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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 07/16/2003 6:39:02 PM PDT by gitmo
It is hard to inspect the "butt bra" without feeling as though one is engaged in soft-core pornography.
Formally, the device, which is constructed of nylon and elastic straps and gold lingerie hooks, is called the Biniki. Its purpose is to hoist a flat or droopy derriere to perkier, more glorious heights. Its creator uses the more descriptive, colloquial moniker to avoid giving a lengthy definition of her trussing gadget.
Karin Hart, who lives about 20 minutes outside of Los Angeles, is the inventor of the Biniki, and her husband, Raymond, is responsible for its name. Karin Hart's desire to lift her sagging bottom became an obsession almost five years ago after she lost 15 pounds in a month through aggressive dieting and exercise. Her rapid weight loss, she says, left her with a rear end that "looked like I had elephant legs." She was so embarrassed by her backside that she bought a more expensive gym membership that afforded her a private changing area.
Hart, who will admit only to being over 40 and of "a certain age," began plotting ways to help her bottom fight gravity. Exercise, she says, had not helped. "Something had happened to the skin," she says. "I thought, maybe if I can hold it up, I can make it remember where it's supposed to be." In fashion and beauty, one must remember, desperation often trumps logic, as well as sound science.
She began by using adhesive tape to hold her tush in its pre-diet location. Hart's skin did not regain its memory, but she was pleased with the temporary results of her body tape derriere lift. Yet, she longed for more comfort and convenience. She shifted to a system of ribbons and wires, which evolved into the Biniki. She sells it on the Internet for $29.95. So far this year, she says, she has had sales of $25,000.
Hart's husband was witness to all of his wife's tugging and taping and tail end manipulation, and said little beyond "You look lovely, dear."
The sight of a rump bound up in a Biniki calls to mind dominatrix gear. It also stirs thoughts of a Thanksgiving turkey, and one half-expects a thermometer to pop up from the right buttock around late afternoon. And yet, surely the earliest brassieres, girdles, corsets and garters must have looked a bit disturbing, as well. To examine girdles and bras now and try to envision them as something utterly unfamiliar, one could describe them as sausage casings for the torso or miniature hammocks for the breasts. What is a Wonderbra if not a gizmo of elastic, wires, padding and lace? And is a low-rise thong any less titillating than Hart's apparatus of satiny straps?
Over time, bras, corsets and such have reaped the benefits of design finesse and familiarity. Designers transformed underwear into something that could be comfortably revealed in public. Sheer blouses show off lacy bras. Low-rise jeans dip to the tops of colorful thongs. John Galliano, for fall 2003, is only the most recent designer to give lingerie the panache to be unveiled.
Hart has created something old-fashioned: an unmentionable. The Biniki is a foundation garment, something meant to help build a fantasy of a pert tush under a jersey dress. It is not the fantasy itself -- unless the imagination veers toward leather bars and maids' uniforms. "No one wants to shuffle a girdle on and off," Hart says. "This is an alternative to provide support to the backside.
"It works on everybody. But I've had the least success on people with such a flat bottom that there's no meat to pull up."
For Hart, who sounds like a feisty but slightly distracted auntie, there is no self-consciousness in having one's derriere lassoed in elastic. That's like being embarrassed to wear a slip. Now that she has perfected her invention, Hart wears it every day. She no longer uses a private locker room but has merged "back into the general population," with her rump perched a blessed few centimeters higher.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Looks REAL comfy, NO THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll keep my saggy a$$.
MKM
Hey are you old enough to remember old fashioned girdles? My mom was quite a bit older than moms my age, so when I hit 13, I got one of those miserable things. She thought ladies had to be completely miserable in public. Definitely NOT comfy!
On a side note, this lady made 25,000 off the Biniki :)
I admit (unfortunately) that I could use one but I prefer comfort.
That reminds me, I need to go to the gym tomorrow morning : )
MKM
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