Handbra

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Handbra
Handbra
August 1991 Vanity Fair More Demi Moore cover
August 1991 Vanity Fair More Demi Moore cover
Janet Jackson on the September 1993 cover of Rolling Stone
Janet Jackson on the September 1993 cover of Rolling Stone

A handbra (also spelled as hand bra or hand-bra) is a technique wherein a woman covers at least the nipples and areolae of both breasts with her hands, or when someone else uses their hands to cover those areas.[1]

The technique may be used because of an unexpected exposure of a woman's breasts due to a fault in her clothing, to avoid being exposed any more than she can manage, as an act of modesty. Alternatively, the gesture may be deliberate actual nudity, while feigning modesty.

The term may also be applied to a brassiere that is fashioned in the shape of hands as a parody of the technique.[2]

[edit] History

A famous example of the handbra is the August 1991 More Demi Moore cover of Vanity Fair.

The handbra gained peak exposure with Janet Jackson's appearance on the September 1993 cover of Rolling Stone, which later named it their "Most Popular Cover Ever" in 2000.[3][4] The pose is a mainstay in lad mags, such as FHM, Maxim and Zoo Weekly[5][6][7] that prominently feature photos of scantily clad B-actresses and models.[8][9][10] In July 1994, Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis appeared on the cover of Playboy with another model covering her breasts. Raphael Mazzucco has contributed a pair of memorable handbra photographs with the cover of the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue containing an eight-woman handbra and a well-known Swimsuit Issue handbra photo of Marisa Miller wearing just an iPod in the 2007 Swimsuit Issue.[11]

The handbra was the subject of a pointed parody advertisement for Holding Your Own Boobs Magazine performed by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Will Ferrell on the May 15, 1999 episode of Saturday Night Live.[12]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nuts sexiest pictures. Nuts (magazine). Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  2. ^ Handbra: Tired of the Wonderbra?. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  3. ^ Rosenthal, Phil. "Cover story so bad, even FCC sees through it.", Chicago Sun-Times, February 3, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-12-05. "And Jackson, who has a CD coming out, is no stranger to using her breasts to sell her music. Remember the handbra on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1993? Or the nipple ring on the cover of Vibe in 1997? Or the cover for her last album, All For You, in which she was nude, obscured only by a sheet?" 
  4. ^ "Capitalizing On Jackson Tempest.", The New York Times, February 4, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-04. "In 1993 she posed topless for the cover of Rolling Stone. Then, her nipples were obscured by a pair of male hands, not a silver broach." 
  5. ^ "Erotic photography: art or porno?", Shot Addict. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. "Recently several popular glamour magazines known as lad mags are reversing the trend by emphasizing glamour while showing less nudity, in favor of implied (covered) nudity or toplessness such as the handbra technique. Examples include FHM (For Him Magazine) and Maxim magazines, which launched in 1994 and 1995, respectively. (Note: Is this copied from Wikipedia or the other way around)" 
  6. ^ "New Talent", Zoo Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. "The hand-bra specialist, however, has a problem. She doesn’t know whether she’s hot enough to contend in Zoo’s First Timers, and wants to know what you think as soon as possible." 
  7. ^ "News from Paul Merrill - Editor, Zoo", Press Gazette. "The deal has fallen through over a suggestion she do 'hand bra'." 
  8. ^ Turner, Janice. "Dirty young men", The Guardian, October 22, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-04-10. "The cover model's breast is partially concealed by her cupped hand. 'We call that shot "hand-bra",' says Paul Merrill, launch editor of Zoo and now in charge of international editions, 'We use that a lot.' He flicks to a cover showing a model whose hair extensions cover her nipples: 'This is hair-bra,' he says." 
  9. ^ "New Talent", Zoo Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. "This is the lovely Alissha, one of Zoo's hottest bloggers. Besides being amazingly bootylicous, the Shire gal loves to watch The Family Guy and drink vodka cranberries... all at the same time. Let's hope she does this like her Janet Jackson style profile pic. Three cheers for hand bra!" 
  10. ^ "Girls", Zoo Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. "You can't beat a babe who is happy to sex it up with a hand-bra." 
  11. ^ Marisa Miller. CNN/Sports Illustrated (2007). Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
    All-Star SI Cover Model Beach Party. SI Cover Search. Time Inc. (2006-02-17). Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
  12. ^ Saturday Night Live: Sarah Michelle Gellar/Backstreet Boys. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
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