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Rosario Dawson is burning her bras — at least, the ones with uncomfortable underwire.
The Josie and the Pussycats actress has teamed up with EBY as the face of its latest Pain Free T-Shirt Bra campaign, after having her own hardships with finding the right fit for her body and wearing uncomfortable bras over the years. But the star’s relationship with the brand dates back over a decade.
Dawson and EBY CEO Renata Black had a chance encounter at the Burning Man music festival 15 years ago when Dawson borrowed Black’s hat.
“[Renata] was like, ‘There’s no way you’re going to return it back. No one ever finds each other at Burning Man,'” she tells PEOPLE exclusively following the bra’s June 26 launch. “And then she ended up finding it on her bunk the next day. Generosity and trust … that’s been the basis of our relationship since.”
Dawson, 46, and Black then managed to forge a bond because of their values, first with a collaboration between the actress’ fashion brand, Studio 189, which used prints for pieces in EBY’s underwear collection. The partnership, according to Dawson, “was able to do micro loans for women in Ghana, which [Black] had never operated in before, and I’d loved that she always had that be a big part of her company; it’s a big part of our ethos with Studio 189 as well.”
EBY
The friendship blossomed into a financial partnership in 2022, with the actress becoming an investor in Black’s company. When Dawson learned that the CEO wanted to make wire bras “as obsolete as a fax machine,” she was on board even more.
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Black’s research in making a comfortable and supportive wireless bra led to the creation of the Pain Free T-Shirt Bra, which uses patented Smart Silicone Tec® (a moldable silicone material) that adapts to the unique curves of each wearer’s body to deliver the same lift and support as wired bras, minus the discomfort.
“I was one of the folks that was trying it on and saying, ‘It needs to be tweaked for the way that I’m shaped and the way that I’m built, and certain adjustments could be made,” Dawson said of the creation process for the Pain Free T-Shirt Bra, noting that Black spent “years” creating the technology.
Dawson’s involvement in the creation of EBY’s latest offering comes from a personal place. She and her mother, like many women, had trouble shopping in the intimates section, and it led to her feeling a false sense of comfort by trying to make incorrect sizes work for her body.
“My mom’s a pretty buxom lady, and so we’ve gone to specialty places to get her fitted,” she recalls. “I’m walking in and they can just see it through my shirt that I’m wearing the wrong thing because of how it’s peeking out of the sides. You start wearing these bras so long that they start to feel kind of comfortable.”
Now, with EBY — which offers sizes XS to 2XLDD — Dawson says her mom “can go to the site and doesn’t have to go out of her way to get what she needs. I love that. I love that for her. I love that for us.”
EBY
As for Dawson’s own experience with bras, she’s had less-than-savory experiences before EBY’s offerings came along. “When people try to transition away from wire bras, oftentimes they end up in exercise bras and get that uni-boob look,” the Men in Black II star explains. “You’re trading into comfort but you’re trading out the look, feel, support and lift that you normally get.”
“That sigh that you do the second you can rip your bra off at the end of the day because the wire is so uncomfortable,” she adds, “it’s something that a lot of women relate to, and so I love that [Black] wanted to tackle this problem and did it with a lot of innovation.”
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The star’s passion behind the messaging of the campaign, which seeks to dispel the notion that supportive bras have to be painful, ultimately led her to star in the campaign, but not without a struggle.
“I was like, ‘absolutely not. That’s crazy.’ I said no multiple times, but it was such a fun process seeing her vision and dedication to it that she ended up convincing me. This is by women for women and supporting women in more ways than just a lift of a bra.”
