Petra's Tuesday Traipse - Volume 3

Ok. I am a day late. It’s the holidays. Am I forgiven? Thanks, you are a lamb. A quick reminder of the ground rules here… Petra just mentions sites she had fun visiting, or bought something from, or thinks might be useful to you girls. Nothing in it for me. Now of course if some generous marketing VP should want to take pity on Petra and just shower me with goodies, well I promise to share nicely with my friends…..

Now …. shoes on? Hair just so? Lips glossed? Lets go! This will be a short trip. I’ll get you home before dark I promise…

This weeks theme is awfully important to the cross dresser. For me, the bra comes right after the hosiery when I think of things that put me in the pink fog. So here I present … classic Bra Brand sites. Not Boy Band sites (although I am sure that might appeal to some of you). So, what’s a classic Bra Brand? Well to me it’s a Bra that our moms or big sisters might have worn. Now, say Bra Brand five times fast, and get re-introduced (in alphabetical order) to Maidenform, Playtex and Wonderbra.

Maidenform – this venerable brand emerged from a West 57th Street dress shop in the 1920’s. I must say, she is maintaining nicely and looking good for a woman of a certain age. With age I suppose comes a little uncertainty about things that ought to be natural. The Maidenform site is not absolutely clear whether she wants to promote the brand, or whether she should be selling product directly to consumers online. So she winds up doing both just a little less well thenI am sure she wants to. As an example, the individual product listings do not allow for zoom, provide alternative views, or enable product reviews. Curious gals like me love a chance to see what the other girls think before we buy after all.

And it would be fine to be without all of those nice things if the site achieved other important things like reminding us just what is special about Maidenform, and the Maidenform Woman. Marketing types call this branding and branding does not really happen. “This feels right” does not have the oomph of the classic “ I dreamed I .. …. in my Maidenform bra”. Then, Maidenform.com does only a so-so job of helping the shopper figure out where to go shopping. You know, in a store. Where we can paw the merchandise and chat with a nice girl.

It’s a shame because I have loved the couple of Maidenform pieces I have bought over the years. I think the Flexees are the very best shapers on the market. And from a price perspective, Maidenform goes easy on a frugal girl on a budget. I just wish the site was a little sexier and showed just a bit more flirt, a bit more lift and some more of the sophistication that the Maidenform Woman has always been known for.

Playtex. Wow. What a site. Now, I don’t wear Playtex. I’m not saying I won’t (I do like a nice 3 row 3 column back closure), I just have not strapped myself into this brand before. So many bras, so little time.

But Playtex knows what she wants to say online, and says it with authority and with a lot of laughs on the way. I am confident I will be a customer soon. And the site has a lot to do with that.

This site is intended to support the brand just the way the 18 Hour Bra is meant to support the girls. Fully. Lots of fun, loads of video, and the bra is not the hero. The boobs are the heros! Hooray Boobs! Women talk about their “girls” in a fun way here. All the TV spots are featured. Out-takes too! I mean it’s a total hoot (and again, absolutely no pun intended).

There’s loads of interaction too. You can crop a picture of yourself onto a dancing, shirtless, happy Playtex-wearing real girl. Enter contests, find out where a fitting clinic is happening. Nothing but fun. Now, Playtex as a brand says comfort. And that’s what the experience is on site. This is not typical lingerie soft-porn. Its Playtex, so don’t expect a visual delight. Just an experience with real fidelity to the brand. And once you are reminded of what the brand is all about, and are ready to shop, the site will steer you to the nearest store or to 15-20 sites that sell the line on-line. This is a superb site, and hats off to Playtex for reinventing themselves for an online generation.

Lastly, Wonderbra. Now admittedly this is a younger brand. No really big makeover required here. And Wonderbra, like Playtex is out to support the brand and drive shoppers either to approved online merchants or to a nearby store. Well, hello boys, you just don’t do it as nicely as the Playtex girls.

Nice photography. The models look younger and fresher and closer to the targeted consumer. The models in fact look very much like I would like to look. Alas. The models however, coupled with the slightly funky navigation make it tough to figure out exactly what the product looks like.

Have some fun on the site with Ivana, the stern faced Fit Mistress. She is your fitting room nightmare. A complete cold shower. There is some nice interactivity too – you can put yourself in a nice online scandal that involves a Wonderbra. Altogether, the Wonderbra site is stylish and a maybe just a little impractical. So, I guess we can say that the site reflects the brand nicely.

In any event, it would do you well to visit all of these sites, and to get on the email list. Coupons and other goodies will come your way. Now, go shopping ladies! I suspect its up to the Cross Dressing community to pull the economy out of the gutter.

Know a site you love? Want to share? Let me know! Happy dressing and happy surfing - Petra

Mad Men & Wired Women

Well my shapely friends, you know it seems I am thinking an awful lot about the under things, the foundation garments, the lingerie of late. My prior post about Vintage Lingerie and my friend at Slip of a Girl have got me dreaming of a past I feel a little cheated out of.

Don’t get me wrong, I am happier being a cross dresser in this relatively accepting era than I might have been in the 50’s. And you have to admit that today, cross dressers and genetic girls alike have relatively easy access to genuine vintage fashion (under and outer layers) as well as newly made knock-offs online. And the more I look around the more it occurs to me that I am far, far from alone in my love for these garments.

Go ahead and see for yourself. Google up “vintage lingerie”, or browse around eBay. You might think that half the world is wriggling into a nice open bottom girdle and straightening out the seams of their full fashioned stockings.

As far as more everyday media references go, the television show Mad Men has been the runaway critical and popular hit of the last couple of seasons. Yes, I am persuaded that really good story lines, expert set decoration and a sensitive, subtle examination of the moral ambiguity of Madison Avenue all have something to do with all that. But I swear on my patent Mary Janes that the success of the show more to do with the bullet bras on breathtaking Joan Holloway and the basques on pretty Betty Draper than any of all that.

I spent a little time last night reviewing a discussion thread on Crossdresserclub.com about favorite times in history to be dressed. Hands down, 50's (and early 60's) is the favorite. And for me, all of this is all true and delightful. But the question remains, why? What is the hold that these looks have on us?

Is it pure nostalgia? Or is there something in the restricting materials and the complex fasteners that has intrinsic appeal? And why, o why did a generation throw it all away?

Timing is everything they say. I am not old enough to have been at Woodstock. Nor am I young enough to have been conceived there. By the time I was unbuttoning blouses, fondling flesh and (when no one was looking), fastening a bra on myself for my own private fun, bras were at their worst. Formless triangles built to contain rather than enhance and display the beautiful fruit within. Panties were not much better. Cottony hipsters stripped of lace and conducting none of the warm human electricity that silks and satins do. The Maidenform Woman was nowhere to be seen. 18 Hour Support gave way to 24/7 bounce. Garter belts to pantyhose. Romance gave away to free love.

Liberation was the paramount cultural ideal of the time. And the liberation of the dresser drawers of the nation followed. All progress comes at a price I suppose. But my, what a price.

When did the dark night start ending for you? To me, the late 70’s and early 80’s post-punk fashion sensibility helped things along. Pioneers like Siouxsie Sioux and Debby Harry paved the way for Madonna’s inner-wear as outer-wear displays of the early 90’s. Fishnet stockings, stiletto heels and corsets hit the nightclubs, and sometimes came home with me. Delicious and confounding stuff. I was always stuck between leaving my new friend dressed to be admired, ripping things off in an animal fit, or peeling things gently away hoping to find a way for me to wind up dressed and caressed. I sometimes missed all 3.

In 1994 Eva Herzigova said “hello boys” and re-inflated the long limp Wonderbra brand. The battle for the bust was fully engaged. And way, way out in the open. Not long after Intimate Brands did a public offering and Victoria’s Secret went from a specialty catalog to a retail juggernaut (absolutely no pun intended). And whatever was in the milk or the tap water caused average adolescent cup sizes to swell to epic proportions. Surely I would not have graduated high school had I been there at the turn of our new millennium.

Today, there is more lace. There is more lift. There are more clasps and ribbons and bows. There is more silk and sizzle. And there is a lot more romance. I think all of us are a little better off. Even when we are just admiring ourselves.

How about you? Do you have a favorite vintage piece? Does another era stand out in your fantasies? Where do you go to shop back in time? Do you have a theroy about how we lost our way, and a suggestion about how to ensure that future generations enjoy what we nearly lost? Please leave a comment here, or drop Petra a line anytime.

Happy Dressing, whatever decade you are in…