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descriptions often return to the same ideas. Understanding them makes it easier to separate what a garment is called from what it actually contains.
These terms describe different characteristics. They are not competing categories, and several can apply to the same piece.
Coverage and rise
Construction study
Coverage describes how much of an area the garment encloses. In bras, it often refers to how high and far the cups extend. In bottoms, front and should be considered separately.
describes where a bottom's waistband reaches on the wearer. A high rise does not guarantee a full back. A higher leg opening is another independent detail. The Briefs & Bottoms Chapter makes these distinctions visible.
Support and structure
Support describes how a garment manages weight, position and movement. Structure refers to the means used to create or hold its form: , seams, , reinforced fabric, , firm bands and other components.
A wireless bra can still have substantial structure. A -inspired fashion piece may have less shaping capacity than its appearance suggests. Read the construction rather than assuming one visible feature tells the whole story.
Projection and cup shape
describes forward depth. A can be relatively shallow or more projected, independently of the size printed on its label.
That helps explain why two bras carrying the same size can behave differently. This Book introduces the garment; detailed breast-shape and fitting guidance belongs in the Fit Book as it develops.
Lining, padding and sheerness
Lining adds a layer for purposes such as , reinforcement or comfort. adds material that may change contour or reposition volume. Neither term is a synonym for , which describes how a cup is formed.
Sheer and opaque describe visibility through the textile. An unlined garment need not be sheer, and a sheer garment need not be unsupported.
Seaming, stretch and finish
Seams join panels and can help create three-dimensional form. Stretch allows material to extend; describes its tendency to return. Edge finishing, , rings, sliders and fastenings affect the parts that touch the body.
With those distinctions in mind, the names in the next Chapter become easier to understand. Bras are not a collection of unrelated inventions. They rearrange a familiar set of components in different ways.
Continue through the Book