Celebrity designer Nadine Merabi is urging women to get their bras professionally fitted to ward off bad posture and chest pains.
The dressmaker, who has clothed the likes of Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley, was at the House of Frasier Stand Up For Fit Triumph event that encourages women to wear the correct-sized bra.
Research reveals that a whopping 76% of women wear the wrong size bra.
Nadine told MM: “People presume their bra size and they don’t realise the medical effect a wrong sized bra can have, you have to get measured properly.
“Triumph is doing bra fittings for free so get yourself measured and encourage friends to get measured too.”
Nadine then revealed her unusual journey from professional hockey player to designer to the stars.
“I started working in events and couldn’t find any dresses that I wanted to wear,” she explained.
WHAT A TRIUMPH! Nadine Merabi at the House of Frasier event
“I wanted something different to wear and I thought, ‘how hard is it to make a dress?’”
She decided to quit her job and, armed with an Argos sewing machine, YouTube tutorials and a bedroom full of ideas and fabric, she embarked on her path to success.
“I sat there with my sewing machine and fabric, and I thought, what do I do know?” Nadine smiled.
“I was worried to tell my family and friends as I thought they would just laugh at me, so I decided not to tell anyone. “
The designer didn’t even know how to thread a sewing machine so went on YouTube to get help and learned how to thread it up, sew in a straight line and sew zig-zags.
While Nadine was finding her feet she met a woman who was opening a pop-up shop over Christmas and gave Nadine the daunting task of creating 20 styles of dresses to sell.
She said: “My first collection didn’t have one zip or one button, you just stepped in to it or put it over your head.”
Remarkably just one month later Nadine was asked to design a corset dress for Corrie star Brooke Vincent to wear to the National TV Awards.
This dress signalled the start of her meteoric rise and saw Selfridges knock at her door requesting to see her evening wear collection.
After seeing the myriad of styles and colours they signed on the dotted line and placed an order.
The designer has now illustrated the Stand Up For Fit campaign and explained how important wearing the right underwear can be when you’re wearing an outfit.
Nadine said: “If you spend a lot on clothing you want to make sure your underwear underneath ‘smoothes’ you nicely, covers you and compliments what you wear on the outside.”
Image courtesy of Poison Lingerie via YouTube, with thanks
