brassiere!

when i was a small girl, my mother took me to get my first bra at a really swanky teenager shop.  it almost put me over the edge to have to try it on. i was so embarrassed by things of this nature.  underwear was a very private matter in my book, and having your mother look on was horrifying. with the purchase made, i reluctantly wore my new underthing in the neighborhood that day, beneath a shirt i was sure was not see-through.

i was wrong.  timmy and phillip jablonski noticed immediately, and teased me unmercifully.  they snapped the back over and over as they laughed and laughed.  "ruth is wearing a BRA-ZEEERRRE!", they exclaimed!  i thought i was going to die.  bright red, i ran humiliated back in the house.  no "kick the can" that summer night with the neighborhood kids for me.

for some reason it made it worse that they called it a "brassiere".  it was twice as embarrassing to me.  ever since, i have had trouble saying that word without those memories coming back.  but luckily now it's kinda funny instead of petrifying.  so here is the start of a new print, done to once and for all make a bad situation into a humorous one (i hope).  my bra was not as mature as this one, in fact mine was actually pretty non-supportive.  i didn't have much to support at the time.

this is also a bit of a memory of my mom.  i remember her wearing this type of bra.  it seemed so strange and uncomfortable-looking to me back then.  it was made of some sort of lacy netting with lots and lots of support.  i think it had about a hundred hooks in the back.  all for a tiny woman who always joked her chest was "like a young boy".  

just the drawing, done on sheer paper.  i'll post the print when it emerges.