A range of styles of brassieres exist, to be worn in a variety of situations. The degrees of support varies between styles, with some being designed from a highly practical point of view, and others to provide a deliberatly sexually alluring form.
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Full support bras are a type of bra designed to offer good support for whole of the breasts, and as such are a typical, practical bra for everyday wear. Balconette or demi bras are similar, but have lower cut cups, covering approxiamtely half the breasts. These offer less support, but enable low cut garments to be worn without the bra being seen.
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Shelf bras take the balconette concept to its logical conclusion, with cups covering only the bottom part of the breast, putting the nipples and breasts on display. Peep hole bras have cups which loosely cover the breasts, but holes around the nipples. These kinds of bra do not give the breasts much support, and are generally intended for wearing in sexual situations. |
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Training bras, which are smaller than standard bra sizes, offer very little support and are generally have a simple fabric construction, without underwired cups. They are intended to be worn by girls in the early stages of breast development during puberty, and allow them to get used to the feeling of wearing a bra before their breasts develop to the point where significant support is required. Training bras were invented in the 1950s in response to the desire of adolescent and pre-adolescent girls to "fit in" amongst their more developed peers who could fill a standard bra. The acquistiton of a training bra by a girl is often seen as a siginificant turning point in her development, and a first step toward motherhood and a sexually alluring figure, at least as it was defined in the 1950s. Some observers believe that training bras serve no functional purpose, and are exploitative in that they allow entrepeneurs to benefit from, and even encourage, precocious sexuality in young girls.
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