Brassiere with soft/hard underwire assembly

In combination with a brassiere having a pair of cups, a pair of underwire assemblies each comprising:

• inner and outer U-shaped hard underwire portions extending substantially parallel to each other along a lower edge of a respective cup of the brassiere, joined together at ends, and separated by an arcuate slot between the ends, the portions being upwardly arcuately concave so as to conform to the contour of a breast in the cup and horizontally arcuately concave so as to conform to the contour of the chest of a wearer of the brassiere;
• and
• a soft plastic body in which both of the hard underwire portions are embedded and having an apron along a concave side of the body lying at an angle to the hard underwire portions and with an upward curvature in a plane transverse to the wire so that the body and the underwire form a pocket receiving a breast of the wearer in the cup.