Size 14, 38E body storms Hollywood?

[Scaredycat3000]

Grazia front page this week,
Here
I'm sure there are many things that could be discussed about this front page, but for me it's the bra sizing. I have no idea who she is or what Mad men is, so I really am just talking about the inaccurate bra size.
Celebrities clothing/bra sizes and weight are regularly guessed by the media. All of this unhealthy for our body image. Bra sizing is always all over the place and a poor fitting bra has been linked as a possible link to breast cancer, and generally bad for your health. So isn't it important that these things are vaguely right? A size 14 body should be wearing a 34 approx, and no way are those norks an E cup, you're going H cup upwards there.
I regularly see I'll fitting bras on models, headlines such as this, why bother? Why guess the size rather than put nothing? Why put a model in the wrong size? Obviously I can't find examples now, but I often see models wearing bras that have a huge gap between their flesh and the band, with cups that are then to small.
It's just plain lazy, surly Grazia has a lot of women working there, are they wearing ill fitting bras?

I've just looked up US bra sizes (must be bored tonight).
US 38DD/E = UK 38F
(and UK38E = US 38DD)

US size 14 = UK size 16/18
(UK 14 = US size 10/12)

What site is that on Omi? Be interested to know what I am in US bra sizes!

International bra size converter

I'm a 14 now and a 40 inch back (breastfeeding though)

Even when I was an 8/10 and very fit and sporty I was a 36 inch back.

Don't really understand why size 14 = 34 inch bra size, I've never worn a bra that small even when I was 3 stone lighter.

Some of us just have wide backs I think?

That does explain why I can never fit into dresses with a zip down the side though, they fit everywhere but the ribcage!

Even if it is wrong I would much rather have her positive body imagery plastered all over the place than some twiglet with no boobs!

Some have narrow, some have wide. I was 32 inch back when a size 14. She just didn't look like a 38E - that's the kind of size I'd have picked for myself before my only first trip to Rigby and Peller (where I discovered I was in fact a 32/34H).

I just want to point out (no reason, I just noticed it) that the bra size converter has a cute little bra icon in its tab.

Don't really see the size 14 = bra 34. As a teenager my friends and I swapped our clothes around a lot, we were all size 10 then (sigh) but bra sizes varied from 36AA to 34B to 32C.

And those boobs are definitely bigger than my current G-cup!

it all depeneds on the size of your rib cage. thats it. my friend is a clothes size 10 but she has a more athletic wider rib cage than me, and i am a 'clothes' size 14.

her ribs measure 36 mine measure 34.

her waist is prob about 28, wheras mince is 32.

my back fits into size 14 clothes, but sometimes my boobs don't!!, they are an e.

piratecat - I have a top and skirt fitted outfit. The skirt is a 10, the top is an 18 :o (am an E cup)

It's nice to know that E has entered the range of acceptable cup sizes - a few years ago glamourous bigger-boobed women were something-DD regardless of what they might really have been. Give it another forty years ago and my G-cups might be socially acceptable. :o

So basically, it's most likely that she's a US size 14, so a nice, normal, slim but not skinny but not too much to hold onto UK size 10. And they're making out she's some kind of plus size? Oh dear.

Fermina but a 34 bra doesn't mean that your ribcage measurement is 34 inches, it means that it's 29 inches and they add 4 or 5, and the difference between your ribcage measurement and your breast measurement then gives you your cup size.

So if a woman is a size 14 and is wearing a 34B bra for example her approximate measurements would be a ribcage of about 29 and a breast of about 31, so quite narrow backed.

Anyhow I think all this shows us is that 1, bra sizing is almost as complicated as the tax credits system, 2, that a woman with a proper womanly figure is viewed by Hollywood as something newsworthy and 3, US sizing is VERY different to UK sizing!

I am a size 14 36E and my tits DO NOT look like that !

(Thank christ...)

Mind you those numbers are quite arbitrary aren't they - I find bra sizes vary widely between stores. I'd love to go to Rigby and Peller and be "done" properly.

A US size 14 is a UK 18 not 10. So I presume she is a UK 14.

Sidge - that used to be true, but the industry standard was changed years ago. It's not longer necessary to add 4, in fact that's one of the reasons so many women wear the wrong sized bra. Some shops seem never to have caught up (M&S for example) and insist on selling women bras that are far too big (4 inches usually) in the band.

The band should provide most of the support, not the shoulder straps, which isn't possible if it's busy working it's way up your back. Bra sizes do tend to vary massively, it's always worth trying on a range of sizes.

There have been so many threads on bra fitting and they almost all mention this. Usually someone comes on complaining about having shit looking norks in their bra. Have usually been 'properly' fitted in a shop. OP is (for example) a size 14 and allegedly a 40 C. After much discussion OP goes off and tried a 32 F, 34 E and a 36 DD. Finds one that fits much better than the 40 C and comes back feeling like a new woman and looking 10lb lighter.

So what's the correct way to measure yourself for a bra now then? I thought you still did the adding of 4/5.

First you measure the ribcage directly under the bust. that measurement is your band size. You calculate the cup size by the difference between the rib measurement and the bust measurement. 1 inch = one cup size.

So a band measurement of 34 and a bust measurement of 36 is a 34 B. But, that's just a guide, you may find that a 32 C, 34 B or a 36 A gives a better fit depending on the brand and style of bra.

The same underwires are used in different cup sizes, the underwires in a 32 c, 34 B and a 36 A are all the same size. You MUST adjust the cup size if you adjust the band size.

Always try bras on at the loosest band setting, a 34 worn on it's tightest setting (when new) is a 32. The band will stretch with time and you need to be able to take it in as this happens. The band should be tight but you should be able to get two finger under it. Underwires should stand flat to your ribcage, if there's a gap the cup is too small. If there's wrinkling on the cup then it's too big.

I hope that makes sense...

Oh - If your band measurement is an uneven number you should round up to get the guide size, so, 33 rib measurement and 36 bust measurement would give you a guide size of 34 B.

I imagine Christina Hendricks' clothes need to be smaller than a 14 in the waist, maybe a 14 at the hips, but possibly larger than a 14 in the bust area. Difficult to buy.

IMDB says her measurements were 39-30-39 (as of 2009), but who knows really?

Fermina - thanks for that. Very clear.

with the "one inch = one cup size" thing, how do things like 'DD' and 'FF' come into it. Different brands seem top vary as to which of these are included in the range...

also agree about M&S - shockingly bad IME.

'tis trial and error TBH.

You have to apply the one inch = one cup size thing to the range of cup sizes offered by the brand in question. I've not come across any brands that don't include DD, but some have FF and others don't. An FF should be the same size as a G from a brand that doesn't do an FF, IYSWIM.

A DD a difference between band and bust measurement of 5 inches (D being 4 inch difference and E being 6 in difference). But, is the brand didn't do a DD the 5 inch difference would result in an E.

No wonder so many women wear the wrong size hey!

M&S bras are fine, as long as you can persuade them to let you out of the shop with the right size...