gasp* Scandalous!

  45. erin

    i am one of the 4 per cent, but i am also 27, and many of my clothes i have had since college (some from high school even). all my strapless items are both tight enough at the top to not just fall down, tight enough to give me decent support for my 32Cs (which is really just a 34B with a small ribcage), and thick enough to mostly prevent headlights, unless it’s really cold, and i always have a cardigan on me. i refuse to do strapless bras, so whenever my boobs decide to look terrible braless, i will give it up, but for now i enjoy my tube tops and strapless dresses. i also am very petite and look younger than i am, though: i went to visit my sister in her freshman dorm during rush a couple weeks ago wearing a cute dress and one of the girls on her hall thought i lived there and asked are you rushing? to which i laughed and said no, i’m old. which i’m not, but i’m also not 18.

  46. Wendy

    I have never been a fan of strapless, they just do not stay up. And I’m not large on top, but not small either. I just don’t like them. And at this point, with daughters ages 14 and 7, they are not allowed to go strapless either. They have tube tops, but they are the kind that have either a strap around their neck or straps over their shoulders or they don’t wear them.

  47. Amy

    I like casual summery strapless things in theory, but NO WAY in practice. I think I’m more modest in my dressing than most to begin with, and I hate the skin on my back, and my boobs are super floppy and I’m not about to buy a Special Bra to wear with a certain type of shirt, so forget it. I recently bought a long skirt (or is it a dress? I don’t even know) with a wide smocked waist (chest?) that I love. I pull it up like a dress sometimes around the house because it’s cute, but I would never wear it out like that. I’m thinking about cutting out some of the lining to make straps for it and wearing it with a cardigan or something to cover my ugly back. That’s about as close to wearing a strapless thing you will ever see me.

  48. Lise

    I think strapless dresses look fabulous. . . on about one woman out of a hundred. And that includes strapless wedding gowns. It’s just plain gross to see back fat spilling over a dress that’s tightly laced in a futile attempt to keep the dress up. I’m planning my own wedding right now and I’m disgusted by the fact that women are being duped into wearing unflattering gowns because the designers decided that strapless is where it’s at. Ten years from now, brides will be looking at their photos (expecially those taken from behind at the ceremony) and wonder what they hell they were thinking.

    But ask me how I really feel about strapless dresses.

  49. liz

    My G is for ginormous rack and I have agreed not to wear strapless ever again.

  50. Kethrim

    I’m 23 with small boobs and definitely need to have straps in order to feel that my clothes are going to stay in place. Actually, I’m the same way about shoes- they need to have heel straps or I never know if I’m going to run out of them!

  51. Cele

    If I could duct tape myself into it, I would love to go strapless one summer day. But duct tape isnt’ a fashion statement along with visible g-strings, nylonless legs, and straps should remain unseen.

    Oh and mother’s please tell your daughters to suck in their tummies. It kills me to see this young slender thing with a protruding belly. My mothe rwas forever saying, “Stand up straight, suck in your tummy and tuck in your butt.” Which is hard when you have a bubble butt.

    Darn I miss a bikini. sad.

  52. Emma

    When I was back home in Sydney over Christmas last year, the new fashion was 70s-style strapless long dresses, like long all the way to the ground. I was giggling a bit about how everyone was suddenly wearing these, and then… I was in line at a public toilet, and kind of stepped backwards a bit in response to something my kid did, and accidentally stood on the hem of the dress of the girl behind me, and down the dress came. Strangely, I found it way more funny than she did… but it definitely put me off wanting a long strapless dress!!

  53. Brigitte

    I still remember some gal on The Price is Right in the 70s, coming on down in her tube top, and they had to put a big “Oops!” across the TV screen. NEVER for me and my little booblets!

    I may be the only one, but to me. when there aren’t even spaghetti straps, the expanse of upper chest somehow always looks too long and the boobs down too low, while straps give the illusion that things are a bit perkier. But I think I’m the only person in the universe who thinks that.

  54. karyn

    ok. i totally agree that white tank tops should not be paired with colored bras. trashy unless you are 10 or 11 and that bra isn’t so much a bra but another tank top underneath making it a layered look.
    WOMEN! They make these things called “strap perfect” and they are awesome! They adjust the placement of your straps so they dont hang out. you get like 6 for $10. awesome!
    Also, i think no matter what your size, when wearing a strapless top you get that little flap of skin that hangs over. :( sad, but true.
    there are so many fashion trends i don’t get (but this is coming from a girl who 11 years ago was a cute little punk rock chick- and making an outfit wasn’t so much pressure because it didn’t have to match as long as there was plaid involved). yeah now i feel old.

  55. Karen

    OMG Mir…. back in the late 70’s…when a sleepaway camp.. before I actually grew the small boobs I have today… we wore those tubetops to the camp dances. There was a daily “newspaper” flyer distributed with morning breakfast…and the headlines after one camp dance read “Invasion Of the Tube Top Twerps”. I remember it so well all these years later. Also..in that very samp camp “group” photo taken at the end of the last week… I was wearing a tube top, and the boy behind me was trying to pull it down while the photographer was snapping the picture. The photo shows me with mouth open and eyes wide and hand up to boobs..boys eyes wide and hand pulling on back of tubetop. I oughta scan it and show you.

    On another note.. my husband witnesses about 10 years ago a woman in a grocery store with a strapless top on… holding her baby. Said baby pulled her top down and off of her boob…so that for a full two minutes she browsed the upper shelves of the isle looking for God knows what, while her boob said hello to everyone who passed by her cart. My husband, ofcourse, stayed behind her browsing everything she did..well, rather, her boob. When she FINALLY? realized her boob was on the loose, she yanked it up and looked around embarassed. He still hasn’t gotten over the encounter, (nice). And I can only imagine her permanent scars…lol. But seriously, how could you not know.

  56. Veronica

    Can’t be an age thing, I’m 21 and I’ve never liked strapless stuff. Or halter tops for that matter. Give me something with sleeves and I’m a happy girl. Long sleeves are even better.

  57. Aly

    I actually know what you mean about the overwhelming urge to yank. Just to teach them the dangers inherent in their garment of choice. Of course for me, it is the urge to step on the hem of those stupid strapless maxi dresses that seem to be everywhere all of a sudden. Seems dangerous to increase the risk of exposing yourself if you are clumsy (as I am) to wear a garment with extra material on the bottom and not enough on top. I say this as a proud member of the IBTC who wore exactly one strapless dress to a formal in college and lived in fear of exposure the whole night.

  58. GrandeMocha

    Every strapless bra ended up around my waist. I need a structural engineer to hold these puppies up off my waist. I had a lady at a bra shop get me into a corset & it looked fab but I couldn’t get it on by myself at home.

  59. jeni

    I still periodically use the lily padz silicone breast pads from my breastfeeding days, because they keep my over enthusiastic nipples in check and I can go bra free! Yea! Perky little boobies that aren’t poking your eyes you if you get to close!.

  60. Jen

    I misread the opening lines of this post, replacing boobs with books in the red text, thought,”What?! Mir wrote a book?! How did I miss that?”, then spent the rest of the post trying to figure out how it was related. Only when I got to the end did I look back and realize my mistake. The whole thing made a lot more sense after that.

    I too am in confusion about the strapless trend. A few years ago (When I was still in my 20s, therefore probably not too old), in an attempt to figure out what all the fuss was about, I bought a couple strapless things, thinking maybe if I tried them, I’d like them. I compulsively readjusted and checked and checked again when I wore them, constantly worrying that I was going to flash the world(there isn’t much there to flash, but that isn’t much comfort). They weren’t any more comfortable than a regular shirt, but provided a huge source of anxiety. Now I just stick to things with sleeves, or at least straps.

  61. Heather

    I do it sometimes, though I know I don’t really have the arms for it, since I have bat wings and stretch marks, but then, I don’t really care. If I want to wear something, I will. (Within reason, I mean, but yeah…) The dress I wore to my sister’s wedding was a strapless empire waisted tea length shimmery copper, and it was beautiful. Then again, it also looked a little like my boobs were trying to take over the world.
    Anyway, basically I only wear it if I find something I really, really love. But I still totally wear cap sleeves all the time. (Including right now. Tada!)

  62. Kris

    Seems like most of the strapless tops now have the little “swimsuit” type bra in them. I never fit in those well either, but I think that’s the route most people take. I don’t see a lot of strapless bras being worn. They either go w/o (obviously much younger than I am) or with the internal spandex bra thingy.

  63. Tracy

    Whoa…of all the posts I’ve never seen, this one has got to top the most comments. lol I, myself, can not ever remember wearing strapless for all the reasons you mentioned even as a child I can’t remember. So, you are NOT alone. (as you probably already know)

  64. Trish

    I’m sorry but those dresses remind me of the Barbie clothes I made as a kid. We didn’t have a lot of money for Barbie clothes so my Grandma would let me use her sewing machine. The easiest thing to make? A strapless tube dress. Just make it skinny enough to have the boobs hold it up…and DONE! Just can’t get past it….

  65. Lylah

    Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. I had to wear a strapless bra to go with a strapless bridesmaid dress that I had to wear when I was 5 months pregnant with my youngest child. He’s 3 now, and found the bra in the back of my closet. He thought it was a very cool helmet. For him AND his 5 year old sister to wear SIMULTANEOUSLY.

    Nope. Strapless is not my friend.

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