If anyone knows the secret to finding the perfect bra, it's The Body. And although Elle Macpherson has found her way into millions of underwear drawers over the past 20 years forging a $120-million empire in the process there remain millions more women who haven't been able to enjoy her signature brand of luxe and lacy lingerie. Until now.
At 46, Macpherson is still one of the world's most beautiful women but it's her business brain that has transformed the former model into an underwear supremo.
And it's ideas like her latest a sexy new range of bras and knickers designed for women with D-G cups that underline why women keep buying Elle Macpherson Intimates.
Hitting the Australian market yesterday the range is expected to trigger similar demand here as it did when it launched in London earlier this year, quickly attaining top-selling status in upmarket department store Selfridges.
"I have so many friends, even my mother and sister who are bigger-breasted women who haven't to date been able to fit into Elle Macpherson Intimates," she told Fairfax during a brief visit home at Easter.
"There absolutely hasn't been enough beautiful, fashionable, sexy bras for D-plus women," said Macpherson, who created the new collection in the same fashionable, feminine and flirtatious vein as the main line.
"It's not about dressing nicely for men because you might get lucky on a Saturday night but about taking as much care about what you put underneath as you do on the outside," said Macpherson, who was quoted in Tatler magazine in May this year as saying "knickers should be taken off with more joy than they were put on".
Joining Macpherson in the full-frontal assault on larger lingerie is luxe line Fayreform. Originating with corsetry in the 1930s, they too have mastered the art of creating highly feminine, full-cup bras for the D-plus market, a concept they've dubbed "Beautiful Braology".
Available from upmarket lingerie stores as well as Myer and David Jones, the label launched its new sexy spring-summer collection this month, featuring its first strapless bra for bigger breasts and a flirty assortment of every day and dressier bras that offer great support without sacrificing on style.
Another new option for seriously endowed women is a new store that the owner says aims not only to sell larger sizes in underwear but also to provide "physical and emotional support" to big-breasted women.
Brainchild of former nurse Margaret McLachlan, her new More Than A Handful store, which is privately located on level seven of an office tower in Pitt Street in Sydney, was inspired by her own fruitless search for a pretty and supportive bra for herself in size H.
McLachlan chose the site to take the heartache out of a high-street, glass-fronted, impersonal experience that many of her customers have complained is intimidating and potentially embarrassing.
"The concept came when I sustained a shoulder injury and could not find a front-opening bra in my size [in the] post-operative period," McLachlan said. "I spent nine months wearing bras that were too small and remember walking out of yet another lingerie store thinking there has to be a better way."
With an emphasis on the perfect fit, McLachlan and her team spends more than an hour fitting each client because, as she puts it, "dressing to impress starts from the skin out and no amount of designer clothing will compensate for a bra that isn't doing its job".
Sourcing an exclusive range of high-quality brands from Europe, including Elixir, Ulla, Anita, Aviana and Freya, all styles are road-tested by McLachlan and her team of well-endowed fitters for comfort and support before they make it to the shelves. McLachlan said the satisfaction is all in the feedback.
"We had the mother who wrote to us to thank us because her teenage daughter left the shop laughing and smiling, when all previous shopping expeditions had ended in tears," she said.
"And the women who walked out of the change room clothed and her sister cried because her body looked so good."
Natasha Silva-Jelly