Hot Fashion Models, Fashion Models News, Catwalk Queens Poses, Fashion Models Folios

There is a battle going on for Britain's breasts - or at least, the bras that support them. Within the past decade, bras have become big news. Retailers now talk about customers having a 'bra wardrobe' containing the average woman's sports bras, fashion bras, T-shirt bras, nude bras, gel bras, sexy bras and more. Bra executives talk of marketing them as a lifestyle and special-occasion item.

Impressive figures the underwear market is projected to be worth £2,600 million in 2008, with the luxury sector performing particularly well

This bears no resemblance to the comparative dark ages of the early 1990s when women could either brave the darkened windows of Ann Summers or the more matronly offerings of a department store such as Marks & Spencer. Back then, most bras could double as an ogre's slingshot or carried warnings about standing too close to a fire. Women weren't drowning in choice the way they are now, so it is hardly surprising that on average, we only bought one bra a year.

Two events in 1994 dramatically altered the history of the bra: Eva Herzigova in the 'Hello boys!' Wonderbra advert and the opening of a small shop in Soho called Agent Provocateur, with a scantily clad dummy in the window. Darkened windows were history. (Last year Agent Provocateur was sold for £60 million, and this year it opens its 38th store; its range now extends to vamp shoes and whips.) Today there isn't a high street in the country without 'come hither' lingerie shops vying for our attention. We now buy on average four bras a year - the most per head in Europe.

View Full News