Category: Inner Beauty

Earth Day Intimates

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date April 20, 2020

It’s getting easier and more affordable to factor the environment into our buying decisions, from the foods we eat to the clothes we wear.

With no shortage of creative minds leading the charge, the fashion industry is in a unique position to find bold new ways of doing the same old things. And while there’s certainly plenty of room to improve, every effort helps forge a “cleaner, safer, more just and sustainable world that protects and supports all of us.”

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day this April 22, Bare Necessities is taking a closer look at the brands and collections we carry that prioritize the planet. These are some of the lines you can already support in good conscience—and good style.

Diagnosed at 75: Dee’s Breast Cancer Journey

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date October 14, 2019

Breast cancer is the most common kind to strike American women. Average age of diagnosis: 61. But with silver hair comes a silver lining. While the odds may rise with age, the odds of dying from it are down-trending, according to Harvard Medical School research.

Take my Grandma, for example.

Dolores Zuber—Dee to her friends, Ma to her five children, Nanny to her eleven grandkids and four great-grandkids—is as feisty and tough as they come. (Did your grandma go for her pilot’s license? Didn’t think so.) Stupid breast cancer did not know who it was going up against when it tried to mess with her…not the first time it came knocking at age 75, and not the second time around, nearly a decade later.

She’s an OG, straight-talking inspiration to me—and now, hopefully, to you, too.

Breast Cancer Awareness Health & Wellness Inner Beauty Relationships

Diagnosed at 30: Chelsey’s Breast Cancer Journey

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date October 7, 2019
4 Comments on Diagnosed at 30: Chelsey’s Breast Cancer Journey

Breast cancer is nothing if not personal, and the net it casts is wide. There are more than 3 million women with a history of breast cancer living in the US, according to BreastCancer.org in 2019. They’re our colleagues, our friends and, in this case, our family.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I got personal with my cousin Chelsey Goldman, a 30-year-old office administrator, wife and mom to daughter Abigail, 4, and son Rory, 3. One year and 6 days from her diagnosis, she has beaten the disease. Still, there is a ways to go to get back to life B.C. (before cancer). She opened up to Bare Necessities about what it’s like to wonder if you’re going to live to see the day your kids start school.

Inner Beauty Relationships

How Melanie Got Her Groove Back After Her Divorce

Post author By Melanie Rud
Post date July 8, 2019

Hi, I’m Melanie, I’m 32, and I just got divorced.

Okay, so that’s not really how I like to introduce myself these days, but sometimes it feels like I should. I’ll spare you the sob story but, after being married for five years, I’m newly divorced and the big ‘D’ feels very much like a major part of my identity at the moment.

My ex and I were together for nine years; needless to say, along with all of the emotional turmoil that comes along with consciously uncoupling (and trust me, there’s a lot), I’m now also single for the first in almost a decade. It’s a bizarre, unnerving, confusing, at times exciting, feeling that I’m adjusting to one day at a time.

Inner Beauty Pop Culture

The Truth About Imposter Syndrome

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date April 1, 2019
1 Comment on The Truth About Imposter Syndrome

For such an accomplished woman, Jennifer Willey felt like a fraud for a very long time.

A former news anchor and tech executive at some of the world’s largest and most prestigious companies, Jennifer knew she needed to do something about the persistent feelings of doubt cutting her down from within, so she made it her life’s work to examine them. In the process, she founded Wet Cement and turned herself into a gender equality expert.

This past International Women’s Day, Jennifer gave Bare Necessities an exclusive overview of her Wet Cement program on that silent saboteur, Imposter Syndrome, with solutions that can help you go from feeling like a con artist to living authentically in confidence.

Confessions Inner Beauty Personal Style Pop Culture

Top 10 Model Confessions with Liris Crosse

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date March 25, 2019

Maybe you recognize Liris Crosse from Project Runway, where she was the first black plus-size model to walk in a designer finale runway show.

Could be you’ve heard about her new book, Make the World Your Runway: Top Model Secrets for Everyday Confidence and Success. Filled with straight-talking, hard-won personal advice, Liris takes the rules she uses to own the catwalk and adapts them to real life, no matter what you do or who you are.

She’s also been in countless campaigns for brands like Curvy Couture, is the founder of Life of a Working Model boot camp and is a keynote speaker at mega-events like Essencefest Beauty Carnival.

Whether you already know Liris or not, we assure you: You’re going to want to. Her positivity and presence, confidence and charisma are catching. We got the chance to chat at this past CurvExpo, the preeminent lingerie trade show in New York City. In her exclusive Bare Necessities interview, Liris shares her coming-up story and some of the best advice from her book.

Inner Beauty Pop Culture Swimwear

Must-Pack Spring Break Essentials

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date March 11, 2019

Whether you’re adulting your way through winter or still in school, have you ever heard two lovelier words strung together than spring and break?

If you’re lucky, you’ve got a trip lined up somewhere sunny and a packing list weeks in the making. (What’s a vacation if not something to obsessively look forward to?)

Everyone here at Bare Necessities is just as excited to get into a new season—so much so that we rounded up the essential spring getaway pieces we’re packing. Pick one from the categories you need, and away you go.

Tags spring break packing list

Inner Beauty Personal Style

Chic, Sexy and Plus Size

For too long, sexy and trendy have been mutually exclusive with curvy. But with the combined force of shoppers who know what they want and brands (ahem) who know how to stock it comes the power to buck business as usual.

Our collection of edgy, gorgeous bra and panty sets is curated to fit and flatter fuller figures. Hot tip: Always keep an eye on fashion-forward brands like Elomi, Curvy Couture, Paramour, Bramour, Sculptresse, Dita Von Teese, Scantilly by Curvy Kate, Goddess and Pour Moi. They really know their way around plus-size style that moves the sartorial needle.

The joy of sets is how these match-ups effortlessly ensure your cutest, curviest Valentine’s Day. (Load up your shopping bag on Bare Necessities, then click “email bag” to drop a hint to your significant other…or, you know, scoop it up for yourself.)

Having a B.R.A. Fit Health & Wellness Inner Beauty

From 36DDD to 36G, Irene Wins in Wacoal

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date December 30, 2018

Irene, 38, works out at The Max Challenge with Torrie Rathjen, and once she saw her workout buddy’s bra fit makeover, she had to have one.

Now that her three young sons are getting more independent, Irene can shift a bit of her focus to her own well-being. New Year’s resolutions have got nothing on her: Since Irene already works out five days a week, what she needed was new sports bras that were up to the challenge.

So was Bare Necessities Bra Fit Expert Kristyn, a certified personal trainer and a mom of three boys herself. She instantly got where Irene was coming from: more of a feel-good style makeover than a dramatic size overhaul. These two showed us how to end the year on a high note….

Inner Beauty Pop Culture Power Figures Relationships

Author Virginia Sole-Smith Debunks Some of the Most Harmful Food Myths

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date November 19, 2018

Virginia Sole-Smith wrote the just-released book The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image and Guilt in America and co-hosts the new podcast Comfort Food, about the joys and meltdowns of feeding a family. Trained as a magazine journalist, Virginia embedded with nutritionists, dietitians, critics, mothers, food obsessives and others to get at why our meals are so often served with a side order of guilt and self-loathing.

Her deep dive wasn’t inspired by idle curiosity. Virginia’s daughter Violet was born with a rare, dire congenital heart condition. She spent the first weeks of life spiraling into heart failure, too weak to nurse. Once the problem was discovered, Violet was subjected to countless emergency procedures, including open-heart surgery at five weeks old. Stemming from her trauma, Violet stopped eating and became dependent on a feeding tube. It took two years for her to learn to eat by mouth again.

Bare Necessities talked with Virginia about body image, hunger, the so-called “clean eating” trend, the specious connection between health, weight and nutrition, and modern diet culture. (Virginia is adamantly anti-diet.) Surprisingly, the takeaways couldn’t be more uplifting.

Tags Virginia Sole Smith

Having a B.R.A. Fit Health & Wellness Inner Beauty

From 32D to 30DDD, Lauren Russo Finds Her Best Bra Brand

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date November 5, 2018

Lauren Russo, 36, is a mom of two, a teacher, a certified personal trainer who runs a baby boot camp class and, with her husband, a partner in a health and wellness business.

“I love being an advocate for others to feel their best,” Lauren said.

With the help of Bare Necessities Bra Fit Expert Kristyn, it was time to turn the tables. Lauren wasn’t getting the support she deserved from 32D T-shirt bras and sports bras from Victoria’s Secret and Target—mass retailers cater to the general population rather than specialize in designs for busty, petite women like her.

“I never even had a bra fitting until after my first son was born. I walked into Victoria’s Secret, and that was that. But those don’t cut it anymore,” said Lauren. “Aside from needing better-fitting bras, I hope I gain some knowledge what’s available out there, and some confidence.”

Given her day-to-day, she was hoping to find a superior sports bra (“I tend to wear them to teach, then linger in them”) and a good everyday bra with some lift. So that’s exactly what Kristyn found her.

Inner Beauty Personal Style

Top 3 Reasons We’re Loving (and Living in) Stepped-Up Sleepwear

Post author By Brooke Glassberg
Post date October 15, 2018

It’s pretty much scientifically proven: Sleep and loungewear are key not just to surviving but to thriving in the cold months. Plush, polished pieces designed to give you the warm fuzzies are all anybody wants to wear these days. They’re as much little luxuries for you as they are can’t-go-wrong holiday gifts for the ones you love.

“My favorite thing about our assortment is that there’s something for everyone. You’ll actually be able to find your personal style in sleepwear this winter,” says Bare Necessities buyer Megan Irvine, who built the mix this season around the three Cs: cozy, cool and comfy.