Bras

January 19, 2007

Celebrities beware. The Strap Police are watching

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - As Oscar season gets underway, followers of fashion are being urged to monitor celebrities on the red carpet and report any out-of-place bra straps to the Strap Police.

With bra straps transformed from a practicality into a hot fashion item, one Web site has set up a name-and-shame service to out celebrities and other women suffering from "ugly bra strap syndrome."

Margarita Reis, who runs bra company Margarita Couture, said the growing range of bra straps -- from clear plastic to colored, encrusted with Swarovski crystals or decorated with flowers -- meant there was no excuse for women to let worn or discolored bra straps slip into public view.

She has set up the Strap Police on her Web site www.brastraps.com to help keep unsightly straps out of sight.

"Ugly bra strap syndrome is what women get as they dress up and bare their shoulders with an out-of-place strap showing," said Reis, a musician turned bra retailer who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Miami.

Reis said she expected to get a lot of feedback.

"I was watching an award show recently and saw a well-known celebrity sporting dirty bra straps underneath a beautiful evening dress - that is a major fashion faux pas!

"If they -- or any of your friends -- are guilty of showing ugly straps then send them a fashion violation from the Strap Police," said Reis.

Reis, who company sells more than 90 different styles of bra strap, says pairing the wrong bra straps with a dress or top can ruin a fashion look.

Other retailers also sell decorative bra straps that include diamantes or pearls.

"We've created an industry that addresses what has been a really big problem in the workplace, at cocktail parties, because many women had not had the option to get straps to match their outfit," said Reis.

Posted by ronnie at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2006

Pa. officer accused in bra theft scheme

PHILADELPHIA - A police officer had two girls shoplift for her and then lied about her name and occupation when the group was apprehended, prosecutors charged.

Renell Cohen, 35, picked out bras that were later stolen by the girls when they left a local store at the Franklin Mills Mall, authorities said.

Security cameras were trained on the group during the July store visit after an assistant manager thought Cohen was acting suspiciously.

Cohen, a four year veteran of the police department, was fired Tuesday, the same day theft, corruption of minors and other charges were upheld against her at a preliminary hearing in Family Court.

The girls told authorities they were between 14 and 16.

"The facts of this case are really troubling," Assistant District Attorney Janet Turnbull said.

The girls stole merchandise worth $259.52, while Cohn went on to purchase goods worth about $87.

Posted by ronnie at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

Seat Belt, Bra Save Woman From Gunshot

TAMPA, Fla. - A 44-year-old woman escaped serious injury from a gunshot Sunday thanks to her seat belt and a thick bra strap, authorities said.

Robin Key, 44, of Riverview, Fla., was shot through the windshield of the car she was riding in Sunday. She said she felt a searing pain in her shoulder.

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies said a .38-caliber bullet smashed through the windshield then bounced off Key's shoulder � thanks to a seat belt and a thick bra strap.

The copper-jacketed slug landed in her lap.

"It's a big bullet, but you had all those forces acting against it," Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway told the St. Petersburg Times. "It's very rare that something like that occurs. She's very lucky. You know, we're just glad she came out OK."

Key said she didn't know why anyone would shoot her. Sheriff's deputies later arrested two men in connection with the shooting several hours later.

Authorities said they do not have a motive for the shooting.