This Is the Prettiest, Least Maternity-ish Bra for Big Boobs We've Ever Tried

Besides complaining, one of my secondary favorite pastimes is kvetching about the state of my boobs on the internet. Of this category of whinging on, "why don't they make nice bras for women with larger busts?" tops the rest as Chief Grievance, because, really—why don't they?

After several professional fittings that ended with me being harnessed into no-flesh-left-bare, granny-ish Ace bandages with cups the size of boat sails, I did the unadvisable...and went right on wearing a mesh balconette bought before I discovered I am a freak of nature. (Nothing makes one feel more like a mutant than being made to try on *every* style a brand makes because "you're a unicorn.") I get the rational—more mammary, more tissue to keep caged in underwire—but holy hell: At this day and age, can't we do it in a way that's not so oppressive? Or disheartening?

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Then Lonely Label's Cyd bra came across my desk. (You might know them as the New Zealand brand behind that genius unretouched campaign featuring Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke.) Hallelujah! Loopy, stretchy lace. A sizable gore that always lays flat, even with a body chain under it. Underwire that slopes high-ish up the sides for reining things in, shall we say. And the coverage level—just enough free-boob at the top for the psychologically comforting illusion of youth and glamour.