List of bra designs

List of bra design terms

Shape

• Backless: Suitable for bare-shoulder outer garments like a backless evening gown that exposes the back.
• Balconette: The cup cut is horizontal which creates a lift upward, like a balcony, but not inward. Sometimes known as a shelf bra. One source equates them to a balcony bra. Lifts the breasts to enhance their appearance, shape, and cleavage. The name means "little balcony" which refers to the horizontal cut; it is also claimed, less plausibly, that the name comes from the notion that the bra is not visible from above, as when looking down from a balcony. First designed in the United States in about 1938, and came into mainstream fashion in the 1950s.
• Balcony: Similar to a balconette or demi-cup bra, but the sides are higher and the front is lower exposing more cleavage.
• Bandeau: A simple band of material, usually stretchy, that is worn across the breasts. Suitable for small busts, they sometimes have built-in cups, but provide little support or shaping. A band of cloth can sometimes be used to bind the breasts in place.
• File:Black Bralette.jpg|thumb|Bralette topBralette: A lightweight, simple design, usually an unlined, soft-cup pullover style bra. The breasts are covered but the bra offers little, if any, real support and is suitable for small busts. Sometimes sold built into a camisole. This style is often used by preadolescent girls as a training bra to conceal the developing nipples and breasts. Similar to bandeau.
• Bullet: A full-support bra with cups in the shape of a paraboloid with its axis perpendicular to the breast. The bullet bra usually features concentric circles or spirals of decorative stitching centered on the nipples, exaggerating the breasts. Invented in the 1940s, they were fashionable in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, before softer, more natural-looking bras became fashionable again. They were associated with "sweater girl" pin-ups. In 1990, Madonna revivified interest in the bullet bra when she wore one in a costume designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. Vintage lingerie company What Katie Did was the first company to put the bullet bra back into production in 1999.
• Contour: Sometimes referred to as a molded or molded-cup bra, except the contour bra will generally have an underwire not always seen in the molded bra. Contour bras have seamless, pre-formed cups containing a foam or other lining that helps define and hold the cup's shape, even when not being worn. May be available as full-cup, demi-cup, push-up, or in other styles. Can be useful when a women's breasts are asymmetrical Also see T-shirt bra.
• Convertible: The bra straps can be detached and rearranged in different ways depending on the outer garment. Alternative strap arrangements include traditional over-the-shoulder, criss-cross, halter, strapless and one-shoulder.
• Cupless: See Shelf bra.
• Demi-cup: Sometimes referred to as a half- or shelf bra. A partial-cup bra style that covers from half to three-quarters of the breast and creates cleavage and uplift. Most demi-cup bras are designed with a slight tilt that pushes the breasts toward the center to display more cleavage. The straps usually attach at the outer edge of the cup. The lingerie industry generally defines a demi-cup bra as covering about above the nipple. The underwire used is shorter and forms a shallower "U" shape under the cup. Suitable for low-cut outer garments. Compare to full-cup and balconette bra.
• Half-: See Demi-cup above.
• Half-cup: See Demi-cup above.
• Halter: The straps lead up the front of the chest and connect up around the back of the neck making them perfect for backless or halter-type dresses. Some halter bras are also convertible bras.
• Long-line: Extends from the bosom to the waist, offering additional abdominal control and smoothing of the woman's torso. Distributes support over the entire lower torso instead of at bust level as with narrow-band bras.
• Minimizer: Designed to de-emphasize the bosom, it compresses and flattens the breasts.
• Molded: Often compared to a contour bra. The cups are pre-shaped without seams providing a natural, smooth, rounded look under tight fitting clothing. Some are unpadded and may not include an underwire.
• Multiway: see convertible bra.
• Nude: When defining a style, see Adhesive bra below. When defining a color, it uses material that matched the skin-tone of the woman.
• Open-cup: See Shelf bra.
• Peek-a-boo: Intended for romantic occasions, this bra type has cups that can be opened. The cups are made of two parts held together by tied ribbons.
• Plunge: Sometimes known as U-plunge bra if they are particularly plunging with a distinct u-shaped opening between the breasts. Allows for lower cleavage. Designed with angled cups and an open and lowered center gore. The shoulder straps are usually set widely apart. Suitable for dresses or outfits with a deep décolleté or plunging neckline, like a blouse or dress. Also suitable for swimwear, even for women with fuller breasts. Unlike push-up bras, plunge bras are not generally as heavily padded, as many women with larger breasts wear them.
• Push-up: A fashion bra that creates the appearance of increased cleavage. Uses angled cups containing padding that pushes the breasts inward and upward, toward the center of the chest. A push-up bra is usually a demi-cup bra. The first push-up bra was patented by Marie Tucek in 1893 in response to a fashion for the Empire silhouette. The design was later popularized by the introduction of a push-up Wonderbra in the 1960s.
• Quarter-cup: See Shelf bra.
• Racerback: Designed with shoulder straps that form a "V" or "T" pattern between the shoulder blades. Suitable for outerwear like tank tops that would expose traditional over-the-shoulder straps. Provides extra support and can be used when traditional straps tend to fall off the woman. Many sports bras use a racerback design to improve support and reduce bounce.
• Shelf: Sometimes referred to as a cupless, open-cup, half-, or even quarter-cup bra. An underwire fashion design that offers minimal breast coverage, supporting only a portion of the underside of the breast, pushing the breast upward, and leaving the nipple and areola uncovered. Suitable for erotic purposes or when a woman would otherwise want to go braless. The exposed nipple may be detectable beneath an outer garment. Built-in bras are sometimes referred to as shelf bras, or integrate a shelf bra into the material.
• Shutter: dating to, with cups that had flaps or lace cuffs at the top. The bra was designed to be partially visible above the neckline of a gown and could be adjusted to vary the amount of cleavage exposed. These bras were often front-fastening.
• Spacer: Similar to a T-shirt bra, but it includes a breathable foam fabric in the cup reducing sweat inside the cups.
• Stick-on: See Adhesive bra below.
• Strapless: A fashion bra that relies on an extra-wide band for breast support. Achieve their strength through a longer underwire that encompasses more of the breast, and cups with added padding, boning, and shaping panels. Suitable for bare-shoulder outer garments like a strapless evening gown that exposes the shoulders and chest, as low as the tops of the areola. Some convertible bras allow straps to be removed, making a strapless bra. It may have rubberized or silicone beading inside the top edge of the cup to help keep the bra attached to the breast. alternative when an outfit would otherwise prevent a bra being worn.
• T-shirt: Designed without raised seams, hooks, or other construction that can be seen under an outer garment. A contoured style that fits the breasts smoothly under tightly fitting T-shirts, sweaters, light-weight knitted fabric, or clingy tops with minimal visibility. The cups may be lined with foam or lightly padded with polyfill to help conceal the nipples. Also see Contour bra, above.
• Training: Designed to help conceal adolescent emerging breasts. As a girl's breasts grow larger, usually around Tanner stage III, this style includes regular bras in smaller styles, from 30AAA to 32B. Most styles are a soft-cup, lightweight, unlined design. Some styles are padded to hide the girl's developing breast buds or to increase the perceived size of the girl's breasts. For standard sized bras, see Bralette, above. For athletic-type bras, see sports bra.
• Whirlpool Bra: A predecessor to the later bullet bras, the "Whirlpool stitching" technique—which used concentric rings of stitches in order to encourage a rounded shape—was patented in 1933 by Joseph R Bowen for Hollywood-Maxwell.

  Construction and size

• Adhesive: Sometimes described as backless/strapless or a stick-on bra. Usually made of silicone, polyurethane, or similar material, they are attached to the underside of the breasts using medical-grade adhesive. Some versions provide one piece for each breast. May be reused for a limited number of times and provides little support. Suitable for backless and strapless outerwear where a strapless bra is not possible or preferred, or as an alternative to going completely braless.
• Air: See Water bras below.
• Big cup: Contrary to common belief, big cup and plus size are not synonymous. Plus size bras refer to the band size that is related to the body weight to body height ratio. Big cup refers only to a large breast size on a body that may be slim. Equating big cup with plus size is therefore misleading.
• Built-in: Sometimes referred to as a "shelf bra", although completely unlike the Shelf bra described above. Contained within or as an integral part of an outer garment like a chemise, swimsuit or tank top. Some built-in bras are detachable. Built-in bras vary in their construction and support ability. Some are bandeau-like which offer limited support. The more advanced built-in bras are effectively real bras with padding and underwire with a full-fledged support ability, these are mainly intended for larger bust that require sturdier support.
• Front-closure: Bras with a single, non-adjustable clasp positioned in the center front gore between the breasts. Full-coverage cups usually have hook-and-eye instead of clasps. This is especially popular for big cup front-closure bras.
• Full-coverage: See Full-support bra below.
• Full-cup: Sometimes called full-support bras. Designed to offer maximum support and coverage for the entire breast. A practical design for large-busted women. Compare to balconette and demi-cup bra.
• Full-figure: See Full-support bra below.
• Full-support: Sometimes known as a full-coverage, full-figure or plus-size bra, although these terms are not actually interchangeable. A practical design that offers maximum coverage and support for larger busts. They generally include a sturdier underwire and more supportive, stretchy materials. They typically feature wider shoulder straps, and hook-and-eye fasteners with more hook rows.
• Gel: See Water bra below.
• Liquid: See Water bra below.
• Padded: Designed to enhance perceived bust size and cleavage. The lining of the cups is thickened and enhanced with shape-enhancing inserts or foam padding inside the entire lining of cup. Padded bras support the breasts but, unlike push-up bras, are not intended to significantly increase cleavage. Also see water bra below.
• Plus-size: See Full-support bra above.
• Seamless: The cups are smooth and without any visible seams, making them nearly invisible under tight fitting clothing.
• Sheer: A fashion bra made of translucent material that reveals the nipples.
• Image:Woman in purple soft-cup bra cropped.jpg |thumb|Soft cup braSoft cup: A practical design that does not use underwire for support. Traditionally regarded as offering less support than underwire models, soft-cup bras now offer competitive support. This is accomplished by using crisscross frames, inner under-cup slings that rise no more than half the height of the cup itself, and padding or lining the bra cup with 2-ply, molded, lined, or seamed material.
• Underwire: Many bra designs feature a thin, semi-circular strip of rigid material that helps support the breast. The wire may be made of either metal, plastic or resin. It is sewn into the bra fabric and under each cup, from the center gore to under the wearer's armpit.
• Water: Sometimes known as a liquid or gel bra. Contains water- or silicone gel-filled cups that enhance the size of the breasts. Air bras were a similar concept.