Author: Brooke Glassberg

Brooke is the editor of this here blog. In a previous life, she was an editor at Good Housekeeping and O, The Oprah Magazine. Brooke has written for Glamour, Travel+Leisure, New York Magazine and more. She’s into concerts, travel and her exceptionally adorable daughter and husband.

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Meet the Merchants Personal Style

Best Spring Lingerie Trends for 2016

At Bare Necessities, our talented team of merchants is constantly juggling fashion shows, presentations and vendor meetings (okay, and more than a few spreadsheets and calculators). It’s all in the interest of determining what exciting new finds to add to our vast assortment. Yep, sometimes sitting down with Heidi Klum, Dita Von Teese or Ashley Graham is all in a day’s work.

Today, we’re chatting with Liza Bennett, our VP of merchandising, a.k.a. the brains and beauty behind all the strategic buying. She heads to market week in New York City four times a year to experience firsthand the latest, greatest goings-on in the lingerie world. Here are the sexy lingerie trends that caught her discerning eye a few months back for spring 2016—i.e., right this moment.

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Behind the Seams Pop Culture

Selfie Tips: How to Take the Perfect Selfie

The preferred method of sharing what’s going on in your life has inarguably shifted from status updates to photos and videos. It’s how we communicate. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to take the perfect selfie.

Pro: A picture can be worth a thousand words.
Con: Always needing to be camera-ready!

You owe it to yourself to learn how to manage the image you put out there and, by virtue of having a smartphone in your pocket, you can easily learn to be your own best paparazzo.

No one knows how to curate the living daylights out of an Instagram feed better than our photo studio crew. We lured them out from behind the lens to share all they know about taking amazing pictures and how to translate that into top-notch selfies. Here are their rules for how to take the perfect selfie:

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Meet the Merchants Personal Style Swimwear

The Best Bathing Suits for Curvy-Figured Women

JeniWomen who are curvy and need some support in the form of a bra-sized swimsuit are in luck. First of all, c’mon: those enviable curves!

And, just as important, Bare Necessities specializes in the widest assortment of solutions-centered swimwear on the web (band sizes 30-40 and cup sizes D-K). In other words, we can for sure help you find the best swimsuits for curvy figures. Consider us your DD+ destination.

Now let’s return to our swimwear expert Jeni Doherty, who has the following shopping tips to find the best bathing suits for curvy-figured women:

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Inner Beauty Pop Culture Power Figures

The Ashley Graham Collection Launches at Bare Necessities

Ashley Graham—designer, model, body activist, disruptor of the status quo—and Bare Necessities have something in common: We’re both preoccupied with lifting women up. To celebrate today’s debut of her lingerie line, we sat down with her for an exclusive Q&A at our headquarters with BN staffers and plus-size style bloggers.

Since Ashley was discovered at age 12 in a mall in her native Nebraska, she’s been working nonstop to shake up the notoriously intractable fashion world. The proof is in the press: This year alone, Ashley simultaneously joined and forever altered the ranks of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover models, and Forbes magazine named her a “30 Under 30.”

“My mom and dad told me, ‘If you try it, you have to stick with it,’” says Ashley, and those words drove her. At 17, Ashley moved to New York by herself. “I gained my freshman 15…more like 30. I was still working, I was still fabulous, but I had agents literally waving money in my face saying, ‘if you lost some more LBs, baby, you’d get a lot more of this.’ In that moment I realized, ‘Why am I modeling? What is this for?’” She knew she had to blaze her own trail, but something was holding her back:

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Behind the Seams Relationships

Behind the Scenes: The Boys of Bare Necessities Bare it All

Though Bare Necessities revolves around women, there are more than a few good men behind the scenes helping to make the bra-shopping experience nothing short of flawless. We couldn’t wait to introduce these fine gents to you: Each is snowflake-level special and brings his unique talents to bear every day in the not-unintimidating world of intimate apparel. Because the one thing that unites them (other than a love of Game of Thrones and a good burger) is an admiration for all the impressive women in their lives—family, coworkers and customers alike.

In time for Valentine’s Day, let’s get to know the guys of Bare Necessities….

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Health & Wellness

Heart Health Month: Heart Disease Prevention & Awareness

American Heart Month is not only the time to think about Valentine’s Day and heart-shaped chocolates but, more importantly, the perfect opportunity to reflect on the state of our actual hearts. In fact, the American Heart Association believes that protecting your heart should be every woman’s top priority, as heart disease is the #1 cause of death for women in the United States. To put that into perspective, it kills more of us each year than all forms of cancer combined. We’ll let that sink in a minute….

According to Dr. Sharon Mass, OBGYN and medical correspondent exclusive to us here at bare necessities, high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol and smoking are the biggest risk factors for heart disease, and about half of Americans have one or more of those risk factors. Obesity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption and lack of exercise also come into play.

The good news? You can follow these healthy living tips to keep your heart pumping:

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Meet the Merchants Personal Style

What Color Bra to Wear Under White? The Little Red Bra (and More Bra Styling Tips)

Valentine’s Day is imminent, and we’ve got red on the brain. In fact, this is usually right about when we start attempting to unearth the scarlet bra from the far reaches of the lingerie drawer. But why reserve rouge for February alone?

Bare Necessities has learned the red-bra styling trick French women have long used that’s guaranteed to blow your mind…

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Meet the Merchants Personal Style Swimwear

Bras Go for a Dip: Bra-Sized Swimwear from Lingerie vs. Swimsuit Brands

jeni_torsoAt the beach or pool, looking good really comes down to feeling good. Inner confidence radiates. And when you’re wearing a swimsuit, you’re putting yourself out there in a major way. (Even more so than with lingerie…who really sees that?!) It never hurts to have a style secret weapon and, as far as we’re concerned, it’s bra-sized swimwear. Because you ought to be swimming in support!

Though you may be noticing the supportive swimwear category cropping up more and more, know this: Not all bra-sized swimwear is created equal.

We got the scoop from Jeni Doherty, our resident swimwear whiz with 17 years of experience. She curates the most supportive, cutest swimsuits so you can look and feel amazing. Per Jeni, bra-sized swimwear can either mean:
1) Lingerie manufacturers who are making bra-sized swimsuits
2) Swimwear manufacturers who are making bra-sized swimsuits

On paper, they might sound more or less the same, but there are significant differences in their size ranges and how they fit your figure. Let’s dive deeper….

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Behind the Seams Health & Wellness

The Hottest Fitness Trends and Activewear Trends for 2016

With fitspiration as its annual peak, we’re bringing you an inside look at five of the hottest fitness trends for 2016 that our staffers are all about right now—not to mention the corresponding activewear trends. Because when the elliptical starts to feel like a snooze, you definitely don’t have to default to the couch!

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Behind the Seams Health & Wellness

Your Best Year Yet: Donna Lewis’ Wellness Wake-Up Call & Weight Loss Tips

Donna Lewis had her aha moment in a mud pit.

As the executive assistant to the CEO and COO here at Bare Necessities, Donna—the good-natured glue holding this office together; our tough-as-nails, can-do jack-of-all-trades—has had her share of ups and downs over the years. But when she hit her lowest low, Donna was quite literally in the dumps. A friend had talked her into participating in a Dirty Girl Mud Run. On a mixed-ability team—senior citizens; women who had just finished cancer treatments—it quickly became clear that Donna was the weak link.

“It was me holding the group back. I didn’t want to be that chick! But when I was running, I thought my heart was going to explode. I couldn’t haul myself over the obstacles, and that frustrated the hell out of me,” says Donna. “I made up my mind then and there to get in shape.”

She lost 75 pounds in nine months.

As our month-long look at becoming the best version of ourselves continues, Donna opens up about her very personal wake-up call, her inspirational weight loss success story of dropping from a size 16 to a size 4, her disciplined-yet-doable regimen and how she proudly maintains the new normal.

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Behind the Seams Inner Beauty

New Year, New Me: Our 2016 New Year’s Resolutions

We all enter into a new year together, with the same clean slate ahead: 365 thrillingly unwritten days with which to undertake something extraordinary, to live with intentionality and to find meaning (whether we’re on the upswing or down), to uplift others and better ourselves. How awe-inspiring is that? (No pressure, though!)

Here’s how the BN staff intends to make 2016 count. Let us know on Twitter @barenecessities what you’ve got in store for the year ahead. Happiest new year!

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Behind the Seams Inner Beauty

14 Fun Holiday and Christmas Traditions, From Our Family to Yours

Merry Christmas, friends! Now that the holidays are finally upon us—or even behind us, for some—we’re focusing a little less on running around ringing up presents and a little more on how we plan to spend quality time with family and friends—the real point of the season.

That’s why, this week, Bare It All asked the Bare Necessities staff what Christmas and holiday traditions mean the most to them. Some will probably sound all too familiar, and maybe you’ll find a new one or two to incorporate into your own celebrations (three words: spiked hot chocolate). Whatever you do, whoever you’re with, we hope it’s the kind of uplifting, heartwarming stuff that puts the wind back in your sails as we head into 2016. 

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