Category: Personal Style

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Personal Style Power Figures

Rosie Pope on Being a Mompreneur

You may recognize Rosie Pope from her 2011 Bravo reality TV show Pregnant in Heels (baby bump + stilettos = reason enough to qualify as a Power Figure in our book), but she’s been making a name for herself in the super-competitive parenting space since before her first son was born in 2008. Now a mom of four, she runs RosiePope.com, an empire that includes maternity, nursing and baby clothes and accessories, bi-coastal MomPrep classes, an NYC-based parenting concierge service, 3 boutiques and a column in Parents magazine.

To celebrate the debut of her chic, affordable new line of nursing bras on barenecessities.com, we picked Rosie’s brain for insights into her mastery of running a business while running on caffeine, reframing the notion of balance and what really matters when bringing up a baby.

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Personal Style Pop Culture

What’s Your Sign? A Horoscope for Your Bra Drawer

While we may not have a crystal ball with which to predict the future, we can tell you how your love for your lingerie is written in the stars. And really, isn’t that a lifelong love affair? So grab your coffee, cozy up and find out exactly what bra style your astrological sign says you should be wearing.

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Meet the Merchants Personal Style

2016 Fall Fashion Trends and Stylish Bra Pairings

Welcome to fall, that narrow window of perfect weather in which you’re desperately waiting for the temperature to dip juuust low enough so you can wear your cutest ankle boots and leather jacket on the reg. Here’s a controversial statement, but autumn is undoubtedly the best fashion season—reference the encyclopedia-thick September issue of any fashion magazine if you need proof.

We spoke with Jess Kirby, style expert at the highly regarded fashion blog Prosecco & Plaid, and Bare Necessities premium bra buyer Heather Viskovic to get the scoop on the latest and greatest. They’re in total agreement: To ensure you rock Fall 2016’s coolest seasonal fashion trends with confidence, start at base level with the proper undergarments. Jess and Heather reviewed all the major fashion trends and named the best bra to match with each clothing style.

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Bra Fit Experts Personal Style

Uplifting the Next Generation: What Nobody Ever Tells You About How to Find a Bra That Fits

Even in the Information Age, there persists this vicious cycle of misinformation that starts with your first department store bra-shopping experience in adolescence and continues when we take our daughters to buy their own first bras. How is it that so many of us still rely on salesclerks for this right of passage, setting us up for failure as we grow up?

We spoke to Bra Fit Expert Cristal Xavier-Cohen about doing better by ourselves and by our daughters. Her experience on both sides—as a young woman who took the salesperson’s suggested size as a fixed truth, and the trained Bra Fit Expert who has since learned otherwise—illuminates the way forward. We’re setting the record straight for all ages, because it’s never too late to get a bra that fits.

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Behind the Seams Confessions Personal Style

Top 10 Model Confessions with Alex Hanson

Many a lingerie model comes through our front door and heads into the photo studio at Bare Necessities—simply another day at the office for Ashley Graham, Kate Upton, Ebonee Davis, Candice Swanepoel, Nina Agdal and more who got their start here over the years. 

This is Model Confessions, our new series about what it’s really like to be a lingerie model, from the full-on fabulous to the decidedly less so. Because one way of empowering women is by ensuring they’re seen and heard.

Meet Alexandria Hanson. She’s originally from the small town of Stillwater, Minnesota, “where there was nothing going on for me. I knew there was more to learn out there, but I’m not one to be told what to do while sitting at a desk.” From the hair and makeup chair at her latest shoot (full-bust bras, for the record), Alex got candid with us: “My childhood was a lot of ups and downs. I grew up fast, I fought with my mother and refused to listen to reason. My teenage years were full of puppy love, pointless drama and attitude. I was always sneaking out of the house. Looking back, I’m surprised with what my parents put up with. I had to strike out on my own to heal those relationships. Now, my mom is my best friend.”

Whip-smart and sweet, cool, calm and collected at only 23, Alex has also modeled for Kohls and appeared in a Colgate commercial. A career highlight: her Sports Illustrated ad for Dodge Ram trucks. Her secret talent is painting, she played some serious soccer in high school, her pet peeve is people showing up late and she’s learned a whole lot about life through her adventures in modeling…

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Personal Style

Introducing Contemporary Fashion Lingerie: Indie and Trendy Lingerie That’s Beautiful, Never Boring

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who wear underwear because that’s what grown-ups do, and lingerie lovers. We’ve got both covered, but the latter group is about to be floored by our new Contemporary department.

Fall fashion, meet underwear drawer.

“This category revolves around ready-to-wear trends and stars incredible fabrics and details. It’s about looking and feeling your most fabulous all the time,” says buyer Krista Molinaro. “I’m excited because we’re focusing more than we ever have before on fashion lingerie. It has an edge. It’s fun to shop for. We can and should be the destination for women who are crazy about exquisitely beautiful underthings.”

That is to say, not your basic T-shirt bras. We’re talking the indie rock bands of the lingerie world. They’re cool and sleek and sensuous, skewing au naturel (some veering off a bit into naughty territory). Most are designed for cup sizes A to D. They’re meant to be secretly appreciated under your on fleek outfit or seen by whomever you choose to show ’em off to.

Trendy lingerie brands include the freshest cuts from familiar favorites DKNY, Calvin Klein, Hanky Panky and B.Tempt’d and newly beloved cult favorite indie lingerie labels like For Love & Lemons, Else, Only Hearts, Elle Macpherson Body, Heidi Klum Intimates, Unveiled, Marlies Dekkers, Mimi Holliday and Contradiction. Here’s what else you can expect fresh from the Runway Report, our new contemporary fashion lingerie department:

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Bra Fit Experts Personal Style Pop Culture

Top 5 Big Boob Problems and How to Solve Them

The struggle is real, especially in the summer, if you have big boobs. Or, you know, any boobs. We asked our resident fairy godmother, lead Bra Fit Expert Mette Iacouvou (a size 34I, for the record), to divulge her smartest bra solves for even the stickiest of situations. 

1. Two words: UNDERBOOB SWEAT. How to manage sweaty boobs:

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Inner Beauty Personal Style

Risqué Lingerie: Summertime Sexiness

Whether you feel hot and/or bothered, summer’s heat encourages disrobing. So how to be sexy when it’s sweltering out? We had an R-rated conversation with Krista Molinaro, our sexy lingerie buyer here at Bare Necessities, to get some advice on more risqué lingerie.

“Ever since the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy came out a few years ago, sexy has been booming,” Krista says of the series that cast a new light on the dark art of seduction. That said, showing off your sexy side will always be important—humankind depends on it! Here’s the happy twist: Coy and coquettish to brazenly risqué lingerie, it’s all about what you find sexy. “We’re just here to help make it happen,” Krista says.

Less is definitely more, she advises. In the heat, you really want to wear as close to nothing as you can. Read on for her take on how to conjure up your seductive side in more risqué lingerie. (Fair warning, links definitely NSFW.)

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Inner Beauty Personal Style Power Figures

Plus-Size Style Inspiration from Body Advocate Alissa Wilson

We first met Alissa Wilson at Bare Necessities back in February when she stopped by to cover the launch of Ashley Graham’s lingerie collection, and we were instantly smitten kittens. Undaunted by the slush and cold, she turned up in red suede heels and leather pants. Personal style? Check. Knowing thyself? Check. Confidence, chutzpah and charisma? Triple-check. 

Alissa is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of Stylish Curves, a blog that aims every day to “bridge the gap between straight and plus sizes by showing plus-size curvy women that they can dress just a fabulous as straight-size women do. We live in a world that wants plus-size women to be unhappy with their bodies, and Stylish Curves believes that every woman should learn to appreciate and love their bodies no matter their size.” Um, yes.

Alissa always dreamed of a career as a fashion writer and, as a plus-size woman, she knows how hard it can be for anyone north of a size 14 to find chic clothing. Initially, she started the blog as a shopping resource to help others see where they could get the latest trends and celebrity styles in their size. “I’m happy with my body,” she has said. “It’s others who are not.” With a background in finance and retail, she’s uniquely positioned to make heads or tails of the fashion industry which, at times, can be confoundingly slow to stay in step with reality. That’s why she’s worked on branding campaigns with JCPenney and gotten noticed by Essence, Glamour…and Bare Necessities.

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Behind the Seams Inner Beauty Personal Style

2016 Summer Games: For Women, The Sky’s The Limit

Determination.

Courage.

Grit.

Grace.

Athletic prowess aside, this is what’s really at the heart of every Olympian.

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Inner Beauty Personal Style Swimwear

One-Piece Wonder: How I Stopped Chasing a Bikini Body and Finally Felt Great in One-Piece Swimsuits


I remember the last time I looked good in a bikini. It was a tiny string number—pink with multicolored polka dots—and all eyes were on me.

I was 3 years old.

Since then, I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with swimwear. (I did wear a bikini twice on spring break my junior year of college: My Puerto Rican besties are the most beautiful and body positive girls on the island and, if only for a week, I drank their Kool-Aid while we frolicked in the Caribbean surf.)

Truthfully, no part of swimsuit season has ever been easy for me.

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Inner Beauty Personal Style Swimwear

Cool Mom Bathing Suits: The Best Swimsuits for Moms

In this era of democratic fashion, no one needs to settle for mom jeans or sensible shoes and, for the record, the same holds true for swimsuits for moms. Just because someone calls you “Mommy” doesn’t mean you have to banish “bikini” from your vocabulary. Brooke here, editor of Bare it All, and I speak from personal experience. Let me assure you, it’s possible to look like the cool mom you are, even in a swimsuit.

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