Lingerie Trends

By Megan Scott, TampaBay.com, Mar. 9, 2005

Amanda Horan Kennedy noticed her back bulges a couple of years ago when she was trying to wear a form-fitting cashmere sweater.

Frustrated with the lumpy outline, she cut the legs off a pair of control-top panty hose and pulled the waist over her torso, covering her bra and the bulges.

“It was pretty darn ugly without my sweater on,” said Kennedy, a size 8 who is in her 40s. “From the back though, I was totally smooth.”

Many women may examine their rear for telltale pantylines, but their eyes will hardly venture up to check bra lines.

No worries: Kennedy has got their back.

Last year, she introduced Sassybax, a back-slimming bra designed to eliminate the bra bulge. She sold $1 million worth in the first year to Neiman Marcus and hundreds of lingerie stores and online retailers.

Sassybax, which come in small to extra large, are made of 96 percent microfiber nylon and 4 percent Lycra spandex. There are no hooks and no seams. You step in them and pull them over your hips.

The bras are in Bralette and Torso Trim styles. They offer enough support for light exercise such as pilates, yoga and walking, Kennedy said.

Last fall, the bra was featured on ABC’s Good Morning America , in a segment where >Lucky magazine fashion editor Liz Kiernan showed Diane Sawyer how Sassybax becomes virtually invisible even under a snug sweater.

“Since (creating) the bra, I have a lot of women say to me, “Wow, I hate that about bras. I never knew what to do,”‘ said Kennedy, who co-starred in the television series B.J. and the Bear under the name Barbara Horan.

Kennedy said she is amazed at the success. She had no background in fashion design when she came up with Sassybax. She made a drawing, sent it to a friend who sewed the product, and then found a factory to manufacture it.

She said she may do matching panties one day.

Want one?

The bras are now found in six department and specialty stores in the Tampa Bay area, including Odile’s in Safety Harbor, Figure Fair in St. Petersburg and Neiman Marcus and Well-Heeled Well-Dressed in Tampa. The stores have had the product for only a few months and some say they are sold out or running low.

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