Kelly Aubrey opens the door to the stall and takes a step toward the crowd waiting outside. She smiles, doing a little twirl to display the perky new shape of her breasts.
“Oh my God, you look great!” cries Jenna Savaresa, breaking the silence as the women cluster around her. “And look at your back, there’s no roll!”
The scene would be unremarkable if it were in a Victoria’s Secret shop among a group of friends.
Instead, it’s taking place in an office bathroom on Staten Island. And the women whooping it up are Aubrey’s co-workers at recruiting service the Employment Network.
Welcome to the office bra party.
Like Tupperware and Avon parties before them, bra parties are just the latest way for women to bond while buying consumer goods — only now that women make up more than half the work force, such parties have followed them from the living room, where they used to be held, to the office.
According to the Direct Selling Association, several lingerie companies that have launched in recent years — including Nefful, Ruby Ribbon and the newly founded Peach — have elected to skip storefronts entirely to sell their products directly to the consumer.
“The bra shopping experience in a traditional retail environment is considered dreadful to most women, right up there with shopping for jeans and swimsuits,” explains Moira Nelson, CEO and founder of Bra La Mode, an intimate apparel consulting firm, of the recent rise in direct-selling lingerie vendors. Office bra parties, she says, give women “a personalized level of customer service in an intimate setting.”
And nothing, apparently, says intimate setting like a conference room filled with co-workers lit by unforgiving fluorescent tubes.
“I think it’s very strange,” says Linda Becker, a 29-year veteran of the bra industry and founder of Linda’s bra shop in Murray Hill, who’s been hosting weekly bra parties in her store for more than seven years. Bra fittings are “far too intimate to be doing in the office.”
But proponents say the trend is a boon to working women, who could use a little one-on-one attention in the brassiere department.
“It is a private consultation, and all info stays between the customer and her bra lady,” explains Essential Bodywear president Marcia Cubitt. (Unless you invite your co-workers into the bathroom, as Aubrey did.)
Cubitt once fitted attendees at a Detroit synagogue’s sisterhood luncheon, later excusing herself to attend to the needs of the female rabbi in a separate room.
“The rabbi also needed a good bra and wanted a fitting,” says Cubitt. “She wanted it to be discreet, however, as she is the leader in her congregation.”
Essential Bodywear representatives have also given a lift to busty employees at OB/GYN clinics, a South Jersey restaurant and even to Chicago police officers.
Cubitt and Essential Bodywear CEO Carrie Charlick were at a vendor show in Anaheim, Calif., over a decade ago when their original business idea was sparked. There they spotted flocks of professional women dressed to the nines who looked amazing, but upon closer inspection were sporting “bubble boob” — their busts were overflowing out of their bras.
“These women had incredible outfits, great shoes [and] bags, hair and makeup done, but they forgot the most important thing: foundations,” says Charlick. They launched their direct bra sales company soon after, and it’s grown into a multimillion-dollar corporation, selling over 75,000 bras in 2013 alone.
Back at the Employment Network shindig, male colleagues are starting to poke their heads into the conference room, trying to see what all the fuss is about.
Cubitt explains that there are two kinds of men at bra parties: One type asks, “Can I help?” with a wink; the other bolts out the door.
Sean McGee, senior VP at the Employment Network, is the former.
“I never would have imagined this happening at work,” the 41-year-old admits, as he listens to his female cohorts exchange bra horror stories in the conference room. “The men feel a little left out,” McGee adds. “We want the women to model the bras for us. That’s what we want.”
Luckily for McGee, the Employment Network has a close-knit staff, who easily laugh off the joke.
Meanwhile, some of the other guys are there to shop, too — for their significant others.
Donnie Mannino, the chief strategy officer, is one such gent. Fortunately, his colleague Kristy Fallon, who organized the bra party, is there to help narrow down the selection. They’ve been married for two years.
Fallon says the party was a way to help out her co-workers, many of whom are working mothers, some with second jobs, who don’t take the time for themselves.
“These women have no time,” says Fallon. “If they were to go buy bras after work, they’d be sacrificing their children’s athletic games and doctor appointments.”
It’s also a convenient way to cut down on complaints of back and neck pain around the water cooler.
“If a woman is uncomfortable or quiet in the office, being able to walk around feeling really good about the way she looks will help, and finding proper-fitting lingerie is going to make a huge difference with that,” claims Cara Incadela, the business manager and marketing director of lingerie vendor the Little Bra Company. Though the company has yet to break into office bra parties, they’ve grown accustomed to semipublic fittings by hosting trunk shows in their LA-based office.
Still, not everyone is sold on the idea.
“Good Morning America” workplace contributor Tory Johnson says that if employers really want to address the needs of their staff, they might try more practical — and less personal — tactics.
Subsidizing grocery bills from FreshDirect, handling dry cleaning and laundry, or organizing a dog-walking service would apply equally to members of both sexes.
“If companies want to let employees host fun events in a conference room, that’s fine,” says Johnson. “But it’s a definite stretch to say bra parties are a phenomenal perk to celebrate.”
5 tips for buying a bra
Not all bras are created equal. Essential Bodywear CEO Carrie Charlick tells you what you need when choosing a new support.
1. Get professionally fitted. Make sure the specialist not only pulls tight around the ribcage, but also talks with you during your fitting to find out your likes and dislikes.
2. Take a moment to look in the mirror from side to side. Your band should be at the same level all the way around your body. If it is riding up in the back, the band is either too big or stretched out from time and use.
3. Two-thirds of women have one breast that’s larger than the other. Always fit for the larger breast, and the smaller gal comes along for the ride. If it’s a molded cup, you won’t be able to tell that there is extra room in the cup.
4. Bras are foundations for your clothing. Always try your bra on with a snug shirt, as it is the best way to see the amazing “before and after.” A great-fitting bra will make you stand taller, look slimmer and define your hourglass figure.
5. You should have three bras in your wardrobe, to be washed and rotated properly. Never wear a bra two days in a row (as the band will lose its elasticity) and wash each bra about every three wears, depending on your activity level. They should last you an entire year until it’s time for your next fitting.