To Bra or Not to Bra?

"No-cup" Pejic displaying a push-up bra 

Recently an anonymous reader posted a very clever comment on my posting about Andrej Pejic displaying a push-up bra for the Dutch label Hema.

(This is my original post:

Pejic for Hema)

"*sigh* I don't know. Looking feminine is one thing, but a bra? - This is not about "new male fashion" anymore, it's about a piece of clothing that is exclusively for girls (unless you have gynecomastia, a case where you probably don't want to emphasize your breasts by adding two cups).

"New male fashion" is about breaking the stereotypes. Skirts or heels do not serve any anatomical purpose. Bras where designed to shape and keep something up that males simply don't have. For me, I am drawing the line here.

Andrej should just get over it and get a sex change. I don't buy anymore that someone who models for lingerie feels like a male, not even a gender-bending one.

To a great extent, I share this unidentified poster’s view. As large boobies are not part of our anatomy, there’s no use for us to wear brassieres, unless we are actually trying to look, “pass” or feel as a woman, for instance when we’re “cross-dressing”. By the way: I don’t have any problem with that either. In fact, I think it’s a very fun activity, but admittedly beyond the scope of this blog (Although from what I’ve seen many cross-dressers follow this blog).

I’d probably draw my own line around the same spot. If you're a male and don’t suffer from “gynecomastia”(or are blessed with it, depending on where you're standing), in all likelihood bras are not for you. 

But- wait a minute! 

Bras aren’t there for purely anatomical reasons. 

Besides, male breasts, albeit less protruding, can be enormously appealing as well.

An embellished "muscle cuirass"
The model: none other than the emperor Julius Caesar

From Roman and Greek cuirasses and breastplates to large neckpieces worn by tribesmen, male pectoral muscles, less bulging but broader than their female counterpart, have always been boosted. Not as a representation of beauty or fertility, It’s true, but rather as a sign of power, dominion and masculinity. In a way that might evoke a gorilla beating his chest with his fists as an expression of virile dominance.

With the changing times, our chests are apt to be adorned in a less aggressive way. Designers have dared to include frills and laces to their trimmings. Pendants hanging over our upper ribcage can have a more delicate finish that the ones worn by our ancestors.

Now: I oftentimes come across beautiful garments, such as strapless tops with open belly-buttons worn tightly around the chest. What are those if not bras? Male-bras which, not having any specific structural function, are there for purely decorative purposes (and female bras serve that very same purpose, and to a greater extent than just holding up their breasts)

 What would you call the garments above?

Below: male bras by Julius:

Those might be for me, if I only had the figure. Not the push-up bandeau worn by Miss Pejic. At least not yet. But I’ll keep posting this extreme envelope-pushes of his, for the sake of my more adventuresome readers…

Below: 

Andrej displaying other beautiful garments around his torso:

Now, about Andrej getting a sex change... Wouldn't that make him much less interesting? 

He/she would be just another female model in an already model-cluttered industry! 

In the path he's taking, he's leading us to a different way of looking at fashion. 

An inclusive view, one that takes account of our sexual diversity, of minority groups such as transexuals, transvestives, people who fail to (or refuse to) be classified into conventional gender categories, or simply those of us who want to play and experiment with fashion freedom.

A curious ancient male-breastplate...
Perhaps Pejic is not the first femiman after all!