Flaunting bras in summer dresses

[PawneGoddess]

Is this a current trend? Over the last couple of weeks, I've seen dozens of women wearing dresses that show their bras. Not just straps but strapless or low-backed dresses with a giant M&S boulder holder with the straps, top of the front, and most of the back showing. Back in my day, I never saw anyone dressing like that. Has this become the new standard, or am I simply experiencing an odd fashion phenomenon?

I have a collection of pretty coloured bras in 40DD especially for the summer. I’m 58, shocking.

Strapless/backless bras don't exist in my size so yep, I'll show my bra straps
Don't tend to wear strapless dresses though
And I hate ones where the armpit holes are huge

It's still freezing. Where are you seeing these slappers with their bras out?! 😂

Why do women need two layers and some gross men are already wearing zero layers round my way?

Fucking horrible.

I don't think they are 'flaunting' but I think it looks horrible. Not shoulder straps but the back strap.

Good grief you can’t have been around in the 80s. “Flaunting” of bras was practically mandatory then. If you’re shocked by this you need to get out more.

You're getting jumped on OP, which is a bit unfair. It IS a big change, relatively recent, and seems to be accelerating. Besides, I love the word flaunting.

It's interesting to catch our own responses. I have two. One is the ingrained conditioning. Anything from recoil in horror to vague distate; it looks cheap, tacky, slovenly. But that's easy to catch, and to laugh at. It's not about anything real.

The other is about privacy and protectiveness. My underwear feels like a private thing, an intimate thing. I don't want it to be visible to all and sundry, casually, in public. So I dress to avoid that. It's about the boundaries between myself and the world. I'm not overly bothered by the odd reveal though.

If exposed bras become the habitual norm, then I suppose the private, intimate associations will eventually be lost.

I think the instances of bras being visible really started with Madonna (was it in the last century?). What has crept in over the years are dresses that either have less material or are thinner. Clothing quality in general has declined, fast fashion I blame in part.

Fashion is about trying to persuade you to spend money on clothes you don't really need.

No big deal but really embarrassing that people have got to adulthood and not figured out how clothes work. Pretty bra to be seen = fine. Ugly boulder holder seem = just badly dressed

I remember the fashion of wearing a different colour bra under a lace top 😁

Really? With the spring we've had I find that hard to believe, I'm still going out with my coat!

It's not their bodies, it's their bras. I think this looks rubbish in the same way that if you put your jumper on inside out or have your label sticking out it doesn't look great.

Come on! Flaunting may not be
the right word, but a thick strapped utilitarian bra on show isn’t great.

There's a reason it’s called underwear. Flaunting is a bit strong though but I don’t think seeing a large amount of someones greying 36c is a flattering look (we aren’t allowed to at work for instance).

But maybe I’ve just turned into my Mother.

If women don't wear bras they get judged, if they do and they show they get judged, if they cover up too much... if they wear too little....

It's all down to women having bodies and society feeling as though they can judge away.

It's a bra, it's not offensive, or weird, or rubbish, just a basic piece of clothing, which may, or may not be partially on show at any given point.

I might not have put it that way, OP, but you have a point. I’ve seen a standard shoulder strap bra worn under a halter neck dress, it looked awful.

Next there will be little socks so ankles are seen

Back in the late eighties/ early nineties I had a collection of bras for strapless dresses, halter necks etc.

I’m not too fussed about seeing a bra but a faded M&S standard bra with the washed out label showing isn’t a great look.

Rookie mistake with ‘flaunted’.

I have a teenage daughter and this is all the rage again.

If they made strappy tops with thicker straps you wouldn't see my bra straps. But as my boobs are too heavy and big for thin straps... tough..

Would never let the back of my bra be seen though. And generally, unless a very low back top, a decently fitting bra won't show anyway. God, I wish you could walk up to people a la tinny and susannah and sort their bras out.

I don't like seeing someone's underwear out in the wild

Bra straps peeping out, I can cope with (just... needs a strong gin) but half the bra looks yuck

I quite like a pretty bra strap on show, but I don't like it when the back is visible. I couldn't explain why though 😆

So you are saying that because it's a bra, it's political?
I can see your point, and nobody ever burned their inside-out-jumper for feminism, for sure.

Where in the UK has it been warm enough to wear strappy summer dresses? We hit a "tropcal" 16 degrees here today, and I'm still wearing jumpers.

That's not what I said.

I'm saying because it's a piece of clothing a woman wears it's just added to the long list of things we get judged on.

It's a piece of clothing that may sometimes be on show. It's really not a massive deal or even vaguely offensive.