I feel extremely uncomfortable when I don’t wear a bra. If I can’t wear an item of clothing with some type of bra support, I will pass on the look completely. I’m not well endowed, but the feeling of the girls swinging around when I walk, never mind run, is very unpleasant. It’s like I let loose a herd of horses and I need to rein them back in to safety.

I am only ever sans bra when I sleep, or when I’m in my loungewear just before I head off to bed or the shower. I am sans bra when I’m in my bathing costume too, but fortunately that has built in bra support. If I end up wearing loungewear during the day, I still put on a bra just because it feels more comfortable that way.

Aesthetic preferences aside, I have always felt most comfortable wearing a bra. Even when I was younger and my bust line was perkier. The added structure somehow makes me feel more in control of any given situation. For practical and psychological reasons I like to wear a bra 99.9% of waking time, even when relaxing at home.

Perhaps it’s a modesty thing, perhaps I’m a creature of habit, but my brassiere has quite a controlling effect on my life. How about you? Do you prefer to wear a bra most of the time? Do you feel more in control of your day when you wear a bra? Do you enjoy the bra-less feeling? When are you bra-less? Would you go bra-less more often if aesthetics were not an issue?

No more speculation. Welcome to the new YLF!

Over the past four and a half years, we have evolved the style and persona of YLF with each update. We steadily included more fashion illustrations, columns and colours as we added new features, keeping the overall aesthetics and feel of the site fairly consistent.

That all changes today. As comfortable as you and I were with YLF’s old look, she desperately needed a Style Renewal in order to keep up with her blossoming career. She is reaching a new stage of life and needs a killer look to go along with it. While she never looked drab, she was starting to look slightly dated. And for a site whose primary focus is fashion and style, heavens above! A somewhat dated look simply won’t do.

So a few months ago Greg started work on a complete redesign of the site. I provided some creative input and kept the libations and treats aflow, while Rosie and Jasmine did a sterling job of being both mascot and muse. It was a family effort to bring YLF to the next level and we hope that you get as excited about the new look and new features as we are.

Chameleon

This is my favorite aspect of the new site. Through a background that changes we can make the site reflect different moods, trends and topics. This ability to change to reflect what’s going on is why we started calling it the chameleon feature.

The background will change every month and in that way you can think of it as the “cover” of our little fashion magazine. Some blog entries will also have their very own special background that stays with them. To see this in action take a look at the four examples below – click the thumbnails to view each post with its new background. Maximize your window to get the full effect and immerse yourself in YLF.

For years the site was visually anchored by bright colours like apple green and fuschia through Lisa Henderling’s masterful fashion illustrations. But over time photos have become more important. So we had to say goodbye to Lisa’s graphic illustrations in favour of a neutral palette that supports whatever the current topic demands. To ease you (and me!) into this big visual change, the background photograph for this month is in keeping with the original YLF colours. (That’s a photo of my neon green L.A.M.B bag and fuchsia jumper).

Photos

The second big feature is the ability to upload photos with your posts on the forum. For years people have been uploading their pictures to services like Flickr and PhotoBucket and then posting the links in their YLF post. But you’ll be able to remove those extra steps. It is MUCH easier, and also makes the forum look happier and more colourful.

Of course, if you prefer to continue using your current photo management service, that is fine too. Think of YLF’s new photo upload feature as another option.

In the process of testing this feature with a small group of people we realized that we need additional features that allow you to manage your collection of YLF features as it grows. We don’t have those features for you today, but that is the next thing we are working on.

Favorites, the Activity Stream, and Backstage

This release of YLF was initially more about the visual update and photo uploads than anything else, but soon we’d piled on quite a few other meaty features.

Favorites will make it super easy for members to track the conversations in the forum that interest them most. Just click the little heart alongside a post title and it goes on your favorites list. Go to your favorites page to see these all in one place, and even grab an RSS feed to get updated whenever someone posts something in these threads.

The Activity Stream is a feature that tracks everything that happens on the site, like forum posts, store reviews and blog comments, and presents these events on the front page. At a glance you can see who’s been up to what. There’s also a personalized activity stream alongside your profile page.

Backstage is our equivalent of the extra features on a DVD. There is a lot of background information here, like the About YLF page, help pages on topics like photo uploading and the new favorites feature, and our privacy policy. Also hidden back here is… another blog! The backstage blog will allow us to talk more about the making of YLF without taking the main blog off topic. Greg will be very active in this new blog, and to kick things off he wrote a post on the thought process behind the new design.

A New Home

Finally, a big change that reflects the way YLF has become more than a blog over the last couple of years. Instead of Home being the front page of the blog, it is the cover of YLF. An activity stream on the front page brings your activity to the surface, and big feature blocks will allow us to run topics that go beyond a single blog entry. We’re looking forward to putting this to use during the upcoming fashion week, but our starting feature is the new YLF.

We hope that the new YLF still feels like home even though it looks so different. While a lot has changed in the design, as you start clicking around and becoming familiar with new features, you’ll also notice that a lot has stayed the same. And I’m still the same! So out with the old and in with a fresh, more dynamic and modern YLF that reflects the intelligence, needs and compassion of its readers.

With that… enjoy the new site!

PS. There are bound to be some teething problems so please let us know if you see anything strange. For bugs, please use the new contact page, or if you are a member of the forum, use the feedback thread we have started over there, or start your own new thread.

On Monday morning we will be launching an update to YLF. That means we’ll be hard at work over the weekend getting things ready.

The site will go down on Sunday evening and will return with its new look by the time our East Coast readers are having their morning coffee.

One last sneak peek…

Today we bring back fabulous Veteran forum member and scientist Tanya who used to live in Boston, but now lives is Maryland. This is Tanya’s third YLF gathering! She did a wonderful job covering one of the Manhattan gatherings last year, which is why I asked her to tell us about the recent rendezvous in Washington DC.

On a very hot and humid day in July, four YLF members met in Washington DC for yet another fabulous gathering. Maya and Lisa traveled all the way from New Jersey to meet Steph and me in the heart of Georgetown. We chose to start off the day at a little French cafe called “Le Madeleine” situated in one of DC’s most interesting shopping areas. Maya and I already knew each other so it was easy for her and Lisa to spot me. None of us knew what Steph looked like though, but luckily she recognized us!

Relieved that we had found each other, it was time to indulge in the Cafe’s tasty offerings. A lot of compliments were exchanged since despite sticky weather conditions the style quotient was very YLF-worthy. Maya sported a typical all black New York look with a beautiful dress, sandals and funky necklace. Lisa looked wonderful in a beaded striped top and skinnies. Steph had us all impressed with her gorgeous Stella McCartney sky scraping heels which perfectly complimented her white denim skirt and purple top. I wore a ladylike silk blouse and pencil skirt with edgy gladiator sandals.

The conversation flowed easily as we touched on millions of topics, from fashion and clothing, to our line of work. We decided to spend the whole afternoon shopping and off to the Cusp we went first. The Cusp  is owned by Neiman Marcus and is a hip, contemporary store that targets younger customers. We had a lot of fun pointing out hideously ugly items to each other which soon became the tradition in all the subsequent stores we visited. We each tried on lots of items, but eventually left the huge store empty handed. Exhausted by the clothing fittings  we decided that the only way to recuperate was to indulge in famous Georgetown cupcakes. The sugar did its job and we happily resumed our shopping adventures.

A whole whirlwind of stores followed, including Urban Outfitters, Zara, Benetton, Club Monaco, H&M, Intermix and a few more. We all found plenty of things to try on and thoroughly enjoyed giving each other feedback and recommendations. At Aerosoles and Camper shoe stores we saw quite a few pairs of cute shoes with low heels. Consignment store Second Time Around was a huge success: Maya found a perfect cropped denim jacket and black shorts, and Lisa a pair of great fitting Joe’s jeans that were already the perfect length. Lisa also scored a beautiful blazer at Zara, while Steph found a lovely blouse and some quirky headbands at H&M. I was lucky to spot a gorgeous grey silk tunic at Club Monaco that followed me home.

After 5 hours of shopping we were very tired, but would have continued were it not for the fact that Lisa and Maya had to catch the train back to NJ. We were all in awe of Steph’s ability to keep up the pace in her uber-high platform sandals. Steph must have magic feet!

The gathering was a great success and the day flew by so fast that it caught us by surprise. It was a blast to spend a great afternoon with these amazing women. This was my third YLF gathering, each one more south then the previous one: first Boston, then New York, and now Washington DC. Despite being a YLF Veteran at these gatherings, it never ceases to amaze me how easy and natural it is to bond with women I have never previously met other than through the internet on YLF. I am already looking forward to the next gathering and wonder where it will be. Hopefully in NYC again to meet Angie and Greg!