Happy Birthday Bra: What Was Your "First Time" Like?

May 26, 2010

One hundred years ago 19-year-old socialite Mary Phelps Jacobs tied two silk handkerchiefs together to make the modern bra. If it weren't for her, our memories of buying our first bra, a venerable right of passage for any girl, might be replaced by the even more traumatic experience of trying on our first corset. No thank you!

In honor of the undergarment's centennial birthday I want to know: do you recall getting your first bra? Was it totally embarrassing, sort of exciting, or both?

21 Comments

2 years 37 weeks

I kind of asked my mom for a bra without asking.... I wore those crop tops before and I wore them everywhere. But one day, lo and behold, my cleaner had lost them! So I texted my mom and said "my crop tops have disappeared" she replied saying what type do you want and you should come with me So when she came back I went with her and got my first bra! I didn't really need it, 32AA, but I was elated!

2 years 45 weeks

My first time wearing a bra? I had been wondering about it for a while. My sister had been wearing them for at least a year and I so much wanted to have her figure. I started trying hers on when no one was home and would wear it as often as I could. I even finally got the nerve to wear it to school on days I didn't have gym. It really made me realize that I should have been born a girl,

2 years 45 weeks

I was so happy the first time I wore a bra. I think I was in 6th grade and my sister had been wearing a bra for a couple of years and I so much wanted to have her figure. I started wearing her bra every chance I could get and even wore it to school. I knew that I should have been born a girl because it made everything about me seem right.

lilkimbo 2 years 51 weeks

I was in fourth grade and my mom took me to Kaufman's to get my first bras. I actually remember it pretty well. I skipped right past training bras and went to "real" bras. We first started changing for gym when I was in 4th grade. There was a divide between the few girls who wore bras and the rest of the girls, most of whom didn't. Oh, elementary school.

runningesq 2 years 51 weeks

I wanted a bra so badly, even though I didn't need one ! I had the camisole/ half undershirt type of "bra." I thought it was awesome.

dexaholic 2 years 51 weeks

I got my first bra in grade six. I think it was my step dad that suggested to my mom that I should get one... so that was/is a little off-putting. I remember being embarrassed about wearing one, because I was one of the first in my class. My best friend and I sat around one day talking about all the girls in the class and saying who should be wearing bras and who doesn't need them. The funny thing is that all through high school my mom and sister would make fun of my lack of breasts... I guess I developed early then stopped. It wasn't until I started the pill that I developed the girls I have today!

leeluvfashion 2 years 51 weeks

My mother took me to get my first training bra. Overall the experience was not "bad" however I could not figure out why I need something to cover/lift the nothing that was there,lol. Also I was not a fan of having a band put pressure on my rib cage so I complained about the comfortability. Then a year or two later my mom bought me a "real" bra though the fit was not quite right ( there was more space than boob. :rotfl: ) Finally I moved on to choosing my own and actually enjoying wearing a bra.

Skeeve 2 years 51 weeks

Well, other than observing that you need to check your history as to the inventor of the bra [hint: visit Chinese history over 1000 years ago], I have to reserve comment, since a cross-dresser I'll never be! Love you ladies tho', & sympathize; wish I could invent a bra for you that was comfortable as the day is long, and sheer as smoke on the breeze!

2 years 51 weeks

I remember after getting mine I was so excited that my parents made me call my grandmother and tell her that I got one. She couldn't understand me at all so I had to spell it out to her. I also remember wondering why there was no "l" in the word when dad spelled it out to me. "brall"

boredgourdless 2 years 51 weeks

My mom also bought me training bras and left them in my room. My mom is also a breast cancer survivor, who wears a prosthetic breast insert in her bra. I used to stuff her spares in my training bra and saunter around the house. What a maroon I was!

MissSushi 2 years 51 weeks

I just had my mom pick me one up, at her insistance, and i hardly wore it. Looking back, i REALLY needed to be wearing one, lol, but it was so damn uncomfortable and really depressing. first maxi pads and now a bra? life of torture, for sure ;)

RoaringSilence 2 years 51 weeks

I was embarrassed, and I wished I didn't have to buy one. I was the first one of my friends to need one, which made it worse. I went with my mom and hated every minute of it.

postmodernsleaze 2 years 51 weeks

I was terribly embarrassed to ask for one. I wish my mom did the whole "I just grabbed this on my way home, start wearing it." But my parents were divorced, I lived with my dad, and barely saw my mom. I didn't want to ask my dad though. So I waited until I was with my mom and I just kind of blurted out at a Walmart that I wanted to look at bras. I felt so mortified doing that. I never had a girly-girl relationship with my mom, so I just felt super awkward. xgreenfairyx, I want to know your story as well!

bryseana 2 years 51 weeks

What happened xgreenfairyx? I'm intrigued. I didn't start wearing a bra until I was in college (18 years old). ha I was a bit of a hippie - no bra, no makeup, etc... The first one I bought was some boring white bra from Walmart. Now I love VS and other similar brands.

Gdeeaz 2 years 51 weeks

My first bra experience was fine, nothing embarrassing. My mom worked in the lingerie department at Nordstrom while in college so when it came time for me to start wearing bras she already had it handled.

Venus1 2 years 51 weeks

....and hated not reading and spell checking first!

Venus1 2 years 51 weeks

Hated my first bra. A little ironic as I had nagged fr it so much.

turtleshell 2 years 51 weeks

Everything involving my first few bras were very awkward for me. I remember my mom bought a couple training bras and and just left them on my bed. I thought they were uncomfortable and unnecessary. A few years later, maybe around grade seven or eight, I was definately in need of a bra but did not know how to bring this subject up with my mother. I lived a very sheltered life and would not have been allowed to go shopping on my own for anything, nor would I have had the confidence to purchase a bra at the time. Thankfully my school uniform included a big blazer that essentially hid my breasts... eventually my mom did the same thing she did before - bought a bra, left it on my bed... And then I finally could wear one. I ended up with a couple which I really wore out because it took me forever to get the self confidence to go bra shopping. Now I love buying bras! Wow, adolescence was awkward for me.

ManiMartinixo 2 years 51 weeks

My mom just kind of brought it home and said i needed to start wearing it all he time.

psychobabble 2 years 51 weeks

I remember my mom taking me to get a training bra (like a loose cotton sports bra). I had absolutely no idea why I should ever wear something so silly and was quite upset about having something squeezing my rib cage. I remember throwing a fit about how I couldn't breathe in it!

xgreenfairyx 2 years 51 weeks

My first bra experience? Humiliating. And not the 'ha ha, remember that' kind of humiliating. It was the 'left me with unresolved psychological damage' kind.

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21 Comments

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