One of the ironies of fashion is that the less we wear on the outside, the more we have to wear on the inside to contain ourselves and maintain the illusion of carefree lightness. I'm always wondering what those actresses on magazine covers are really wearing underneath those silky, wispy fabrics to keep everything in place (assuming they haven't already addressed the whole issue through excessive dieting). I have yet to quite figure out the tricks of foundation garments, and have mostly walked away from them in stores, utterly disgusted by the lack of choices for those who want to breathe while being fashionable. Most lightweight girdle-type panties still look like torture devices if you ask me.

When I saw NuBras at a boutique store at the beach and loudly expressed skepticism at their gravity-defying properties, the nice shop owner responded by demonstrating one for me right there behind the counter. So, I found out that it doesn't actually float. The technology is fairly simple --it's just adhesive. Imagine taking two gigantic bandages and applying them to yourself from the bottom up, pulling slightly to lift. Then, you take the two pieces and snap them together in the middle, so now you're being pulled up and also towards the center (giving you more cleavage). It seemed to work as far as I could see.

The one pictured above is the NuBra Feather-Lite ($30 from the NuBra website), which is 70% lighter than the regular 100% silicone NuBra and feels like regular frabric on the outside with the adhesive silicon just on the inside. While I wouldn't go jogging or even walking fast in a NuBra (God knows where it would end up if you started to sweat), I like the idea that I might finally be able to wear that halter dress that's been sitting in my closet for three years for want of a proper support system.