Summertime, and the living is arguably easier. What is it about a little sunshine that makes this the happiest time of year and, more importantly, how to bottle that feeling for the other nine months?
Bare Necessities looked into the science behind summer’s golden touch. We’re here to share ideas you can draw on when fall and winter start getting you down. Bookmark this for when you need it in the back half of the year!
Cate Scaglione has seen it all.
As the owner of Life As Fine Art Studio in Red Bank, NJ, she’s photographed women in their 20s and in their 70s, fiancées and divorcées, every conceivable body type and even a Real Housewife. In fact, she’s widely recognized as one of the country’s go-to photographers for these intimate boudoir (that’s French for “a woman’s private bedroom or sitting room”) sessions.
“There’s a misconception that you have to be 25, blonde and thin to do this, but my average clients are middle-aged women with big careers and money to spend on a Bucket List experience for themselves,” says Cate.
Find out why she left the corporate track to carve out her own niche, what’s so magical about lingerie and why she thinks stripping down is the most freeing thing a woman can do.
Bare Necessities Bra Fit Expert Jessica never considered herself a natural athlete, but she’s a fitness devotee because working out does wonders for her mood. That’s why she recently took it to the next level and made the leap from student to instructor at her local CrossFit gym.
Read on for how Jessica makes working out her number one priority each day, the accomplishments she’s proudest of and her motivating mantra for pushing through even the toughest workout.
After years and years of ups and downs with her weight, Kathy, our lead Bra Fit Expert here at Bare Necessities, summoned the courage to have weight loss surgery this past fall. While she could envision the healthy lifestyle she wanted to live, she never could have imagined the side effects that took her out of commission for six miserable, seemingly endless weeks and left her questioning what she had elected to do to herself.
Today, Kathy is in way better shape—better, in fact, than she’s been in ages. Read on for what she wishes she’d known then that she knows now….
This week, Bare Necessities certified Bra Fit Expert Mette opens up about her on-again, off-again relationship with the gym. Weight-wise, she’s not where she wants to be, but if something’s got to give, it’s for sure not going to be time spent with her family—or her nightly glass of wine—and, at this moment, she’s 100 percent okay with that.
THE BACKSTORY
“I’ve had a slow metabolism since I was 13. Apparently, I started a trend, because we have no history of hypothyroid issues. My whole family is thin and can eat whatever they want without gaining weight. Not me.
When I was younger, I was more active, plus I was on medications to manage my thyroid. I’m 5’6”, and the sweet spot for me is right around 150 pounds.
The weight gain started around the time I was trying to conceive. I gained 10 or 15 pounds on the expectation that I would be having a child and could eat whatever I wanted. I thought the weight would just drop off when the baby came. It took a year of trying before I got pregnant with my son. I gained 55 pounds and was at 203 when I gave birth. It took a while for the weight to come off. I got pregnant again five years later. I gained 23 pounds with my daughter and was only five pounds off my pre-pregnancy weight after she was born.”
Happy 2018! This month, as we dust off our gym memberships with renewed enthusiasm, we’re hearing from four of our Bare Necessities Bra Fit Experts about their very real, very different paths to health and wellness. First up is Melissa, who underwent weight loss surgery after a lifetime of struggling with food and body image. Since the procedure last June, she’s already lost over 80 pounds, but she’s just beginning to get to know her new self.
THE BACKSTORY
“Even when I was 7 years old, I was overweight. We have a family history—we’re the short, chubby Italians, not the willowy, Mediterranean Italians. I didn’t make the best food choices 100 percent of the time, but I was an active kid: color guard, cheerleading, theater, softball. I don’t remember the last time I was under 200 pounds. I’m 5’3” and have lived most of my adult life between 230 and 250. At my heaviest, I was 315 pounds.
By day, Jessica Matlin (top right) is the health and beauty director at Teen Vogue, and Jennifer Goldstein (top left) is the executive beauty and health editor at Marie Claire. Not glam enough for you yet? On nights, weekends and rare, spare moments in between, they become the co-hosts of Fat Mascara, the award-winning, first-of-its-kind weekly podcast about all things beauty. (The show’s name is an allusion to the bigger, better, juicier, where-does-it-end? trend in mascara and the like.)
Since last spring, Jess and Jenn have been “raising a wand” to their favorite products; interviewing celebrities, hair stylists and makeup artists, physicians and all manner of experts; reporting the latest industry news; answering listener questions and otherwise holding up beauty as a mirror to our culture.
For bravely, stylishly and hilariously exploring this often fraught women’s territory in a smart, fresh way, we hereby name Jenn and Jess this month’s Power Figures. Read on to hear how they know a hero from a zero when it comes to cosmetics, why these print all-stars became audiophiles, how they cope with stress when they’re at their limits and what beauty really means to them.
Sure, we’re sad that rosé season (also known as summer) is over, but let’s focus on the positives that come with this change, shall we? That forever-exciting back-to-school feeling, cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice everything…there are so many things to love about fall. Add gorgeous new beauty trends to the list, as inspiration from the runways makes its way to the real world.
There’s no shortage of new hair and makeup ideas: This year, the trends are sophisticated and totally wearable. Best of all, they’ll work beautifully with the scarves and boots you’re about to bust out of your closet, not to mention the season’s loveliest lingerie that you’ll be wearing underneath.
Ahead, five of the top beauty trends to try, each perfectly matched by yours truly at Bare Necessities with the best bra. Bring it on, autumn.
Nina Daniele (“‘Nina-Marie’ if my mom is mad at me”) grew up in Pelham, north of the Bronx in New York City. “It’s one of those towns you don’t appreciate until you have to be an adult and pay your own bills. As a kid, you’re bored AF,” she told us behind the scenes during the Fall Hot List shoot of some of our coolest bras and bodysuits. “I spent countless summer nights driving around with my friends, hanging out in the parking lot of the 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts, stealing donuts out the back door since I think collectively we had about $5.”
She’s come a long way. Nina started modeling about seven years ago, while she was still in college. She planned to join the Air Force post-graduation, but her boyfriend convinced her to try modeling first: “I’m so happy he did because I don’t know how long I would have lasted!”
At Bare Necessities, we’re glad, too. The woman the lens loves gets her workouts from pole-dancing, her style inspiration from Aerosmith and has amassed much wisdom since her donut-filching days. Such as…
Nitika Chopra has empathy like some of us have parking tickets or high heels—in spades.
First, she’s a global citizen. Born in Ohio, she moved to Cairo, then Singapore, back to Ohio, on to New Jersey and Hong Kong and, for the past 16 years, she’s called New York home. She’s seen the human condition around the world, and the differences we share in common.
But moving a lot didn’t help her escape her personal conflicts. Nitika hated her name, endured a painful and debilitating case of psoriasis for a decade from age 10 and was divorced by her twenties.
Now 36, Nitika is not only all grown-up but fully self-actualized. As the host of Naturally Beautiful, a talk show that ran on the holistic lifestyle channel Z Living, she referred to herself as a “self-love guru,” and few have learned the hard way better than Nitika how to show oneself grace.
“I’m committed to helping others access tangible self-love. It’s such a buzzword these days, but the more I talk to people, the more I realize that most of us have no clue what it is, what it looks like, what it feels like, what it means. My mission is to make it tangible, to help them feel like they can achieve it. I use every avenue I can—my blog, my social media—to share the journey I’ve been on.”
We got philosophical with Nitika to find out how one gets from the lowest lows to the highest highs in the same lifetime.
Back in 1992, when two friends couldn’t find comfy nursing bras that were also fun or fashionable, they sat down at the kitchen table and made one—out of leopard print fabric, no less. That’s how Bravado Designs was, well, born.
Fit and comfort are paramount to this brand by moms, for moms. “We get it: Breastfeeding has its ups and downs. We want to help women feel comfortable and confident with maternity and nursing bras that make sense for this crazy, exciting stage in life,” says Tara Hoth, head of design. “We firmly believe bras shouldn’t be bland. We offer fun colors in addition to classic beige and black, and a little bow, polka dot or print isn’t out of the question.”
Like Bare Necessities, Bravado Designs is “pretty much obsessed with fit,” says Tara. She and her designers are black-belts when it comes to feel-good fabrications and sanity-savers like easy-release clasps and cups that fully drop down for those zonked-out 4 AM feedings. (Look for band sizes 32-46 and cups B-M.)
What’s extra cool: an innovative Test Wearer program in which real moms road-test the bras and nursing tanks, from new prototypes to existing designs. Their input helps Tara’s team fine-tune the details that make all the difference. And since necessity is—pun intended—the mother of invention, here’s what’s new and exciting for moms right now from Bravado Designs:
Melanie Buck, 27, is pursuing her Masters in counseling for mental health and wellness, and she works part-time at SWERVE Fitness, a team-inspired spin studio, and as a business manager for a wellness coach. The most remarkable thing about all this: None of it would be true if it wasn’t for her 180-degree diet and fitness transformation.
“I think I was in denial for a long time that I had a problem, but I consistently gained weight for three years after undergraduate school. I finally realized I was really unhealthy and needed to do something about it,” says Melanie. “I honestly just couldn’t live the way I was living anymore.”
Since 2015, Mel has lost 175 pounds.
“She’s having so much fun,” says Roz, Melanie’s incredibly supportive mom who accompanied her to Bare Necessities for her transformation photo shoot. “Her weight was getting in the way of the life she wanted. The changes were all her idea—the surgery, what she ate, how she exercised—and she changed everything. It all went hand-in-hand, and she saw how much better she felt. It’s been inspiring to watch her.”
Here’s how Mel did it….