In a city where style and clothing are everything, one woman is proving that the real power starts underneath it all. Meet Jasey, a New Yorker, encouraging customers to find their confidence through founding her newly growing company – BraCity – a professional bra fitting shop located in Manhattan. Specializing in full busted women, as well as fitting gender non-conforming garments, Jasey is creating an environment for everyone to find the intimate apparel designs and fits they desire, whether that be comfortable and easy or bold and daring. Drawing from her work, she attended FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in order to develop stronger foundations and progress in her talent within her studies of Fashion Design, finishing with a degree in Intimate Apparel Design. This ignited her “passion for fashion,” and allowed her to follow the steps she needed to take and transform undermined aspects of being a woman designer, and start a change within the fashion industry. This revolution begins with BraCity.

Jasey’s journey began at eight years old, mentioning in conversation that, “...going through Borders Bookstores with my dad, there was a sew your own felt bear kit, and I wanted it to make a little teddy bear” – to which her father responded with, “Well, you don’t know how to sew,” sparking Jasey’s interest in becoming self taught to make creations of her own. While she was a toddler, her mother reminisced and explained that Jasey would only be interested in clothing with the Tommy Hilfiger logo, she would only wear clothes she believed were of good taste. Considering growing up in the 2000s, the well known y2k era, a lot of her younger fashion interest came through these early fashion icons, styles, and brands. During her starting days and throughout her journey of self-taught sewing, she mentions using large gauged needles to ease her way into the work, which also held less of a hazard for a younger creator. From there, Jasey, at twelve years old acquired her first sewing machine, and began making cosplays in high school. These designs she included in her portfolio, which gave her admittance to resources and education at FIT.

Having launched BraCity from the ground up, there were several defining moments that shaped Jasey as a designer and a business woman. Explaining further, Jasey stated “I had always been an advocate for plus size inclusion in the fashion industry – especially throughout my time at FIT.” A majority of fashion design that is taught are sizes 2-6. When truthfully in the United States, an average woman is size 16 in clothing. However, a lot of fashion designs within the industry halt at a size 12, making inclusivity and fashion for women who do not fit this mold harder to feel comfortable and confident. As Jasey explains, “Clothing was designed and made for people to wear…throughout my time at FIT, I did my best to fight for plus size inclusion.” With this specific advocacy in mind, Jasey pursued and participated in the Student Government Association for Fashion Design. She sought to represent the interest of students and the population the garments were being made for. Once graduated from her program, she found her way to made to measure lingerie, and was taught how to make and structure bras. She explained that within this, she was not given direction on how they were made to fit. Wanting more, Jasey moved on to Bra Tenders NYC, a business led by Lori Kaplan, someone who has been a strong influence in Jasey’s career, as she [Kaplan] held the position as Jasey’s mentor, and is considered the “Fairy Bra Mother.” Elaborating on her experience throughout the duration of her time there, Jasey explained, “She [Kaplan] taught me proper bra fitting, which, going into this, I thought it was a fun job– but I did not know it would become my career.” Jasey created a comfortable and safe environment for women to find the fit they needed and deserved to have. Allowing women to emotionally and physically feel better by making a positive impact in offering service of properly fitting bras.

Diving into further detail about her processes and inspirations, Jasey designs work with her own beliefs and creativity. It is common to be shaped in this day and age by an ad or influencer, causing designers' brains to take what is seen within digital and physical media, and create similar items – as many are coming from the same Pinterest boards. Up until the 2010s, trends would be showcased once a season, once a year… and last about five years. The large push in the online presence of the fashion industry began to ramp up, but there is not enough content to recycle, as a lot of ideas have been done by now. She stated, “...people are regurgitating the same designs.” Jasey mentioned that it is hard to be creative in an environment where every minute of the day is encompassed by micro trends flooding the pathways of creativity in fashion.

However, her own personal inspiration had started from her punk upbringing, having defined herself growing up as an “emo outcast” who listened to My Chemical Romance, Green Day, further submerged her into punk elements. Her personal style shines through as gothic, moody, leather – and quoted, “What is sexier than black leather and lace?” Guiding her through the process is music, alongside interior design, to envision outfits in the spaces they will be used in. Starting with collecting inspiration from photos and silhouettes, the process entails 30-40 rough sketches, to creating about 4-8 pieces for a collection. With this comes cohesion within a collection, a narrative to tell with the clothing, the selling of a vision and a story. Jasey further delves into punk culture, as this was one of the first groups to wear fetish wear as outerwear. Throughout the 80s, blooming designers such as Vivienne Westwood, influences from Madonna, 90s designers such as Mugler and McQueen guided inspiration of public fetish wear and sex culture. She strives to strongly be a part of the clientele group to understand what they want and need from lingerie, alongside drawing a generalized inspiration from the BDSM and sex communities. Using space, style and colors, her passion in her designs comes from a mix of punk and gothic culture mixed in with kinky elements.

*From her senior thesis collection: “til death do us part”*

Having this experience and knowledge under her belt, Jasey realized there was much to be corrected within the bra fitting world. Looking at larger brands and the current biggest retailers, which hold gaps within their system, makes it challenging for women to understand their bodies and what is made for them. Jasey brings up that, most of these retailers stop at a D cup — occasionally providing a generous G cup, and this creates issues for women with larger busts who cannot accurately find their size and proper fit. Those working in these common retailers are not trained or accurately taught how bras are supposed to fit on women, causing the customers to suffer with ill fitting bras. Experiencing her own issues in finding a bra that fit with a smaller band and bigger bust, Jasey was determined to fix these gaps within the industry. She elaborately discussed the creation of bras, considering the process as “defying gravity.” She went on to state, “With making bras, there are about 30 pieces that go into each one. Between hardware finishes, underwires, etc. – It is a time intensive process to make them because of the many parts and patterning. If you are even the slightest bit off, the whole fit can be wrong.” Included in this process is lots of precision, math, deconstructing and remaking to create the perfect fit.

Now more about BraCity! As said by Jasey, “...she [BraCity] is the quintessential NY girl – on the go, busy, [and] loves the city” and wants to feel comfortable in her body through clothing expression, which all begins with what is underneath. With this in mind, Jasey is establishing something that helps women within the communities she is a part of, and the city as a whole. Wanting to expand, Jasey’s next steps look like moving up and down the East Coast, supporting women everywhere. She explains, “Bra fitting is a dying art… mostly dying out from its peak in the 60-70s, before personalized shopping experiences become a luxury. Through this, Jasey and co-founder Geegee, brought to life BraCity, drawing the name from the t.v. show, Broad City. The women within this show gave her the power to find within herself as a mid 20 year old living in NYC, having fun, and still achieving and creating, while being capable of holding her own. Jasey stated, “That is the influence… and the city girls we designed BraCity for, as well as, who we want to be.” Her business demands proper fitting procedures not only within themselves, but throughout the fashion industry. Being a bra fitting service, this business aids in finding right sizing through appointment based schedules. This includes 45 minutes with a fitter, walking through sizing, trying on different bras, and selling bras from their favorite US, UK, and European brands. There is an emphasis on listening to client’s needs, whether it is someone looking for a bra that gives the comfortable sitting at home, hanging and being out on the town, or the desired “va-va-voom!”

Inclusivity is a big conversation taking place within fashion today– and this certainly influences BraCity. The business is exclusively tailored to inclusivity, offering extended sizing that most companies are not able to compete with. There are gender affirming items as well for Queer folk and non-binary individuals. An example being binder fittings – something Jasey is also specialized in, which she explains that most on the market are not safe for extended wear. They are striving to offer a range of packers at BraCity, for trans men, who may come in and try packers to find their desired size. Also offering bra fittings for trans women, and a lot of work with drag queens! Inclusivity is built into the brand. Fashion is often intersecting with identity and empowerment, where Jasey finds herself contributing to women’s and other’s confidence and self-expression.

The heads of fashion companies, which majority are owned by two large private equity firms, are men, holding high status positions, one being creative directors. The biggest consumers of fashion are women, and these men are creating and designing for the “concept” of a woman. Jasey is changing the narrative and status quo of the leading men… where women are investing, producing, and wearing. Within luxury ateliers, there are seas of talented women working behind the scenes and not getting the recognition they deserve, because this recognition is boiled down to the face of the brand: the man in charge.

She questioned throughout our conversation, “Why should women suffer because a man does not know how to design for actual women’s bodies?” Bras and lingerie often carry layers of cultural meaning– objectification, empowerment, comfort, and restriction. BraCity, alongside Jasey's passions are navigating and reframing these narratives for women within today’s culture. Jasey explained, “Women often get hung up on the size on a tag–especially within the US, where someone “should” be a 34B.” When it comes to being a bra fitter and working in the intimates industry, there should be empathy, and understanding, truly listening to the needs of the clientele and providing products to meet them. The goal is to educate women and provide information on wearing properly fitted bras. Advocacy for women’s voices and bodies are strong points of Jasey’s push within the industry. Women are not educated in school about the second puberty they experience, how menopause may affect them, and these are identified as huge struggles for women, as bodies are ever changing. BraCity is activism at its finest, educating women, altering views and perceptions of bra fit, and how it should feel. The goal is to not only tell women that this should not be painful, but also provide tools, knowledge, and power in understanding their bodies better.

Being a woman in the fashion industry is full of challenges and barriers, especially for Jasey, coming in full force without monetary advantages or familial connections, as many designers have. Starting at 16, she focused solely on working exclusively for small businesses and family owned companies. These experiences helped Jasey gather insight on how to run a business successfully, and starting BraCity with this knowledge, she is bringing bra fitting into the industry full force. She stated, “There is nothing that school can teach you that you are not going to learn in these environments, in any position. [In] every position you learn something new and have access to owners [who can also guide and support].” There are a lot of struggles with starting businesses, some being monetary support and federal government issues. Many small businesses relied on resources such as the Small Business Association (SBA), which has been “gutted and defunded” on executive orders, and has affected not only BraCity, but thousands across the US.

In the concluding portion of our conversation, Jasey elaborated on her goals within the business. In five years, she hopes to have expanded, but not only within the confines of BraCity. She hopes to create a community and a support network for women and Queer folk. As she stated, “[It is] so vital now that we create safe spaces for women and Queer folk to go, especially when rights are under attack. I want this to be a safe space and home where people can come and feel comfortable within their skin and bodies.” She went on to explain that her one message about fashion is women’s empowerment, and all women’s creativity should be known and understood. She stated, “I would love for women to know that the pain they go through with bras and clothing does NOT have to be like that. There are resources out there to guide and help women in finding proper bra sizes, for example a Reddit thread called r/ABraThatFits,” a perfect start to beginning your bra fitting journey. She also hopes that within ten to fifteen years there is an influx of women in leading roles, running the fashion industry, not just behind the scenes. To leave with one lasting quote, “Clothes are being created for us to wear, why aren’t we the ones making them for ourselves?”

Check out Bra City on instagram!

— JASEY —

— JESSICA —