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.
Here at Bare Necessities, we pride ourselves on the best selection and size range of intimate apparel anywhere, period, end of story. So when you’ve got a near-infinite inventory, a little expert guidance steering you toward what you want and need goes a long way. Read on to find out what our ace team of merchants, bra experts and buyers not only curates for the site but genuinely loves to wear, right down to their all-time favorite bras.
Packing a suitcase intelligently is the top priority for an effortless getaway—it’s hard to dash for a connecting flight or climb five flights of stairs to a hotel room with a view when you’re schlepping a suitcase the size of a double-decker bus. And there’s something crazy satisfying about zipping past the bored horde at the baggage carousel.
So when we came across a formula for the best way to pack a suitcase to max out wardrobe options and space, we were all in. Not only do we love a system for doing anything better, it applies to a trip of any length of time. (If you’re taking a vacation of longer than a week, you may have to do laundry. No big thing. With Shout wipes, you may get away with a few more days yet.) Limits are surprisingly liberating—there’s a reason fashion editors only wear black—and sticking to them for a few days is easier than you might think.
The bra and panty models we work with at Bare Necessities are real women, with good heads on their gorgeous shoulders—that’s why we adore them. We wanted to find out more about their refreshingly realistic fitness and health routines, so we sat down this week for a chat with Jessica Rafalowski (left) and Alissa Jo Caputo (right).
Money can’t buy you love (thank the Beatles for that life lesson), but little indulgences can pay big dividends when it comes to happiness, as long as you’re spending smartly. In other words: Treat yourself! Here’s how to buy happiness inexpensively, according to researchers:
Nothing is as uplifting as hearing the right song at the right time. Something clicks into place and, bam, your whole outlook changes. So when Bare Necessities attended the 2015 Newport Folk Festival two weeks ago, it felt more like a spiritual retreat than a concert.
Newport Folk Fest is the festival that launched all the others. It’s been a half-century since Bob Dylan’s legendary, jaw-dropping swap from acoustic to electric guitar there, preeeetty much changing the course of popular music as we know it. And that storied history has carved out a space for so many artists on their way up, like this year’s Courtney Barnett, The Suffers, Joe Pug, Lord Huron, The Lone Bellow and Tallest Man on Earth, to name just a few worthy of your time. (We know you’re busy. We wouldn’t steer you wrong.)
Clocking eight straight hours can seem more elusive than spotting a unicorn, but here’s the kicker: It’s also the undisputed key to success during your waking time. Adults need 7-9 hours of shut-eye a night, per the National Sleep Foundation. We rounded up the most effective sleeping tips to improve your bedtime routine and get more sleep so you can nod off already.
Ever since Madonna rocked that cone bra, it’s become less and less taboo to pass off lingerie as streetwear. (I mean, have you kept up with a Kardashian lately?) Flip through an issue of Vogue or Elle and you’ll notice the lingerie trend never goes away for very long.
Now that warm weather is here again (um, yay), expect to see more pretty peekaboo straps, flirty lace-trimmed cups—even gorgeous mesh bras under totally sheer tops. Boudoir fashion is sexy, modern, safely thrilling, at times rather comfy, damn near effortless—and it gives your prettiest layers the opportunity to show off a little.
HOWEVER. The look that’s so good in theory can go horribly wrong in practice.
Like a gallon of milk, bras expire after awhile. Most give up the ghost around the two-year mark; your everyday go-tos might meet the end of the bra life cycle in just six months! Devastating but true, particularly after you find one you love like whoa. So how do you know when it’s finally time to put a beloved brassiere out to pasture? Our senior buyer, Heather Garcia, has some ideas for how to tell if a bra fits and whether or not it’s time for an upgrade.
She’s talking weight loss or gain of more than five pounds, the physical rollercoaster that is pregnancy/childbirth/nursing and, of course, breast surgery. Regardless, brush up on how to measure bra size at least twice a year to make sure you’re getting the right fit. That’s also the perfect time to take a ruthless look at the state of your lingerie drawer.
There are approximately forty gazillion bra styles out there (we should know, we carry them all). So how do you narrow down which bra types are the best for you? Here’s a cheat sheet. Ideally, you’ll have at least 6 bras in the mix—two nude, two black, and have fun with the rest—to get through the week. (Bras work hard, they’ve earned the next day off!)
FULL CUPPerfect for: the daily grind; average-to-full busts
Why we love it: complete, confident coverage that seriously supports a chest