Finding the Right Bra

It's as easy as A, B, C or D

    Buying a bra. It’s an activity that strikes anxiety and intrigue into the breast of every woman. But how many of us are actually wearing the right size? How many of us believe, for whatever reasons, that support, comfort and cuteness can’t be part of the same package? Gather ’round, girlfriends: I took a bullet for you on this one.
    I decided to go to my trusty Nordstrom store, where all the lingerie salespeople, they are happy to tell you, are certified to do fittings. I had coaxed my mother into going with me, but, in the end, she chickened out. So it was just me who marched up one bright Saturday morning and said to the first woman who had the misfortune of making eye contact with me, “I would like an official fitting, please!”
    Now, we probably all have much the same image of this procedure: squashing ourselves into the dressing room and letting a cigarette-voiced woman with sewing pins in her hair wrap a measuring tape around the bosoms so tightly you want to gasp that you’ve already had your annual mammogram. The measuring would be followed by some groping, grasping, plumping and maybe some shoving. And out you go, swaddled and itchy, looking not unlike an early ’90s conical Madonna or your great-aunt Marge at the Thanksgiving buffet.
    But it was nothing like that. The saleswoman (let’s call her “Barbra”—get it?) measured my bust over my T-shirt, then asked what size I was wearing. I couldn’t remember, so she checked for me. I was wearing a 36—one band size larger than what she’d just measured. I was immediately embarrassed at being wrong. “I’ve gained a little weight since the new year,” I said, almost apologetically. “The 34 felt too tight when I bought this bra.”
    “That’s a 2-inch difference,” she said matter-of-factly. “It would take a lot of weight to go up a full band size.” This made so much sense that I felt dumb. Well, math was never my strong suit. But she continued reassuringly, “The weight probably went up front, and that’s why the bras felt tight.” She fetched one of the store try-on bras, a 34-D, to get a more accurate measurement. I wanted to laugh. A D cup? I’m not a big girl, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. (Both my mother and my well-endowed editor laughed at this, too.) Nevertheless, I tried it on.
    “Did you get all the tissue into the cups?” Barbra asked.
    “Where else would it go?” I wondered.
    She demonstrated: The breast tissue should be pulled forward, so that the cups fit snugly at the chest wall where it meets the side of the body, and not on the breast tissue itself. I leaned over and let everything fall forward. Upon righting myself, I noticed an immediate difference. Although the cup was too large—as evidenced by the wrinkled material—everything seemed to be shaped better, placed where it should be.
    After describing my personal style—nothing fancy, garish or lacy—Barbra flew from the dressing room. She was back within minutes, eight lovely 34-C brassieres in hand.
    First was a Chantelle seamless bra ($64). It was too tight around the rib cage, and I, uh, spilled over. “European sizes tend to be cut smaller,” Barbra said. The next two were Natoris ($46 and $54, and her personal favorites) with satiny material and comfortable elastic. Plus, they had convertible straps, so the bra could also be worn as a halter or a racerback.
    The light pink DKNY ($34) was also cute and comfortable. Summertime means white T-shirts, so I prefer white or nude bras (“Nude is better,” Barbra advised. “White bras under white shirts is just too much white.”), but the pink proved light enough. The next four were Wacoals, which ranged in style (padded and not), comfort (-able and not) and price ($35-56).
    Round 2! I narrowed my selection by half. This time, I noticed a slight gap between the DKNY’s underwire and my sternum. Even though it passed the arms-over-the-head stretch test, I confessed, “I always worry about falling out of the bottom.”
    Barbra explained that the gap meant the bra was a smidge too small. Also, it was too high on my back. “The band should be under the shoulder blades—not riding up—and level with the bottom of the bust,” Barbra said, indicating where I had been measured. If I wanted that pretty pink DKNY, I’d have to try the next size up: a 32-D!
    While Barbra was searching, I eavesdropped on two women and their saleswoman in an adjacent dressing room. One woman was gleeful to have finally gotten a proper fitting: She had gone up a cup size. “My husband is going to be so happy!” she chortled. Her friend was thrilled that her own well-fitted bra made her look thinner. The problem in the past, their saleswoman pointed out—and the same problem that most women have, in fact—is buying “too big a band, too small a cup size.”
    Enter Barbra, returning with the 32-D. (Again: !) For Round 3, I narrowed my selection and she gave her approval. But unable to decide upon just one, I decided to splurge on two: the very first Natori I’d tried (a 34-C) and the newer 32-D DKNY.
    After years of deliberation, pinching and poor support, I now know the proper way to shop for and wear a bra. The total purchase with tax was $86.60. At approximately 80 percent of my summer clothing budget, was it worth $43.30 a breast? Mine is the only expert opinion I need, and I say yes!

---

Here’s how to keep your perfectly fitted bra in good working order:

⇒The primary source of wear and tear is, of course, laundering. “I know you’re supposed
  to hand wash them,” Barbra confided, “but who has the time?” She recommended a lingerie
  bag for longer preservation.
⇒Use the first set of back hooks when the bra is new. That way, there’s room to tighten the
  fastenings as the bra loses elasticity with time. Also, shoulder straps are adjustable for a
  reason—adjust when needed!
⇒Bras vary by make and model, and breasts change over time; so even if you think you know
  your size, always do your girls a favor by trying on the bra before purchase.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Solano Magazine »