The Daily Mail reports that conical bras, made popular by ‘50s icons Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell and then again by Madonna in the ‘80s, are making a big comeback. Not only did the bras make appearances on recent catwalk collections, sales have had a huge increase, with some styles selling as much as 33 percent more than this time last year. The economy, of course, is being credited for the resurgence of the pointy bra, just as it is for shorter skirts, red lipstick, bigger hair, and just about any other cyclical fashion trend that’s reappeared in the last year or so. A spokesperson for a department store in London said: “Throughout the last century the trend for feminine pointy shaped bras experienced a renaissance following times of a toughened economy, marking a return of unabashed femininity as women seek to have more fun with fashion as a form of escapism.” What, no mention of “Mad Men”? Personally, I think Joan Holloway and the other ladies of the hit TV show may have a greater impact on the sales of nostalgic lingerie than the economy; how about you? And would you wear a conical bra yourself? [Daily Mail]

Crazy expensive, bejeweled bras are nothing new. Heidi Klum freakin’ wears one in every Victoria’s Secret runway show. But why should Heidi have all the spendy chest candy to herself? Here’s something different and dedicated to a great cause: Luxury lingerie company Di Murini has developed a Swarovski-studded mastectomy bra that weighs in at $1,931.58, with 50 percent of the profits going to the charity Against Breast Cancer. It’s a pretty cool addition to all the Breast Cancer Awareness Month fund-raising products, no? [Lussorian]

Over on Slate, a male reader wrote to Dear Prudence, asking whether it was normal that his girlfriend of six months has been wearing the same bra every day for two weeks. Was she unhygienic, or simply a normal gal? Prudie responded, saying she polled some of the cleanest women she knows and they wash their bras at most once a week.

We did a little research on the topic, and while it’s pretty easy to find information about how you should be washing your bras (preferably by hand in cold water, air-dried), how often isn’t something that has been spelled out or set in stone.

The empire that is Jessica Simpson keeps expanding. (Sigh.) From her humble music roots, she’s moved on to hair extensions, shoes, bikinis and now plus-sized bras. Simpson latest launch is designed exclusively for girls with fuller busts (good news for those of you who complained about this dilemma!). The bras will be part of a larger line (heh) of lingerie that Simpson plans to debut in stores this fall and will include matching underwear, regular-sized bras and sleepwear. The entire range will be available in various prints and fabrics from seersucker to Moroccan-inspired patterns. Interested or over it already? [The Thread]

Marilyn Monroe’s old underwear is going up for auction this weekend and her bra alone is expected to fetch up to £2,000 (about $3,285). And you thought your bras were expensive! This is no ordinary bra though, of course. In addition to being worn by one of the most famous and arguably sexiest women of all time, it is considered to be a sort of early “Wonderbra” with all sorts of special pockets, cups, straps and ribbons that helped give the illusion that Marilyn was even bustier than she really was. Auctioneer Richard Davie said: “The bra looks very complicated at first glance and it actually has four cups inside it - sort of like an early Wonderbra. There’s an inner cup which it almost hidden, which would support her chest as normal. But then there’s an another larger cup about an inch further out, to give the impression she had a bigger chest.”

I´ve been a card carrying member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee since puberty. If we have this in common, then let´s rejoice and burn our padded bras together: there´s a new over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder just for pebbles like ours. It’s called the Itty Bitty Bra and it does what it says: covers your itty-bitties and makes them look sexy. Taylor Swift and “Dancing With The Stars” Misty May are already fans of the line which also offers matching bikini panties and camisoles. Find them online here.

We love fancy undies here at The Frisky, but when it comes to a decision between some good ‘ol cotton briefs for $10 and a lacy, do-me-now pair totally taking advantage of our wallets for $100, granny panties sometimes win. But in a world where pretty much everything is on sale these days, pretty panties are no exception. A few websites are particularly dedicated to getting you laid for less. Check out their offerings after the jump.

Unless you are lucky enough to work at The Frisky, chances are, you have to tone down the fashion factor for your work wardrobe. Sadly corporate culture condemns otherwise stylish girls to hide their individual look and makes them and conform to Dr. Evil-esque suits. What is an adventuress girl stuck in a boring suit to do? Well…what your boss doesn’t see won’t hurt her. Here are a few ways to keep your fabulous fashionista under wraps until 5p.m.

Handbags haven’t gone out of style, but retailers keep coming up with different ways for women to transport their money and other essentials. We’ve already deemed the Cap-Sac a fashion don’t. But the Racktrap is a whole different story. It is a small, flat wallet that fits perfectly inside your bra regardless of your cup size. It easily and safely holds money, ID, and credit cards. Obviously, it was made for the woman-on-the-go who likes to have her hands free. The Special Edition Gold Racktrap costs $7.95, but you can purchase a four-pack to “match any outfit” for $19.95. Now all we have to figure out is how to discreetly dig around in our bra when we’re at the checkout counter. [She Finds]

Ladies, hold on to your boobs. There’s yet another product that promises to give us big breasts—even if we don’t want ‘em.  The new Smart Memory Bra is made of heat-sensitive foam that inflates and deflates based on body temperature. What this means: When you (and your chest) get hot and bothered, the bra will inflate to push the girls up and out. Slovenia-based Lisca Lingerie, the company that’s making the boob popper, claims the Smart Bra “will always provide the perfect fit.” Really, though, it has only one advantage over a regular bra: Ot will give you huge boobs when someone’s about to jump your bones. But what if you happen to get steamed up from the heat in church or in front of your boyfriend’s parents? I mean, do you really want a lady boner? [UK Sun]

Have we been hit so hard by the recession that women have started making tank tops from men’s briefs? We hope not.

I’ve always been a bit envious of friends who could go sans bra without feeling crazy self-conscious. That level of hippie-esque chest freedom, I figured, has to be awesome.

So, I tried it and going braless is definitively not awesome, if you ask me. That said, being married to a bra shouldn’t keep you from wearing slinky, criss-crossed fashions all summer long.

If you want to pull it off, you’ve got to get creative with your undergarments.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

IDA ROSENTHAL (1866-1973)

Ida Rosenthal has had an uplifting effect on virtually every woman in America, though her name may not be instantly recognizable. Rosenthal was the inventor of the modern bra. She was also the embodiment of the American dream, coming over from her native Russia to escape religious persecution in 1904, and setting herself up in business with a partner, Enid Bisset. Together they established Maiden Form. Ida Rosenthal created the modern bra as a way to make the dresses in her shop fit better, but the undergarments became more popular than the dresses. 

The renamed Maidenform company opened its first factory in Bayonne, NJ, in 1925. Maidenform became highly successful, even during the Great Depression, and it also held claim to a lot of firsts, including the first maternity bra, the first adjustable bra fastener, and the development of a standardized method for cup sizes. The fact is that her Maidenform advertising campaign, which utilized underwear models and a racy-for-its-time slogan, “I dreamed…in a Maidenform Bra,” was as big a deal in its time as “wardrobe malfunctions” are now.

Further reading:

[Photo: AP]

My birth control is ruining my figure. It’s not so much the extra pounds the Pill has added to my frame—seven pounds, if we’re counting—it’s the extra cleavage that I can’t stand. I know most women would kill for overflowing bra cups. If you’d talked to me twenty years ago, when I was stuffing my bra with gym socks and then admiring my womanly profile in the mirror, I’d have balked at the idea big boobs would be anything other than a gift from God. But that was before my breasts inexplicably grew three cup sizes during my sophomore year of high school, and I became a school-wide, overnight sensation the day I demonstrated my jump-roping skills in gym class. Could there have been anyone more clueless and insensitive to the woes of teenage girlhood than a middle-aged, male gym teacher?

We already suggested that you should get rid of your gross underwear, but we also think it’s time to get some new bras. You may not know this, but you, like most women, are probably wearing the wrong size. A bra fitting at a reputable lingerie shop (the H&M underwear section doesn’t count) will fix that. So don’t be shy. We did it! And you can watch, after the jump…

First we heard about mantyhose, then about spanx-like six-pack undershirts, and now…bras for men? A Japanese online shop called Wishroom sold over 300 men’s bras in its first two weeks after launching last month. Like mantyhose and the 6-pack undershirt, these bras seem to be marketed not at cross-dressers or gay men, but at guys as straight as a ruler. “I like this tight feeling,” a guy groping his bra-clad chest happily stated to the interviewer, “It feels good.” (That’s not what she said). Clip above. 

Any idea what traditionally woman-centric product we’ll see marketed for men next? [Guardian U.K.]

Victoria’s got a secret.  Formaldehyde, the same stuff that preserves corpses, may be giving your boobs a lift, a rash, and even permanent scars. A few women are claiming they developed medical issues from wearing the “Angel’s Secret Embrace” and “Very Sexy Extreme Push Up” bras, and want Vicky to compensate them. Lead by Roberta Ritter, a 37-year-old woman who says she experienced itchy blisters from her bras, the group of women are filing a class action lawsuit against the undergarment company. Shockingly enough, even after collecting complaints from customers and the impending legal action, those particular styles of Victoria Secret bras are still on shelves! Is VS just trying to tempt more people to join the lawsuit?