Every once in a while, we’ll have someone write a story FOR us. Why? Because they have something amazing to say. Here’s news from What Katie Did‘s Katie Halford:
At What Katie Did we’ve always worked from vintage patterns (40s to early 60s) but bras were causing us a problem as most women today prefer an underwired bra as they believe they give more support (tell that to our 38DD bullet bra customer who wears hers to her step class as it’s better than a sports bra – luckily she hasn’t had anyone’s eye out yet!) By keeping to soft cup bras we really were limiting our customer base.
Over the years we had tried to do underwired bras, but they just looked to modern: What Katie Did customers really do like things to be authentically correct and there’s no way we could present them with a underwired bra that looked the same as any other on the high street. The problem we had was that underwired bras were very rare in the 1940s and 1950s. The only wiring bras seemed to have were ‘overwires’ which were commonly used in strapless bras, or boning vertically over the breast for bustiers.
It wasn’t until last year that I found a couple of 1950s underwired bras in Portobello Road’s market. They were made in France and date back to the 1950s. Perfect!
Of course, some amendments had to be made. In the 1950s the shoulder straps of bras were positioned much further in towards the body (which can be seen clearly in the photograph), we positioned them an inch further out so they’re more aesthetically pleasing. The second main amendment was the underwiring. I wish I could show you this: the whole of the front of the bra’s underwiring is welded together in one piece! Sure, it does bend to mold to the body, but you could inflict serious damage on someone with it if you so desired! We plumped for modern underwiring, although the underwiring used is generally used for basques and comes up higher in the centre of the bust. Finally, the original version had non stretch straps: we’ve changed these to modern adjustable straps to make the bra more wearable.
So now we have to wait and see what happens. Our underwired bra, as part of our Cabaret lingerie range, will be launched in mid September (rrp £32.50).