Too much of anything is never a good thing. These are words to live by when packing for a trip. Packing light makes sense, especially since the airlines charge astronomical fees for checked and overweight bags. And even if you’re driving, why drag half your closet if you don’t have to?

Packing light requires planning, so stay focused by making a list. The list keeps your thoughts organized and you’ll be less likely to pack that cute lime tube top that matches nothing in the suitcase. For your travel wardrobe, chose a three-color color scheme like black, white and plum (so hot for the fall). Pants and skirts should be dark solids and splashes of color can show up in tops and extras like scarves.

CupCase has put together the ultimate packing list for your next trip:

1. A versatile dress, like a wrap dress, preferably in a solid color such as black. Dress it up with heels, dress it down with flats.

2. Dark denim or black skinny jeans. With heels, you’ll look fab for a night out on the town. With flats, you’re cute and comfy while shopping and touring the town.

3. A tank top and cardigan that can be layered for warmth. Choose colors that coordinate with the pants and skirts you pack.

4. Casual skirts or shorts in white, dark denim or black.

5. A casual top or tunic in a fun color that can be worn with the shorts or jeans you’ve packed.

6. A tote bag for the beach or to use when shopping for souvenirs.

7. Workout clothes and athletic shoes. Just because you’re on vacay doesn’t mean you can be la-zay!

8. Pack two pairs of shoes (in addition to the running shoes). Hear that girls? Two! Flats or sandals and hot heels. Chose another pair of your favorites (maybe wedges or boots) and wear them on the trip. Just make sure they coordinate with all the clothes you have packed.

9. Lingerie and underwear. Check your clothes and pack the proper undergarments. Do you need Spanx? A strapless bra? Boy shorts? Don’t forget the staples: a pair of underwear for everyday plus two more and pack bras — two. If it’s a romantic getaway, pack something sexy. And of course, all your lingerie should arrive in style! Order a new CupCase today for that special trip!

10. Extras! A colorful wrap for a pop of color against the black and white clothes you have packed. A wrap bracelet, long necklace and gold earrings can be worn with everything. And don’t forget, these little bobbles will fit into your CupCase, too!

Did we miss anything? What’s a traveling must-have for you fashionable ladies out there?

Many times, people make a statement or pay tribute by wearing a T-shirt or a hat with a certain color, design, phrase or photo. But this year, a number of Olympic athletes used their fingernails and toenails as tiny billboards!

That’s right: nail art took the Olympics by storm and we loved it. So many athletes painted their nails with the color and design of their country’s flag or the Olympic rings. We thought it was pretty cool and wanted to find out more.

It turns out there were nail artists in the Olympic Village who catered to the athletes! Nail booths were also inside Procter & Gamble’s “Home” for the athletes and their families (a place they could go relax and socialize together).

We also found out the nail art craze was perfected by British “nail queen” Sophy Robson. Her team of nail artists provided services to athletes and their guests in “grooming salons” in the Olympic Village, according to an article on CNN.

“It was such fun working with the athletes,” Robson told CNN. She designed a menu of 207 country flags to choose from in a partnership with corporate sponsor P&G. “There are no egos involved and they are just excited to have something represent their country on their nails.”

But why do fingernails or toenails make the perfect bilboard? And why didn’t we see any of the gymnasts sporting the trend?

One nail artist told CNN that nail art is a great way to make a statement because “It’s not as permanent as a haircut and having 10 fingers means the opportunity to sport various themes.”

As for the gymnasts, we found out official gymnastics competition rules say competitors cannot wear nail polish and if they do, they can get points deducted for doing so. We definitely can’t have that!

Let CupCase know what you think of this trend. Want to get in on it? Here are some fabulous nail art designs as seen on Glamour’s website. We’ve also got a great nail polish board on our Pinterest. Be sure to “follow” us there!

Recently, some overzealous fans at the One Direction concert in Los Angeles threw bras on stage. The British-Irish five member boy band should be getting used to it because the ladies are making this a habit.

Other teen sensations are getting the same treatment. Justin Bieber, the Grammy Award winning18-year-old pop sensation also gets panties thrown at him. His fans are thorough, as they also write their phone numbers in the panties. Girls, we have some bad news – Justin’s momma apparently doesn’t like it!

Where and why did this ritual begin? Let’s face it, emotional outpourings at concerts are not new. Remember the Beatles? And Elvis? Concert audiences were filled with frantic women screaming, jumping and fainting at just a mere glimpse of their favorite star. That same overwhelming feeling of emotion moves women to shed their panties or bra, whip them overhead to gain some momentum, and release, hoping their undergarments land strategically at the feet of their loves.

In the 60s and 70s, Tom Jones concerts were known for flying panties. One of the first times a stranger’s panties landed at his feet, he picked them up and wiped his sweaty forehead with them. Way to feed the fire, Mr. Jones because women are still giving up their intimates. Still! Now that the Welch singer is in his 70s, he doesn’t seem as flattered by the practice. Jones even said in an interview with the The Telegraph that he wanted the panty-tossing to stop.

Bottom line, the stars don’t actually seem to enjoy being the recipient of stranger’s lingerie. Undergarments are personal, not to mention expensive. So girls/ladies, please rethink this practice. Plus, dodging underwear can get tiresome and performers need their strength. They know you love them or you wouldn’t be at the concert. Use the money on another ticket instead of replenishing your underwear drawer – or even better, buy a CupCase! And lastly, no one wants to be on Mrs. Bieber’s bad side!

CupCase is curious. Anyone out there been so moved by a performer that you found yourself throwing your unmentionables on stage in an effort to show your love?

The same seamstresses that sewed your mother’s or grandmother’s bras may have also sewed NASA’s first spacesuits that allowed Neil Armstrong to walk on the moon! Crazy, right?

In the early 1960s, NASA was struggling to come up with a new space suit design. Up until this point, the astronauts didn’t leave the safety of the space craft. But NASA needed a suit that would give astronauts the mobility to walk on the moon’s surface while surviving the perilous conditions. The design prototypes that NASA engineers had developed were too rigid and were built more like a spaceship than clothing.

NASA needed help and asked eight private companies to design a suit for future space travel. The only company not familiar with the space industry was ILC, a subsidiary company of Playtex that made bras, girdles and even baby’s rubber pants. Playtex actually means perforated latex, which when sandwiched between cloth, gives underwear its elastic and body-shaping character.

ILC used its experience at making rubberized flexible clothing and created a space suit design that allowed for mobility due to rubberized joints that were stabilized with small steel rods. NASA embraced the engineering behind Playtex’s underwear and awarded ILC the contract to build the 21-layer A7L spacesuit.

A team of ILC seamstresses were selected to sew these spacesuits. By hand, the seamstresses had to sew 1/64 inch stitches without the use of pins. It was a tedious job that was inspected and inspected again. Overnight these women went from seamstresses to the space program’s unsung heroes. Some seamstresses continued to make suits for the space program through the shuttle and space station era.

In honor of the upcoming 43^rd anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon, it is CupCase’s pleasure to recognize Playtex and their seamstresses. Their talents and commitments provided women with fitted undergarments, which led to making NASA’s most epic journey in our lifetime possible.

Haven’t you heard? When Madonna kicked off her ninth world tour in Tel Aviv, the 53-year-old singer showed off her muscular biceps, numerous costumes (including a cheerleading outfit) and the infamous cone bra. This bra is an updated version of the first cone bra she wore during her 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour. We’ll never forget that!

What creative magic must happen to update a cone bra? Well, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier made a few adjustments to his original design to update the Material Girl. The new version includes black wiring over a cabaret-style white collared shirt along with suspenders. The 2012 design was inspired by combining masculine and feminine qualities.

“We played with the ideas of a suit and a corset. But the corset is now like a cage,” Gaultier says. “What I have done this time is a nod to the conical bra corset of the Blond Ambition tour but reinterpreted in 3D, in patent leather on the outside with metallic leather on the inside.”

Gaultier is also the mastermind behind the wardrobe for the entire MDNA tour and MDNA herself has praised him saying “He’s a genius.”

The tour, which will play at least 65 cities around the world, has already sold $240 million in tickets. That, along with sponsorship deals and other income, will probably earn Madonna and her cone bra about $500 million.

We can’t help but wonder, as Madonna’s updated cone bra makes its way around the world, what does it travel in? A CupCase, perhaps?

Let’s get real. How old is the bra you’re wearing? Does it fit? Do the straps slip? Do you get pinched? Do you feel like you’re being supported at all?

We at CupCase are making it our New Year’s resolution to get fitted for a new bra. Statistics show 8 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong bra and we should be fitted at least once a year because our breast size can change depending on age, hormones, weight loss or gain and pregnancy.

So, where can you get fitted for a bra? Here are a few tips from eHow.com about finding a fit specialist.

• Most department stores will have a bra fitting specialist on staff in the Intimate Apparel section. Lingerie shops also will have a specialist on staff.
• Ask the specialist to fit you for the size of bra you should be wearing. She will go with you into a dressing room and take your measurements. You can be measured over your clothing, but make sure it isn’t bulky.
• The bra fitting specialist measures you above your bust, under your armpits. She also measures you at the fullest part of your breasts and just under your breasts.

Oprah’s bra guru Sandra Saffle, a top bra fitter at Nordstrom’s, once asked Oprah’s audience, “Are you in cup denial?”A few of us at CupCase have been in denial before, but now understand the importance of the right fit. As Sandra said, most women don’t like to accept their true size, but if you’re wearing the proper bra, you’ll feel more comfortable and confident.

A great resource on finding a proper fitting bra is The Bra Book by our friend Jene Luciani, which Oprah declared is “so important for women”. The book gives you expert sizing tips, tells you what to wear under each item in your closet, offers suggestions on choosing a bra in every stage of life and even a buying guy you can give to your “significant other”!

Be sure to let us know how your bra fitting went! How does your new bra make you feel? Don’t forget to purchase a CupCase for your new bra to help maintain its shape when you travel!

Happy New Brassier from all of us at CupCase!

While perusing eonline.com recently, we had to LOL because of the headline: “Cleavage Alert!” The story was about Madonna’s new fragrance called Truth or Dare, and the pictured advertisement for the fragrance had, well, a lot of cleavage in it.

Madonna has never been afraid to flaunt it and we have come to expect nothing less. When you see the Material Girl, chances are you’ll see her bra too. During her Like a Virgin tour, she wore a lace wedding dress with a bustier that showed off her ample assets. Then she wore those cone bras during her Blonde Ambition tour in the 1990s. She’s pretty much worn it all and showed it to us. She’s even designed a line of bras for her Material Girl collection, a junior’s line she created with her daughter Lourdes.

As you may know, Madonna will perform at the halftime show for Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (where CupCase is based!) Feb. 5, 2012. There’s all kinds of speculation swirling around about what she’ll sing and of course what she’ll wear during her 15-ish minutes on stage.

We’re going to bet that she’ll be wearing a bra that everyone can see! Maybe we need to send her a CupCase…

A quick show of hands: How many of you out there organize your lingerie drawer? And how many of you have a jumbled mess of underwear, bras and nighties? Uh-huh. We thought so.

Don’t worry. We’re guilty of underwear drawer mumbo jumbo, too. But in our quest to organize and conquer, we’ve discovered some handy suggestions for getting your underwear in order and keeping it that way. Here are a few tips for fast and easy organization:

Step 1 is to edit. Take everything out of your lingerie drawer and separate the tattered, ill-fitting and uncomfortable items from those that look good and feel good. If it’s scratchy, too big, too small, ripped or only has one hook left out of three, break down and toss it. Make a list of the things you need to replace.

Step 2 is to group and fold. Sort your underwear by type (bikini, brief, thong). Group your bras by straps, strapless, bandeau, sports, etc. Fold everything nicely.

Step 3 is to section off your drawers. Purchase inexpensive drawer dividers and insert them. They come in plastic and paper varieties. In a pinch, we’ve been known to use shoe boxes.

Step 4 is to begin filling in the drawer. Now it’s time to put all your underwear back. Take each neatly folded item and place it in each individual section. You can take this one step further and organize items within each category by color. Extra points for that one!

We hope that by following these simple steps you can bring order to your life, or at least your lingerie drawer. By giving every item its own place, you will not only be able to easily find what you need, but it will also help protect your lingerie and help it last longer.

For centuries, women have been wearing garments that were designed to retain, shape or support their breasts. Some did the job, some didn’t. And if you look at sketches of the contraptions our ancestors wore, you will quickly become thankful for the options we have today.

The Uncomfortable Corset

The bra as we know it has evolved from corsets stiffened with whale backbones and steel rods that were tightened with laces and pulleys. These devices not only restrained or enhanced breasts, depending on the era, they also were known to simultaneously squeeze the size of an adult woman’s waist to an unnatural and unhealthy 13 inches or less. Yikes!

We must all give thanks to a woman named Mary Phelps Jacob, who in 1913 was headed to a social event. She bought a silky, sheer evening gown to wear, but the lines of her whale-bone corset were visible through the dress. So, as the story goes, “two silk handkerchiefs and some pink ribbon later,” Mary had designed an alternative to the corset.

The Rise of the Brassiere

Mary’s new design for the brassiere (derived from the French word for upper arm) was a hit and complemented the fashions at the time. She had the design patented in 1914, but the socialite did not enjoy running a business, so she sold her patent for a light weight, soft garment to the Warner Brothers Corset Co. in Bridgeport, Conn., for $1,500. During the next 30 years, Warner Brothers Corset Co. reportedly made more than $15 million from the patent.

In the early 1930s, designers began creating bras with “cups,” and in the mid-1930s, U.S. designers introduced bras with different cup sizes A, B, C and D. Starting to sound familiar?

It’s worth noting that there was an actual shortage of bras in the 1940s, due to the wars. Women had to order bras and wait until manufacturers could get fabric to make them. If they couldn’t wait, women often made their own bras using parachute silk or satin taken from their wedding dress.

Bras Today

It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come. Bras are now available in any style, shape and color you can imagine, and you can buy them at almost any store you enter. Kinder, gentler corset-style bras are still available and popular for brides and special occasions, like prom.

We’re lucky in so many ways, and we often take things for granted. That’s why we must remember that even though we still “suffer for fashion,” at least we don’t have to use laces and pulleys to tighten a whale-bone corset every day before we head out the door. And we can thank Mary Phelps Jacob for that one.