Bra-ing up is hard to do
Next time you hear two males greet each other with a hearty, “Hey, bra!” don’t be so sure it’s merely a salutation. It may actually be one’s comment on the other’s choice of undergarments.
A headline in the Aug. 25 edition of London’s Daily Mirror explains: “Lacy bras for men are now a thing – and you can also buy matching knickers.” You have to admit, this is better than seeing President Trump tweet that the real reason Attorney General Jeff Sessions can’t control the Justice Department is because he wears women’s undies. And pre-tariff Chinese ones, no less!
The Mirror story explains that HommeMystere of Australia offers men’s lingerie – or “mangerie” – including panties in several styles, bras and rompers. A quick trip to the website reveals several choices.
The “Katie” romper is a one-piece silk outfit featuring mid-thigh shorts and a panel that covers the chest but leaves the back exposed via alluring X straps. Pretty, but I couldn’t help drawing comparisons to the onesie outfits worn by Mexican luchadores. What look like garters dangle from the lacy Annaleve panty.
In online reviews, HommeMystere customers rave about their purchases.
“So sexy, my gf loves me in this and the matching panties,” one man wrote about the Annabelle bra.
“The material feels so soft and sensuous to the touch and feels so comfortable. You could sleep in it all night, if it wasn’t so sexy!” said another.
A woman commented she and her boyfriend could go bra shopping together now. Possibly an uplifting experience, but one that I imagine would be a hard sell to most men.
While going up a department store escalator many years ago, I heard a young women on the down escalator attempting to explain her choice of lingerie to her male companion. “But … an expensive bra just feels so much better!” she said, exasperatedly. Judging by the look on his face, she might just as well have been attempting to explain quantum physics to a preschooler.
I’m not knocking mangerie. I’ve never worn frilly underthings. Would I if my main squeeze – male or female – thought them sexy? Probably. But I think my life experience might make the practice, at least initially, unmentionable.
I grew up in the Fifties, when a man wearing women’s clothing was a device used for comic relief. I’m still not sure why a man in drag is funny, but a woman wearing men’s clothing is cute. Comedian Milton Berle practically made a career dressing in drag on TV. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon used it to great effect in 1959’s “Some Like It Hot.” Even later, Monty Python played British women hilariously. But a man wearing a bra and panties to NFL games – well, that’s offputting. At least right now.
Will rebranding bras, onesies and teddies eventually make “mangerie” nonnewsworthy? We’ll have to wait and see.
All will be revealed.