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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Personal Style Pop Culture

The Best Hosiery for Fall 2019 and Beyond

Plush velvet. Sleek leather. Pleated skirts. Denim all day.

Hello, fall, and hello, fashion. In major service to us all right now is great hosiery, an instant wardrobe update that makes it possible to wear what we want before it’s too cold.

Fashion math time: For less than the price of a lunch out, you can get a new pick-me-up that’ll take you through the whole season; hosiery’s cost-per-wear ends up being cents on the dollar. Says no less an authority than the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar, “In an era when mindful consumption is increasingly becoming an urgent aspiration, you should think in terms of what will make the most impact” (‘Summary of the Season’ by Lisa Armstrong). In short, the value of a good pair of tights can’t be overemphasized.

This week, Bare Necessities looked for fall stylespiration and the legwear to support it. Here’s how to layer, wear and rock the season’s choicest hosiery.

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Personal Style

The Best Fall Shapewear for 2019: The Only 5 Pieces You’ll Need

The Best Fall Shapewear for 2019 Hero Image

There’s a lot of shapewear out there, and it’s not always easy to tell which are the real stars and which are going to give you a stomachache.

That’s where we come in.

The best shapers never overpromise, underdeliver or make you suffer. On matters of both comfort and style, they let you play up your favorite features, encourage you to walk taller and make you feel more confident than you did without it. They help your body and your clothes look the way you most want them to.

That’s all buyer Melissa McDonald ever stocks in the Bare Necessities shapewear department. These are her five favorite pieces that do it all this fall, the go-tos that create a smooth foundation for every occasion. So whether you’re a shapewear evangelist or skeptic, now you’re in the know with her must-have picks for a picture-perfect season.

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Personal Style

Introducing birdsong, a Bare Necessities Exclusive Brand

We know we’re not alone when we say this: When it comes to bras, we’re so done with choosing between great fit or great fashion, great quality or great price, being supported or being comfortable. That’s why we couldn’t be more excited to introduce you to our exclusive new lingerie and intimate apparel brand, birdsong.

Support and style rarely intersect, but birdsong lives right in that sweet spot—even in the “hard to find” sizes. With inclusive sizing (U.S.-size bands 30-44 and cups B-H) and modern styling, women can now find bras that both fit and support without sacrificing appearance. Really thoughtful design includes touches like U-shaped underwires that bring you in and up at every size, strap adjusters with tiny ‘teeth’ so they stay right where they belong, fully adjustable straps that let you get your ideal fit and cushioned hook-and-eye clasps and seam-free styles that feel so comfortable, you forget you’ve even got a bra on.

Birdsong has been created and fit-tested by women who know bras, so the fit is easy, the vibe is effortless. They look good on; they feel good on; they come in the size you need and the look you like. For the confidence to be who you want to be when you step out your door, you have to know who you are underneath. You and no one else define your style, your sexy, your self. And at Bare Necessities, we know it all starts with a foundation that makes you feel unstoppable.

The four birdsong bras you’re about to meet are just the beginning. This cool lifestyle brand is poised to keep growing, with even more comfortable bras for even more shapes and sizes. (A little birdie told us that an entire collection bra-sized swimwear—plus-sizes, too—is in the works.) Because when it comes to lingerie at least, we still believe in having it all. No compromises. Introducing birdsong.

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Personal Style Pop Culture

Back to Cool: Fall Fashion & Bra Trends for 2019

September will never not feel like back to school in our hearts. In our minds right now, though, it’s Fashion Month. Either way, this is the time to take stock of, and stock up on, exciting on-trend pieces for the year ahead.

Inspired by the fall/winter 2019 collections shown in New York, London, Milan and Paris, Bare Necessities buyer Heather Viskovic found the bras that complement the clothes we’re most excited to wear this season. “A lot of these colors and prints aren’t traditionally fall, which is what makes them so interesting,” she said. Like, for instance…

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Personal Style

Leggings Awards: The Best Leggings for Fall 2019

Arguably the one and only good thing about the end of summer: Leggings make a comeback! These wardrobe staples save the day right now by easing the transition into fall—making a lightweight dress more substantial, extending the season on a tunic or turning a T-shirt into a fashion statement.

So as we mentally prep for the back half of the year, Bare it All asked our Bare Necessities leggings experts, buyers Melissa McDonald and Kelly Morales, to find their very favorites. These pairs are the most versatile, best looking, least painful ways to walk away from warmer weather.

Drumroll, please: Presenting the first annual Leggings Awards….

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Pop Culture

The Summer of Women Who Rock: Newport Folk Festival 2019

The times, they are a-changin’ for women in the #MeToo era.

We have seats at the table, and we’re setting it to make room for more of us. We have marched on Washington, and all over the country, more than once. A record number of us serve in Congress, and are running for President. We’re in the vanguard of calling for common-sense gun reform, including Moms Demand Action. Hundreds of men at society’s highest heights are being held accountable for gross abuses of power, recent and remote. Americans finally see women as competent or more so than men, says a new study by the American Psychological Association.

Pop culturally, too, sisters are doin’ it for themselves. Bare Necessities was there when, for the first time in its 60-year history, gender literally took center stage at the preeminent Newport Folk Festival, headlined last month by an all-women supergroup of sorts featuring post-feminist icon Dolly Parton, Judy Collins, Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Linda Perry, Amy Ray and countless more instrument-wielding professional music-makers. After that gauntlet-throwing, star-studded statement, it’s clear that if you’re going to a music festival just to make the scene, you’re probably going to the wrong festival.

Listen to what these bold, tremendously talented women have to say about this moment in herstory.

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Personal Style Swimwear

First Look: Spring 2020 Swimwear Trends

Summer’s unofficial end may be a mere three weeks away, but swim season is still going strong. In fact, the first look at spring 2020 has just hit our shores here at Bare Necessities, and we’re giving you an exclusive preview as we transition over to fall. So whether you have a warm-weather getaway planned for over the holidays or just want to get a sneak peek of next swim season, don’t miss all the fun, flattering newness still flowing in, like…

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Health & Wellness Personal Style Pop Culture

The Best Nursing Bra is Just Like the Bra You’re Already Wearing

Nursing bras may very well be the most challenging kind of bra to buy. They have to fit and support just right at a time in life when your size is a moving target and your stress level is dialed up to eleven.

The solution is deceptively simple: Whenever possible, choose a nursing bra from your favorite go-to brand. “You already know you like how they’re made, and you know it’s going to work for your body,” says Heather Viskovic, Bare Necessities maternity buyer and mother of two.

This World Breastfeeding Week 2019, Heather is sharing her picks for the best nursing bras. She recommends picking up two or three to start using in the third trimester, when breasts really swell. Then wear them for as long as you need or want to postpartum: “When a bra is well-made and comfortable, you might even wear it after you stop nursing, like I did.”

These new-mom must haves look good, feel good, are easy to use (even in the dead of night) and wash well. You and baby both should be able to get behind these picks.

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Behind the Seams Bra Fit Experts Meet the Merchants Personal Style

Forgiving Fits

Weight fluctuations happen, especially in summer when we’re by turns our most physically active and our absolute laziest. Safe to say we’ve all been there, blinking in disbelief at the read-out on the scale or puzzling over our sudden inability to button a single pair of jeans. (Or is that just me?)

Luckily, through trial and error, we Bare Necessities staffers know there are some pieces that’ll never let us down—even when all the others won’t make it up past our thighs. No need to throw a fit over the perfect fit, or ditch your wardrobe and restock it with the next size: We found those magical everyday must haves that seem to be made with equal parts Spandex and tender-loving mercy.

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Behind the Seams Pop Culture

A Journey of 10,000 Steps: How Many Per Day Do You Really Need?

Have you ever tried to log 10,000 steps a day? If you’ve got a fitness tracker, you’re probably familiar with that benchmark. And you know it can be tough to reach just by going about your day, especially if that day includes sitting in a desk chair or car hour after hour.

I first got a Fitbit to unlock the secrets of my sleep patterns but got hooked on the tiny jolts it administered that spurred me to get off my butt and take a few laps around the office.

It wasn’t long before I realized that hitting 10k a day was going to take some doing. In fact, it started to feel like a full-time job. And since I already have a bunch of of those—my actual full-time job as editor at Bare Necessities, parent, wife and human being with interests of my own that include laying on the couch trying to find where Instagram ends—making my steps began to feel like one more thing on an endless list I felt obligated to get done every day, like flossing.

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Personal Style Swimwear

The Colors of This Swim Season

It’s high summer at Bare Necessities. We’ve already dipped our toes in the water, easing into the season mostly with the help of our go-to, tried-and-true black swimsuits. Now we’re all warmed up and ready to head in bolder directions. Our favorite color at the moment: rainbow.

Swim expert Megan Puma has pulled together the full color spectrum to effortlessly give your look a tropical punch. And it almost goes without saying by now that each one has bonus benefits (bra cups, built-in slimming) that make it more than worthy of a spot in your suitcase.

All that’s left to do is pick your preferred palette.

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Health & Wellness Power Figures

Chaise Fitness Founders Used What they Knew to Create a Brand New Workout

Former gold-medalist competitive figure skater Lauren Piskin has trained everyone from the Olympic national team to Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler for Blades of Glory. After opening a Pilates studio in Manhattan, Lauren realized that, in a lot of ways, the workout could use an update.

Lauren’s daughter, Rachel, danced with the New York City Ballet from age 7. When Rachel retired from the company after a 20-year career, her body rebelled against her, physically rejecting the sudden change to her diet and fitness routine. That’s when she decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps, emerging as one of New York’s most sought-after physical trainers.

Just over seven years ago now, the mother-daughter duo co-founded Chaise Fitness, a boutique studio that revolves around the “Reinvention Method,” their custom chair-based workout class that mashes together Pilates, ballet, cardio and strength training in a low-impact, body-sculpting regimen accessible to women of all ages and abilities. Three locations offer 10 different classes, plus there’s an on-demand platform to give clients access to live-streamed classes and pre-recorded workout videos.

Bare Necessities talked to these two Power Figures and took a class to get a firsthand feel for what the family-run fitness empire is about.

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