Nina Roberts

At a recent party in the Bowery Hotel, Elissa Dunlop, a bathing-suit designer in her twenties, was wearing a silky orange blouse accentuated with a delicate chain harness crossed over her chest.“Whenever I wear it, people always stop me and ask, ‘What is that?’” said Ms. Dunlop, glancing down at her bodice. “There is a bondage quality, but I’m more on the feminine side, so it’s a nice contrast.”

Variations of these harnesses, designed by one Bliss Lau, have been draping the breasts, torsos, shoulder blades and hips of New York City women in increasing number. “I feel really powerful when I wear one,” said Risa Knight, an exuberantly tattooed stylist, calling from L.A., where she was visiting for a shoot. “It makes you feel sexy. It’s kind of bitchy.” Ms. Knight said she owns about 80 percent of Ms. Lau’s collection—which includes 16 styles of brass chains tinted antique gold or pewter and that retail from $185 to $695—and has used them on clients such as the actress Mary-Kate Olsen and the singer Regina Spektor. “I have bondage stuff—that I wear, I don’t use it—and I feel it’s cheesy,” Ms. Knight said. “Bliss’ stuff is chic and classy, that’s where the power comes from. You wear it, and, I don’t want to say the F-word, but it’s like, ‘F*ck you! I’m wearing this. And it’s hot!’”  read more »

To the long list of things making New York City more homogenous—funky brownstones razed in preparation for high-rise condos, chain-store franchises displacing neighborhood favorites—add women’s breasts.

Have you noticed? Increasingly, the ladies of this town have been sporting remarkably similar pairs of perfect, pert globes: rounder, higher and larger than ever before. There has been an absence of breast individuality such as lace, seams, overflow, jiggle, signs of gravitational pull and, most notably, nipple.

The flawless orbs that have been parading around the city are achieved by strapping on a “lined,” “T-shirt,” or “contour” bra. These are marketing terms for what is essentially a modern padded bra. This is not the quilted number of years past, but rather a smooth, immaculate device with foam-infused breast cups. Each cup is preformed, creepily having the same shape on or off the body. These lined bras have eased out simple cotton, silk or lace bras, and comprise about 90 to 95 percent of the bras for sale in Victoria’s Secret, the Gap, or any of the mainstream department stores.  read more »