Where have all the pretty bras gone? (M&S Bras)

Member Name: Clayeree

Product:	M&S Bras
Date:	22/09/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quality and price; good range of basics

Disadvantages: Poor selection of pretty underwear; maternity range is not good

Is it just me or has Marks and Spencer's underwear offering gone downhill over the last few months? When I was pregnant with my son a year and a half ago I remember gazing wistfully at all the pretty bras and all the sexy bras hanging in the lingerie department whilst trudging off to buy ugly cotton maternity bras. Now that I am no longer breastfeeding and therefore free to go back to underwiring, the nice bras seem to have all but disappeared.

I have always been a fan of Marks and Spencer underwear pretty much since I bought my first bra as a teenager. My best friend and I caught the bus into town to see the M&S Bra Advisor (or BA as we called her in an attempt at creating a code-word to fool our siblings). Sadly this lady decided our boobs were not sufficient to require measuring properly and half-heartedly wrapped a tape measure around our chests whilst we were stood outside the changing room, before declaring loudly you're a 34AA and (to my friend) you're a 32A. But this still wasn't enough to put us off the shop. Apart from one instance where we defected to Top Shop to buy a Wonderbra each, we stuck with M&S for all our underwear needs for most of our teenage years.

So, back to the present. After consigning all my nursing bras to the box where all my maternity clothes are lurking just in case I decide that having another child is a good idea, I headed off to a large branch of M&S thrilled at the prospect of being able to buy nice underwear again.

I dragged my husband in with me on the pretext of buying some vests for our son (it's always nice to get a male opinion on what constitutes attractive underwear). Gazing around the lingerie department I spotted several rows of garish brightly-coloured bras. I'm talking the kind of bra that could be seen through every top you might wear unless you're wearing a very thick black sweater. This prompted my husband to enquire whether they were actually bras or bikini tops. I had to have a closer look before I could answer his question, and yes they were in fact bras.

So ruling out anything too garish as I prefer not to advertise the colour of my bra to the world, I had a walk around the rest of the lingerie department in search of something that caught my eye. And I had another walk around. And another. Finally I had to admit defeat. I didn't even find anything I liked enough to prompt me to see if they had my size.

I might sound fussy when it comes to underwear but really all I am looking for is something in an appealing colour, with some pretty embroidery or trimming which has some nice knickers to match. For me, the problem with a lot of the underwear in M&S at the moment is that it is a bit of a hotch potch. By saying that I mean that some bras are in a really nice colour but the fabric is dodgy. Some bras have nice embroidery but the colour is all wrong. And some are just plain hideous. Some bras which seem ok come only with matching granny knickers to keep your belly button warm (sorry if I've offended any grannies out there - I'm sure you don't all wear belly button-warming knickers!)

That said, if I was looking for a cheap and plain push-up or T-shirt bra then I would have had a vast array of items to choose from. One thing M&S does do really well is the basics.

Unfortunately I cannot say that they do maternity or nursing bras really well - the ones I bought from M&S lasted for a few months before they went saggy. But by this stage I was actually quite pleased that they had gone saggy because they were so incredibly ugly in the first place.

The two things that keep me going back to M&S are the quality and the price of their bras. A quick look at the Marks and Spencer website reveals bras as cheap as £6 and even the most expensive is only £25. I have never had a problem with an M&S bra (aside from their nursing bras) whilst other more expensive brands I have bought have gone lumpy or lost the underwire. The bras I have bought from M&S have all washed really well and have lasted a long time.

I have been measured for a bra at M&S several times since the painfully embarrassing first experience referred to above. When I was pregnant and then breastfeeding it seemed that my bra size changed on a seemingly weekly basis and so I would trot (or waddle) off to M&S to find out what size I was that week. I really cannot fault the bra fitting service they have these days. The staff are incredibly polite and helpful. One useful thing I was told is that it isn't actually necessary to buy a special maternity bra, instead you can just buy a non-underwired bra with good support and save yourself quite a few pounds. Plus you also end up with something slightly more attractive and which actually might have some lace or embroidery to jazz it up a little bit.

Have a look for yourself at www.marksandspencer.com. There are some good offers on at the moment including 3 for 2 on all Per Una underwear. Actually, from looking at the website I have found some reasonably attractive bras that I wouldn't mind at least trying on. Perhaps they are only to be found in the largest stores?

Summary: A plea to M&S - bring back the nice pretty underwear!