www.LovefromMe.co.uk: the essential men's guide to bras: all you've ever wanted to know about her bra!

So, you want to buy a bra for your wife, girlfriend or lover.

Buying underwear for any woman can be a bit of a minefield. Particularly this bra size thing. Now, I've read that nearly 80% of women wear the wrong size bra, but this doesn't mean that you can just guess. Basically, you've got two choices: buy a bra the same size as she normally wears (after surreptitiously examining the label one morning) or, engage her help in the - obviously completely scientific - exercise of measuring her size ("just out of interest"). You could then be the first person ever to buy her the correct size bra!

Click here to read all about measuring her bra size or click here to read everything you ever wanted to know about bra sizes - yes, you too can become a bra sizing geek!

But what about all those different types of bra - padded, balconette, push-up, moulded ... what are they all? Our essential men's guide to bras answers all your questions. You'll see in the picture that Britney seems to have forgotten her bra (image © Elle Magazine 2003) but just click on the type of bra and you can change the picture to a woman in that type of bra ...

• underwired - bras which, literally, have pieces of curved wire underneath, to support the breasts
• non-underwired - often called 'soft' - bras without underwiring; much more comfortable, but only suitable if she has good-sized, non-droopy boobs
• padded - bras which contain integral or separate pads; a good choice for the A or B cup woman; the pads can be lightly-padded fabric/foam or can be:
  • gel pads - contain silicone gel, which moulds to the breasts; very effective, but provides quite a lot of extra weight to the bra, which can be tiring for everyday wear; ' liquid-filled' pads are very similar
  • air pads - the best ones can be blown up with a special little pump; a bit uncomfortable when fully-pumped, but produce a dramatic increase in apparent breast size (a member of the LovefromMe team attests to their effectiveness: "I'm a small A-cup but when I wear air pads, I'm often amazed by chance comments, when I'm out clubbing, like:'nice pair!'")
• push-up - actually 'push together and up', as pioneered by Wonderbra; produce a really good cleavage; if she has small breasts, padding helps the effect considerably
• balconette - occasionally called a 'demi-bra' - low-cut cups (often called 'demi-cup' or 'half-cup'), which sit underneath her boobs (like a balcony, you see); pushes up, rather than together; OK for small breasts, as long as it is padded, to enhance the effect
• demi-balconette (what??) - like a balconette, in that it pushes up ... but not like a balconette, in that it doesn't have particularly low-cut cups (I know ... blame Figleaves for this strange hybrid style)
• bandeau - a non-underwired bra (see above), which is normally just a rectangular strip of fabric, often with detachable straps
• sports - normally non-underwired (see above), but provide a lot of support to stop bouncing when she's exercising
• multiway - bras with detachable straps which you can put on as normal shoulder-straps, halter-neck, just a back strap, cross-over straps, etc - according to what the straps on her top or dress are like
• strapless - normally moulded (see below); not actually strapless, in that they have just a back strap, so she can wear them underneath strapless dresses; normally come with additional clear shoulder straps (see below)
• stick on - an unusual, new type of strapless bra, comprising a pair of self-adhesive silicone cups (normally padded) with a strap joining them together, which she sticks on to her boobs; virtually invisible under most tops
• smooth - often called 't-shirt bras', or 'seamless' bras; completely smooth cups, with no lace, bows or seams; can be worn under tight-fitting tops, for a sort of 'no bra' effect
• moulded - bras with cups made out of a stiffened fabric; again, useful under tight tops, because you don't see the shape of the bra; very often strapless (see above)
• triangular - a non-underwired bra (see above), which is literally 2 triangles of fabric (as used in a lot of bikinis); if she's a small cup size, these will make her look flatter than normal; if she's a bit bigger, they'll produce an interesting 'bouncing boobs' effect
• clear straps - clear rubber straps which don't show so much under backless or strapless tops

... and many combinations of these: eg a padded, underwired, multi-way push-up bra with clear straps!