M&S bra measuring - absolute insanity?

[Aperolsprizter]

Just wanted a sanity check here. I’ve not had a bra measure in a few years, used to love Debenhams. Had an experience with m&s when I was younger and hated it but thought I’d have to give it another go as nowhere near me does bra fittings on the high street any more (have tried boom and bust, measuring myself but never seem to get it right).

anyway, go in wearing a soft unsupportive bra and state that I’ve been wearing 38Ds, but feel they aren’t holding me and I can pull them onto my stomach so want something with more support. She tries to put me in a 44 B - I humour her and try it on but can literally pull it out miles on the back and the cup clearly doesn’t fit. She then says my current bra made my boobs look deceptively small and actually I might be a 40 D. I try and then again, don’t feel supported. We size down to a 38 E and it’s still too loose. I eventually ask for a second opinion (possibly snippy but I don’t want to spend 40 on badly fitting bras!) who says I’m a 36e. I try this and it gives support and fits fine.

she then tells me it’s policy to size up at least four inches on what you measure (so she was a 32 but said she was wearing a 36) and I must like bras a lot more fitted than most women.

is this normal??? For context I’m 5’3, a size 12/14 and yes, quite top heavy with a comparitifely wider back to my hips

A Bra That Fits thread has lots of helpful info, and links to this size calculator.

No idea why UK bra measuring is so batshit. I've read that most women are wearing too small a cup on too large a band. Partly the old 'add 4' rule; partly not understanding how band size and cup volume interact, or how bras are intended to support, or how breast shapes vary; plus ofc men designing bras. I think there's also an element of shops shoving everyone into the popular sizes which are in stock.

I spent my 30's and 40's uncomfortable and wriggling out a 34B as soon as I walked in the door. Finally sat down and figured it out and I get proper support from a 30E. (DD in the UK but I refuse to acknowledge such a moronic sizing system). I still avoid wearing bras when I can, but at least I'm comfortable when I do!

Also I don’t know whether I’m just on one over it but she was weird about my choices anyway - I wear minimisers and she went in on how I’d look like a sausage in one 😭

M&S measured my very petite 13yr old as a 36C and insisted the bras they had her try on fitted so loosely because she needs growing room. I refused to buy them, measured her myself at home and she was a 28B.

They told me I needed a 38C despite spilled out of the cups, went to Bravissimo and they put me in a 34E which was perfect.

I once overheard the woman fitting a teenage girl with the add four inches method and actually lay in wait for her mum when I was leaving the fitting rooms to suggest she took her to either Bravissimo or House of Fraser, it was just so bad.

You could hear how mortified the poor child was to hear the size, and she certainly wasn't being offered any nice fun bras either.

This happened to me years ago! Hence why I didn’t go back - they said I was a 38aa age 16 and honestly I think it damaged me for years 🥲

M and s bras are shite

@Aperolsprizter I know! They had me in 34B at 14 which on reflection, given I'm now 40 and considerably less scrawny but still wearing a 32 band was completely insane.

I'm a size 12 and I'm correctly measured in a 38B.

M&S bras are generally fine but you need to know what size you are before you enter the shop. Never been fitted there but have been fitted in a proper lingerie shop.

Only gripe about the bras themselves is that many of them have lacy cups and delicate straps. I need a 'boulder holder' style.

I’m confused, I just measured under bust and it’s 28”, but if I wear a 32 bra, it’s pretty tight and I’d have to put it on the loosest of the eyelets. There’s no way I’d be able to do up a 28…….

M&S tried to tell me I was a 55B - I am actually a 36H 😂😂

FIFTY FIVE B?????

They told me I am a 42B. Bravissimo fitted me as a 38FF.

Didn't know that size existed 😀

This is making me want to visit M&S just to see what they suggest!

You need bigger cups. If you measure28", it is logical that a 28" stretchy band will also fit. If it's tight, it's because your breast tissue is not being contained within the cups.

I love M and S , but their bra fitting is a no no!
They said I was 36A!
Boob or bust said 30 E which I wear but more often a 32D as I don't like bras too tight. 36A would hang off my back!
I can't believe M and S haven't updated their sizing!
My mum is 40B in M and S. I told her about boob or bust and she bought one 36DD bra and is really happy with the fitting.

Measured by who?
I'm a 20/22 and wear a 36 back bra so I can't see how a 38 would be the right size for a size 12

Thats interesting that JL won't measure with a tape anymore.
I wonder if it's a coincidence that they now allow anyone self identifying as a woman into the lingerie fitting rooms. I assume it's to protect the staff. Sad times and I hope I'm wrong. But I suspect I'm right

That’s an outdated measuring systems it used to be a formula to add 4 inches to an even measurement and 5 to an odd measurement (hence all bras are an even number.) That isn’t the best way to do it now. Also M&S measure you for their bras which are sized differently to other retailers.

I used to be mystified by the +4 inches method as a teenager because I was skinny and boobless so it used to come out as a negative size

Then I tried the BOB method in my twenties and still couldn't get it to be comfortable. I should actually try again now I've put some weight on.

I did used to find with a 28 inch chest a 28 band was extremely uncomfortably tight as in I could literally not do it up or if I did, I couldn't breathe or I felt it stretching right to the limits of the elastic and then stopping (!)

That seemed to be the case no matter what cup size I tried, though honestly 28 bands don't usually come in very large cups. I think they go up to about a C?

I live abroad so can't go to Bravissimo and I thought they were only for people with big boobs anyway.

@BertieBotts I wear 28HH - Freya is my preferred brand; I order from online (sometimes from eBay), no hope in hell finding my size in an actual shop, it seems

Yes but that doesn't work if I don't know what size I am and I just want to try things on.

Try a 30 band and go down a cup size may be better?

M&S shouldn't offer bra measuring and fitting.

I've worn a G/GG cup since I was 13 - at 21 they told me I was an E? It didn't fit. Then started going backwards to a D cup.

I'm now a JJ, Bravissimo are amazing and very helpful.