Have you bought anything from Ann Summers? What products would you recommend?

[TinaMumsnet]

Hi everyone,

We're looking to gauge general interest in Ann Summers and would love to hear about the products you've tried, thoroughly tested and would recommend to others.

The brand have also expanded their collection to include a maternity and nursing range, so we'd love to hear your thoughts on this too. Are there any pieces you think would be particularly good for expectant/new mums?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Style & Beauty?!

FFS. Move this over to the Sex topic where all the resident wankers can give you better advice.

Really disappointed in you MNHQ. Are you just taking money from anyone these days?

As an older woman who had children years ago I looked with interest at wat was on offer in their maternity range compared with what I was offered years ago. I tremember crying when I looked for underwear and fond it was all white, huge and unattractive. You couldn't even get black underwear in maternity and nursing styles then. There were some comfy looking black lace shorts and a black lace bra on the ad display that popped up for me. I thought they looked quite nice, and my thoughts were that I wish I could have bought that type of underwear when I needed it,.
The shop assistants in Ann Summers are always lovely and helpful (when they are open) so it would be a pleasant environment to buy from if you needed advice about sizes etc.
I've got a couple of Ann Summers sets of underwear, in fact I'm wearing one today. I was surprised that they were so well made and the bras asre very supportive and flattering ( i don't like padding but do want underwires) If you are already an Ann Summers customer and you need maternity stuff I think this might go down very well, if not i thought it was worth a look.

FFS. Move this over to the Sex topic where all the resident wankers can give you better advice

That's where it was originally. All the posters said the same things we have said here, and mumsnet agreed it was bad taste and removed the thread. Now they have started a new one here.

I've always had a bit of respect for Anne Summers because as an older teen / early twenties, they were practically the only place I could buy bras to fit me without going into serious debt (I was a size 30G. Well, I wasn't but that was the "wrong" size I bought). I could actually walk along to the shop on my lunch break at work and buy decent bras IN STOCK that were the same price as the 32Bs and 34Cs.

So while people are quick to bash them for maternity / pregnancy ranges... we should remember they were one of the ONLY shops who catered to women of rarer sizes before it became a thing. And I'm really grateful to them for that.

(Yes I've always been aware of bravissimo... 10 years ago they were mostly ugly and expensive and any time I did venture in, there was maybe one or two bras in rubbish styles in stock).

I did a boob or bust thing a few years ago and found out I'm actually a 26H, so it's £100 a pop on bras for me now, but I still order pyjamas from Anne Summers occasionally and they wash fine for the price.

Also....

I'm well past the nursing stage now but just having a look and I actually think their range is quite nice. I don't see how adding some lace to a nursing bra is pandering to the male gaze. I like lacy underwear, especially bralettes, and I'm single.

A quick search on 32H brings up 5 choices from Anne Summers in pretty designs for £18-26.

I remember having to go to M&S to get my size... and I see their range is just as pathetic looking as it was back then. A plain black ugly as sin number for £20.

So I admire them for still being one of the few places who caters to small-back big-boobed women, and gives them options and choices at affordable prices.

Oh thank god you put cock rings in the Maternity section too. It's probably really difficult for those poor men to stay hard when they have to go near those gross, disgusting post-pregnancy bodies.

Oh how disgusting 😷

I'm very curious about all this. Love Honey threads appear on Mumsnet regularly. They are disguised as chat threads but from the outside they seem to be endorsement/advertising threads which for some reason are not treated in the same way as other advertising threads. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but they aren't flagged as "sponsored by Love Honey" either.

Anyway, Tina, is Ann Summers going to become another brand that can advertise on MN in an indirect way like Love Honey? Which other brands do the same?

Came for the comments. Not disappointed.

I'd be embarrassed to be seen in their shops due to their cheap and tacky image. Agent Provocateur on the other hand could tempt me...

@Snog in all fairness though, the first four prices for bras on APs website are £155, £85, £525 and £95.

So yes AS are cheap in comparison... but some people need cheap options? I don't think I could justify spending £170 on two nursing bras used for 3 months.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record on the sizing issue... their 6 G cup styles all look like something my great-granny would wear.

So as much as it may be embarrassing to be seen in their stores, they're still one of the only places who were offering large cup sizes in standard and popular styles at affordable prices, and some people sadly have no other choice.

My boobs defeat the underwire in Ann summers bras in a matter of weeks. Pretty colours though.

@winched Agent Provocateur don't sell nursing bras though. I bought my nursing bras at John Lewis where they were good quality and affordable.

Agent Provocateur is too expensive for me but it looks like the quality and design are good. I would be happy to go into their shops and to be seen coming out of them. Ann Summers shops no way though, seems like flicking through the mags on the top shelf of the newsagent.

@StillWeRise

this just feeds into the narrative of 'getting back to normal' 'keeping him interested' 'be a wife, not just a mum' ...as if being fuckable should be top of your list post partum. I hate to mention it but it is also top of some men's list too and this just normalises that attitude.

Hear hear.

MNHQ, read the room, for the love of God.

It's all tacky ,yet overpriced, shit.

Style and Beauty MNHQ??
Sexy synthetic lingerie for those post partum weeks? Months?
Hahahahaha

Oh dear. I failed to read it was about a maternity range. Who on earth thought that up? This is in incredibly poor taste. MN what are you thinking?!

I had enough thrush throughout pregnancy and post partum without adding synthetic lace knickers into the mix!

This is a joke, right?

Ann Summers have a range for pregnant and breastfeeding women?!?!?!?! Yeah, cos when you're nine months pg you just can't get enough of sex, and when you've just given birth and you feel as if you've been hit by a juggernaut and you're bleeding and your boobs are enormous with milk and all you want to do is....shag....yeah, right.

🙄

Wind up surely? So which bit of market research led to the conclusion that pregnant women want to wear lace thongs and the likes? When you've just had a baby, possibly torn down below, sexy knickers are further down the list of priorities. I was wearing post op underwear at that point! A year later and the pregnancy gained weight was nearly off, then I might have contemplated Ann summers underwear. However, Ann Summers lingerie was always over priced and the quality poor, so I wouldn't have bought their products regardless.

I like nice underwear and there is an Anne Summers in both the city I shop in and the out of town shopping centre I shop in but I have never been in either. It's not on my radar and I associate it with scratchy bras and also MLM.

Maternity pads and teeny white thongs? Bloody hell.

Funny, I didn't know Ann Summers was an MLM until this thread

Really? ‘Ann Summers parties’ have been a thing for decades!

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda

Really? ‘Ann Summers parties’ have been a thing for decades!

Sure, but your standard aloe vera/Arbonne/Forever Living/whatever doesn’t usually also have a significant high street presence featuring pouting models in scratchy lace scanties.