The underneath of it all

I'm here to talk about something I rarely hear anything about. I had no idea other women thought about it. I don't dwell on it, but it does pop into my mind occasionally. I puzzle on it, scratch my head a couple of times and usually go about my business without an answer.

It's the question of.......UNDERGARMENTS! Undergarments specifically for those of us who are, well, on the mature side of life. Yuk, ooky word, 'mature'. In fact, all the words describing those of us on the north side of 40 are kinda ooky. Mid-life, another ooky word, blech. Sounds so boring.

Anyway, I've been talking to a lot of women lately in this group. who are ANYTHING but boring. That's another topic altogether.....back to underwear.

So, I'm talking to a friend who recently hit the 50 mark. She had a black tie function to go to recently and some of the dresses she was considering wearing brought up this question of foundations.

She and I both are used to being pretty fit and being able to wear clothes that highlighted that. But, the old body isn't quite what it was. Some sagging going on upstairs, hiperoonies not quite so sleek as they once were. PHOOEY! But a phooey fact I'm afraid.

She was sharing all she had discovered about T-shirt bras and something called Spanx. I did not realize that t-shirt bras were like heavy duty molded cups. I just thought they were just smooth so they would look good under t-shirts, duh!

Well, they are as a good as a boob lift according to my friend. I was telling her I saw this 2o something hostess at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants lately. I could barely take my eyes off of her boobs. The reason was she had on this strapless, stretchy top. She was quite 'busty' and the strapless bra she had on was like armor. I mean, she was dished up, her chest had so much lift and projection, it was kinda startling. But, what really had my attention was that clearly her boobs were not going ANYwhere! They were locked in, they looked so seCURE despite the fact they were in a strapless bra.

I was filled with admiration! Having been busty all my life, and now being somewhat saggy, I was mesmerized by something that promised to hold me up there given that so many tops nowadays require something beyond the basic bra.

Of course, that led to a discussion with my friend about how bewildering it could be to know what we should be wearing. Should we even be thinking about wearing something that required that level of support? We want to look fashionable and I think we both look younger than we are. But, we don't want to look like the 2o something hostess. And, who says we should concern ourselves with what we 'should' be wearing anyway?

But what is fashion at a 'hip' but elegant 50? I don't have an answer for that. More on it later, and the spanx thing is a whole other discussion. ....