Bra crafter gets lots of looks, laughs

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Marissa LaPierre got the idea for making tiny purses by recycling brassieres about six years ago.

She’d gone shopping with her Kentville family and bought a bra. Holding the bag for a minute, her jokster brother folded the bra in half and slung it over his shoulder. “At that point, my mom and I looked at it and said, ‘That looks like a purse.’ We stopped at Frenchies on our way home” and Bra’Or was born, she remembers.

The first one was made from a lacy, purple Delta Burke bra. In the car on the way home, LaPierre, a student at the time, remembers “we took it apart and got to work.”

LaPierre loves Frenchies. “It is amazing. This project could not be economically possible without it. Every bra I use is recycled some how, either from Frenchies or by women who had bought a lacy bra - but quickly discovered it was too uncomfortable to wear. I rescue these pretty little (or big) bras and give them a new life.”

LaPierre also knows what she’s doing. She has a degree in fine arts with a major in fibre art from Concordia. “A lot of my art practice consists of the process deconstructing and recreating something new. The bra purse is all a part of that.”

According to LaPierre, it’s not difficult to find appropriate bras. “Every time I make a trip to Frenchies, I come home with at least one bra. As I said before, the prettiest bra for a purse often turns out to be the most uncomfortable bra to wear, so I have luck with that.”

When in Frenchies, she says, she always fold the bra and put the two cups together to picture what the purse will look like. It’s amazing how cheaply some bras are made, so she always inspects the quality of the fabric and the stitching and looks to see if there are any snags.

LaPierre sells her purses at the Wolfville Farmers Market. They range in price from $20 and $30.

She says she gets all kind of reactions from the public. “I get first, second and third looks from market goers until they figure out what the purses are made of. The moment of recognition is followed by a huge smile, a shriek of laughter and an exclamation, ‘This is hilarious!’”

LaPierre takes a picture of each bra on a mannequin before she take it apart to give it new life as a change purse, a make up kit, or an over the shoulder bag. “Then I use the picture as the label for each individual purse. That way people can see what their bra looked like before it became their own unique purse.”

When her mother, Wendy, went to Rwanda last year, she was introduced to Elsie, a Rwandan woman who has begun a sewing co-operative with former street women in Kigali. Wendy brought back some dolls, batiks and purses to sell on their behalf. Elsie is also excited about the possibility of the co-operative working with LaPierre to create change purses from bras. Ironically, many of the bras they can buy at their street markets have come from North America - and some are from Frenchies.

A dollar from the price of each Bra’Or purse LaPierre donates to Breast Cancer Nova Scotia. “I wanted the money to go directly to support and education,” she says.

Some of her motivation, LaPierre says, is the fact her family, like many others, has been affected by cancer. ”I think everyone knows someone who has it, or has had it. My brother did his master’s in cancer research, so I know how important funding is for finding a cure, and also the need for support groups for people undergoing treatment and people who have survived it.”

One in nine Canadian women will develop breast cancer in their lives, and one in 26 will die from it. “That’s a scary statistic. I just feel that if I can take something that I’m passionate about and use it for something good, I’ve done something to make a difference.”