Following on from all the bra threads...AIBU in thinking the media skews our image of bra sizes?

[ScarletLady02]

I'm a recent convert to a properly fitting bra. I was wearing a 38C, but was measured and found out I'm actually a 34DD/E.

At first I thought there is no way that's right, but it is...I'm so much more comfortable now.

I was reading that story yesterday about the woman who had a boob job on the NHS (easy to find a link) and apparently she has 36DD boobs. I look at that now and think NO WAY ON EARTH are they 36DD. She's much slimmer than me so haw can she have a bigger back size? Plus the volume of boob is about twice that of mine!

AIBU in thinking no wonder so many women are surprised at their correct size, and will put up with bras that fit so badly because they think "How can I possibly be an E cup?? Look at Jordan, Pammy etc"?

Oh and thanks again to all the lovely bra women on here...the campaign is great

I am wearing a Freya 32J today, it fits perfectly (thanks to the ladies on here) I am a size 16, in buttoned blouses I have to go into a size 20 because of my ample cup size. A 32 back does not mean a size10/12

Previous to my online measuring I was swinging around in a 40F, I have lost 2 inches because of losing weight, the rest of the band measurement has been lost because i was measured correctly and ingnored all the add inches advice. I no longer have a sore back, my boobs sit at the front of my chest and not under my armpit or resting on my tummy. For the first time EVER, i am comfortable all day in an underwired bra.

I'm laughing

The thing is, my 32" Myla bras fit me perfectly, because they are sized to fit my underbust measurement of 28" + 4" = 32".

I do understand that if I were to shop elsewhere, then I might have to not add the 4", and that a 28" back size in some shops will be the same size as a 32" back in Myla/M&S.

My point is that just because a few shops have decided to change the system, it has not been accepted as a 'standard' as some people on this thread are suggesting. It is dependent on where you shop.

duckworth I am 41 and have 2 children, so am hardly a child. I wear that range of bras.

I am a size 6 and weigh 8 stone. My rib cage is 30 inches, so now wear a 30b (rather than a 34aa from M&S which is just a loose pice of elastic and fabric that does nothing for my shape).

We are all different shapes and sizes, manufacturers should take note.

duckworth go to bravissimo and get fitted. see what back size they put you in. It will not add 4-5 inches because they understand how a bra should fit. major bra manufacturers like Freya and panache have openly stated that they agree with them. But many retailers are still using an old approach which does not account for the fact that bras are stretchy.

Your band takes 80% of your breast weight. It can't do this if you add inches.

There is a slight variance between bras/brands but not to this extent. The bra marks snd Spencer put me in did not fit-not on the basis of not being the same label size but on the basis it failed pretty much every piece of good bra fitting information. It rode up, the straps hurt, it sat on breast tissue, it offered no support.

Before you declare we are all wrong, give it a try. There are also some great and informative blogs around. chrvk out the butterfly collection, invest in your chest, bras i hate, sophisticated pair, fuller figure fuller bust as a start point.

The retailers know they are wrong. Some have already changed-John Lewis have, house of fraser in store fitters although their website is out of date, Debenhams are getting better.

I measure 30" underbust and M&S 30DD fit.

I can't buy my proper size in M&S, if I followd there advice though I would be stuffed into a 36F with boobs in every place but were they are meant to be. Its not their bras that measure different to everyone else, its the fitters that are measuring wrong. I believe they measure you to fit what they sell

But the shops don't measure correctly for their own bras.

I have been fitted in mothercare for nursing bras which sat completely on the boon, rose up when I raised my arms,barely covered my nipples, straps fell down my arms, centerpiece not touching my chest etc... and been told I needed a bigger back size.

Bollocks!

I needed a smaller back size and a bigger cup, but they don't sell nursing head in a 28 back so of course they aren't going to acknowledge that as a 28 underboob I need a 28 size back.

The fitters are not trained to correctly fit the bras they are selling in the vast majority of shops I have been fitted in. They do not know what a correctly fitted bra even looks like. They are probably not wearing the right size yourself.

Iam - it might be that m&s bras do not suit you, or you need to go up or down a bit. 30d is your guide, it still takes some trial and error to find what works imo

GAH, sorry about typos. Silly phone.

But do they fit perfectly duckworth?

I bought a 34F bra - my 34Es were too small (am bfing) but not that much, and the 34 is my 30+4 as you suggest. At first glance, they look ok. However, if you look closely & follow the fitting advice from statistically et al, it is a very badly fitting bra. And its uncomfortable after a while. But I bought them because I thought they were ok & they're def better than the 36Fs I had...

Before having my 2 DC, I popped into John Lewis to get more 34C bras. The lady in there said 'try a 32DD' just from looking at me in a jumper. That size was never a great fit (again using the good fitting advice touted on here) but it was a better fit than the 34C. My DH was thrilled at me having DD boobs despite them clearly not having grown one jot between changing bras

What I'm trying to say is this "new" fitting advice isn't new, its just that nobody really seems to know what a good fitting bra looks like except statistically et al particularly M&S etc.

FWIW, I'm roughly a 30G now I think...

So, no OP, YANBU. I think there is a massive misconception about boob sizes and it is perpetuated by the media.

Duckworth, I also measure 28'' under bra.

I am wearing a 30DD, which is just right. The 32s do stretch a bit further back. I do have a 32D that is really tight, but it's a strapless bra.

A 28 for me will be too tight because I have virtually no fat around the ribcage.

If you are like me you may have to be in a 30 rather than a 28, and you can live in a 32. But the 30s give better support.

The problem, Duckworth, is that many shops/brands simply don't have larger bust sizes. Most stop at C, possibly D, and definitely not much larger in the sizes 28-30. So, they try to sell you what they have.

Totally YANBU.
I hate the whole "anything larger than a DD is freakishly big" myth perpetuated by the media.
I'm a G/GG cup, and my boobs, although being larger than they normally are due to breastfeeding, are by no means huge. At all.
I also hate seeing bra guides where the bra doesn't fit the model right. Not just bra fitting guides, actually. Most websites that sell bras have the wrong size bra on their models.
And seeing pictures of poor Christina Hendricks always falling out of her bras.

M&S don't fit their own bras correctly Duckworth. I went in recently wearing a 32H (that was actually too big in the back, and I'm a size 16). They fitted me in a 38E. It didn't fit at all. I could have put a friend in it with me. But for years I did wear a 36DD/E because I thought that was the best I could do. Then I went to Rigby & Peller and was put in a 32G, and looked as though I had lost a stone.

Try the MN way, you never know!

Marking my place, simply to witness the scales falling from Duckworth's eyes...

Hah. The worst fitting bra I have ever been bought came from Myla. According to their system I was a 32C. M&S agreed with this measurement. Bollocks. I was a small size 8 at the time, and quite frankly I should have been in a 26/28 back and a DD/E cup. It was beautiful, and I did wear it, but OMG it was uncomfortable.

Just because they charge £££ does not mean that they're any better at sizing you. I'm now a size 10-12 after two babies, and wear a 28-30 back with G/GGcups . It's difficult finding nursing bras in that size but at least I'm comfy. And I have a fantastic embonpoint in them too. That's French for 'a great rack' btw

I measure 28 under the bust (when not pg as I am atm) and tend to wear a 30 as otherwise it feels like it's squeezing my ribcage. I don't think that's too disastrous, and I find it more comfortable. I remember walking in to Bravissimo wearing a 34C and coming out wearing a 30G feeling like a different woman!

I am the same as Lueji 28" under bra but also wear 30 because I have no fat around the rib cage and found that when I tried a 28 it felt way too tight. I had been used to a 32c (using the m&s measure and add 4) so this could also be a reason why a 28 felt way too tight. Through trial and error I now have a couple of 30ds and 1 30dd bra which have made a massive difference to the way my boobs look and they are really comfortable. Now that I am used to a 30 band I am going to order some 28s in different styles and see how they feel.

if you are very slim and have very little padding you do sometimes need to go up one back. But it can also be down to size change shock! The opposite can be true for ladies with very squishy torsos who often need a back size which is smaller than they measure to get sufficient support. your back measurement is the best place to start though as it is normally very close to the true size.

It's not a 'new fangled' system at all, I was measuring this way in 2002 when I worked on a lingerie dept in a well known store.

If you measure 34 inches, then you should be wearing a 34 band size. Easy peasy. A properly fitting bra make a massive difference to your posture, how your clothes fit, the way you look, your personal comfort and your joints. The MN campaign is doing a great job.

Also marking place to see if duckworth tries the new method and what the results will be we all know what they will be alread

If you measure 30 inches around your underbust, why would you wear a brad which measures 34 inches?
No one is suggesting that the manufacturers are getting the sizes of the actual bras wrong (ie that the measurements of material etc are incorrect), more that the information they give on fitting and finding your bra size which is then used by some retailers is in fact what's incorrect.

Marking place (I have no shame).

I was wearing a 38B and thought it was right. The lovely ladies on the other thread suggested a 36D or DD and they were right. I'm wearing a lovely 36DD bra that fits perfectly, is super supportive and makes me look like I actually have boobs.

Duckworth, you may need to accept you and M&S are wrong in this issue. I measure 30 underbust and 34 round the boobs. According to M&S and you, this would make me 34AA, which is pretty absurd and does nothing whatever for me. Due to limited shop availability in my area, I actually ended up in M&S and tried a range of bras and styles. I bought a 30D. Despite my extreme skinniness it is D cup because there is a four inch difference between my band and my boobs. 31, 32, 33, 34- that's a difference of four. A, B, C, D - easy.

It's not a "new" way and bras aren't being made differently. It's simply a more logical way to measure.

YANBU, of course, was just thinking the same about the "36DD" story. Especially when I read some comments about well yeah she might have had issues but didn't have to go to DD which is freakishly large..
No, it's really not and she's no DD.

Yup, imagine being a DD, how absurd