Today is day two in our week on undergarments. Be sure to check out day one!
Yesterday I explained why you really need to get fitted for a new bra, how to do it, and what it will do for you. Today I want to explain some of the terms you'll hear in the process and how measuring actually works.
- Your bra size is much simpler than you think. It's comprised of a band size (the number) and a cup size (the letter). For a 36C, the band size is 36 and the cup size is C. (You'd be surprised how many women don't understand this).
- The band size is not not not the measurement around your ribs. If you wear a 36, you are not a 36 around. The way a band size is determined is a weird math-y thing (well, actually a simple math-y thing, but I'm an English major so all math is weird to me) where we measure around your ribs right under your bust and add five. If you're between sizes (the measurement plus five equals an odd number) we go for the lower number- I'll explain this later. If you're a true 36, then, your ribs are about 31 inches around, not 36.
- If you're between sizes, we add four instead of five. That means if you're coming up at 30 inches around and we add five to get 35, we're gonna tell you you're a 34. This is because bras wear out, no matter how well you treat them. Bands stretch, and we want you to wear that bra for more than a few weeks, so we recommend you buy it a little snug in the band for support and let it conform to your body rather than buy it a little loose in the band and end up with the bra riding up your back.
- The cup size is determined by the difference between your band and your bust measurements, but it's a little more complicated. For each inch of difference from your band SIZE (not measurement), we add a cup size (So if you're measuring 31 around the ribs and a 39 around the bust, you're a 36C). It gets complicated when, to put it plainly, you have two breasts to work with (as most of us do). The left breast tends to be a little bigger for some reason (doctors say maybe because of the placement of the heart, but I kind of doubt that), so your breasts could be two distinctly different sizes. Mathematically-speaking (my mom is so impressed with my math skills right now, by the way), you could be a D cup in one breast and a B in the other and average out to a C cup in measurement, which won't fit either breast and will leave you in a bra that doesn't fit. That's why it's so important for you to let a salesgirl check your fit- she'll see that a bra is gapping or spilling and switch it out for you. (Victoria's Secret has bras with removable padding so you can compensate on one side if you're a little smaller without overflowing the other, and most lingerie departments also sell boosts or gel inserts to even out cups. We recommend you buy the size that fits the larger breast and use the insert in the smaller one so at least one side is comfy without artificial help.)
- Every bra salesgirl has a pet peeve when it comes to bra fitting. No, not with you as a customer (though it's in your best interest to be nice to them, since they're fitting you for a garment you intend to wear daily); the pet peeves are with bra fitting itself. Personally, it kills me to see women wear the wrong band size. If it's too big and you argue with me that it feels kind of tight, I have to explain to you that it should feel snug to begin with, perfect for a good while, and then a little loose eventually (think the haircut cycle of shame minus the shame), rather than comfy for awhile then loose till you pony up the cash for a new bra. Women never like bras that are too tight (After two years on the job, I haven't ever had to tell a woman to step away from the 32C) but they tend to distrust the measurements and try on whatever size they're wearing, even if the bra is two years old.
- For a great bra anatomy lesson, there's a book in every Victoria's Secret with charts, FAQs, etc. that you can page through if you just ask an associate.
Tomorrow we'll discuss bra adjustments, troubleshooting, and dilemmas. (For example: why does this bra give me cleavage and this one leave me hanging?)
Comments
Thank you for this rousing article
this is great advice too! i used the VS miracle bra to compensate between the size differences due to my tubular breast syndrome...part of the reason i wanted to write a book on bras! the only thing i found in research though is that adding 5 inches to the band is too much for many women. I measured a 34 around and that is actually the band size I wear...for many women, it works to just add 1 or 2 inches. looking forward to the next installment! xx
No offense, but this is terrible advice. My ribcage is 30 inches and there is no way a 34 would support me at all. I wear a 30 or 32, depending on the brand, with the cup size changed appropriately - FF or F UK sizes, which is an H or G American.
Adding 4-5 inches to your ribcage to get your band measurements is a sure way to get an ill-fitting bra.
I agree I am 34 around the ribcage and a 39 bust. Soo adding four inches makes a 1 inch difference jails my girls to an A cup. LOL these girls started at a C cup in middle school. :)
the add 5" thing might have worked 70 years ago, but it doesn't anymore. it's how millions of women end up with bras that are way too big in the band and way too small in the cup. i measure 29" around my ribs and 39" around my bust. that would give me a 34DD. (i did wear a 34DD, when i was 40lbs heavier and before i had kids.) i wear a 30G (in UK sizes).
please just tell people how the band should fit - low and snug across the back, and how the cups should fit - center gore against your chest, underwire against your chest and under your arms where the breast starts.
Add 4 or 5 inches to underbust measurement, that doesn't work... I would be a 34DD, and I currently wear 30G/GG bras. Where is the support when the band is so loose? Your underbust measurement = your band size. If it's really too thight, then try one band size up.
umm, this advice is a joke.
i have been "fitted" at numerous stores, each giving me a different measurement and all telling me i was much smaller in the cup and larger in the band than i really was. i have had salesgirls measure me as small as a C as well as ask me if i thought THEIR measurement sounded right. is that sales girl who measured me in the middle of the store over my sweater really concerned about the well being of my breasts or is she more interested in making a sale by stuffing me into the very limited sizes that the store offered?
i, like so many other frustrated women, have given up on the hopeless US sizing situation and now purchase my bras from the UK. i am 23 and have never had children. i wear a 32 (my actual ribcage measurement) GG. in the US that would be a 32J which is almost impossible to find. if you want some true advice, get cozy with a tape measure to find your ACTUAL band size and be willing to try, try again with many different bras.
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