MY BESTIE AND HER VESTIE

"In China, 'vestie' is the name we have for teenager bras. There is no complicated reason for changing the name, simply because people are too shy to say it out. 

I still remember the swelling pain and panic as my body began to develop, along with my very first bra—thick, tight, and something my mother insisted I wear to hide the 'signs' of my growth, especially those two 'little dark spots.' When summer arrived, the bra became a sweaty nightmare. Some of my friends felt self-conscious because they wore bras; others felt self-conscious because they didn’t. Girls naturally divided themselves into two camps—'bra' or 'no bra'—unable to understand one another, cutting off connections in the process. Looking back, it makes sense: no one taught us how to navigate the confusion of growing up. Growing up isolated each of us in our own way."