Vanity sizing: bras too?

[OhBuggerandArse]

I know, I know - 98% of women or something are meant to be wearing the wrong size bra - but I went to get measured for a long overdue new one today and (having started bra-wearing life as a 34B) now appear to be the ridiculous sounding size 30DD. I think I'm right that with the different band sizes this is actually the same cup size - so the only bit that has 'changed' can be my rib-cage, which you would think would be pretty unlikely to fluctuate much in size, certainly not by as much as four cm. Do manufacturers just think that low band/high cup sounds better?

I personally dont think it has changed - more manufacturers have just started making a wider range of sizes that actually fit rather than simply telling women to go up a back size and down a cup size (actual cups are the same size when you do that). I've barely changed in size - 15 years ago it was impossible to find anything that fitted me, as no one made 28 or 30 inch backs in my cup size. When they did it was a revelation. The reaction people gave me when I told them my size was to question whether it actually existed. Which is fine if its friends, not so fine when you are politely trying to ask a clueless shop assistant who is trying to sell you a bra that clearly doesn't fit (Hello M&S).

A 34B is a 30D cup size, so you have gone up a cup in real terms.

Different styles fit differently too.

I love la senza and don't care what they measure me at as their bras are always comfortable and support well. In there i'm a 36E and it's a full fit.

I don't think they do 'vanity' sizing just a bigger range that fits better than they did before.

M&S put me in a 34D. It looks and feels shit, but is probably pretty average size. Actually I prefer a 30E. I don't think it's vanity sizing, more a better range of sizes, which better reflects the variation in women's shapes.

Bigger ranges does make sense - I do get that. And the bras I came home with do seem to fit well.

For full disclosure, I should say that the first bra I ever bought was unmeasured, advised on by a friend who told me to get the 34B because that's what most people were... but I've been measured plenty of times since then, and there has been a slow and gentle decrease in the back size I come out as, which has more or less kept pace with the decrease in my trouser size (no weightloss to justify that!). Except in Topshop or Zara where I still seem to be quite Large! Maybe I should go and try to buy a bra in Topshop to test my hypothesis?

I've never understood the cup/back size thing. If I get a bigger back size it'll end up round my neck and the appropriate smaller cup size would only fit a third of my tit. Surely?

Yep lots of vanity sizing going on. If I buy M&S I am a quite sensible D cup. If I buy Elle McPherson (other than nursing which are sensibly sized) I am spilling out of the E cup, even with the same back size.

I also find the nice French brands come up quite small.

Stella MacCartney bras are hilariously small.

I'm not sure on everyone now having such small back sizes - causes a lot of back fat overhang in my experience even on slim people and also I find too uncomfortable.

It might be because to get back size you used to have to do the add on 4cms thing.

Now your backsize is what you actually measure, so if tape measure says 32 that is what you are, NOT 36.

A lot of online measuring guides and M&S still do the adding 4 thing, this is probably why so many women wear the wrong size.

And yes the band is meant to be tight, that is where the support comes from, it will give you back fat bulges if you have back fat but iit will fit you properly.

Well I'm not really fat I don't think but find a 32 more comfy than a 30 despite measuring 30 round my back and my bras don't ride up at all.

In many cases back fat and under arm bulges mean you need a bigger cup size. I get back fat in a 30 E & F but none in a 30G.

This is a good link;
www.thinandcurvy.com/2010/10/how-to-measure-your-bra-size-correct.html

I don't think it's vanity sizing. I've always had a small back size (28-30). When I first started wearing bras (a long time ago it was nigh on impossible to get a 30 and subsequently all of my bras rode up at the back. I used to make do with a 32DD but they were always too loose.

Now it's easier to get smaller back sizes and my bras finally fit.

I really don't feel the sizes have changed, it's just more manufacturers are waking up to the fact that a lot of women need a tighter band and a reasonable sized cup. I think the success of brands like Freya and Fantasie have prompted other manufacturers to think about including more sizes in their ranges.

Rough guideline

28 back = size 6, 30 = size 8, 32 = size 10, 34 = size 12 etc

Its definitely not exact, but women tend to be in proportion so its useful if you are questioning what back size you should be. (Cup size can't be related in any way to dress sizes, though retailers try to do this because, well, they are thick).

Which is why it was ridiculous in the first place that until fairly recently you couldn't get anything smaller than a 32. If bra vanity sizing was going on, I would have fitted a 32 15-20 years ago, but I've never fitted a 32 properly. Its always ridden up the back.

The issue isn't vanity sizes. Its the fitters.

When I've been measured in the past its depended on where I've been measured, the training of the staff and what stock they have which affects what size I've been told. There are a lot of places, I've actually laughed when I've been told a size. They have given me a 'best fit' size based on the nearest stock they have in the shop rather than what size I actually am. I've found it quite depressing and upsetting at times, that they had no interest in my comfort or trying to get in stock for women who needed similar sizes. The demand has always been there, its just that retailers have been incredibly slow in fulfilling it properly. Even now, you go into retailers who cater for teenagers (who you would expect to be small sizes and stock dress sizes 4-10) and you won't find a 28 or 30 back anywhere in their lingerie section, even with small cup sizes. I await the day that the likes of Topshop acknowledge the existence of the 30 back with baited breath...

The best example was one occasion I was told I was a 32C by a fitter. So to prove the point that she was utterly incompetent and trying to sell rather than give me a good service, I tried one on. It was hilarious and clearly at least 3 cup sizes too small, and it was up round my neck. I think I gave her a bit of a mouthful about just telling people you don't stock a size.

It does have to be said that fitters are getting a lot better as 28s and 30s become more commonplace and training improves. It was only after a good fitter told me that I was a 28/30 that I even started hunting them down which initially was a total nightmare as I didn't know they exist (pre-bravissimo). That lady was a godsend.

I agree with others. 15 years ago I was wearing 36DD because that's the best fit I could find. I didn't know any better and thought that it's normal that the bra rides up, you have a lovely 4-boob look and have to constantly adjust and stuff yourself back into your bra. That's what my mum and aunt did, after all, so guess it's just what you have to deal with if you have DD cups, I assumed.

I have not changed that much in size, but wear a 32F now that actually fits.

GWenlock, what is meant by the "go up a cup if you go down a back" is that the cup sizes change, 30DD is not the same cup size than 36DD. For example 34E has the same size cup than 32F - so if you are trying a 34E and the cup fits, but back is too large and you decide to try 32 back, then you should therefore try F and not E. Does that make sense?

BandersnatchCummerbund Yes, I'm a size 12 and I wear a 30G (or 30FF in Lepel) so it really does differ so much from person to person.

Agree with Bandersnatch, roughly a 14 here, although very hourglass, and a 30 back. When I go down about a stone or so I drop to a 28 back, and at 9 months pregnant I was only a 32.

I don't get it. Are you all really tiny or have I got my measurements completely wrong? I'm not huge or anything but if I try anything smaller than a 38 it digs in and I get painful red marks. Whenever anyone says they've been measured properly they seem to suddenly go from a 36 to a 30 or something - and that cannot feel okay, surely?

I'm not tiny :) far from it.

What are your actual measurements - i.e. underbust and across bust? Generally, the underbust measurement gives a pretty good indication of what your actual bra size will be although there can be some slight variation for comfort.

Hmm well I wear a size 10 and take a 34/36 back. I'm always hearing that I can't possibly be that big but when I try bras on there is no way I could get in a 30 or 32

Size 10 and currently wearing a 30E. My boobs are not big - you'd guess a B or C cup to look at them, I suppose. I wore a 34B for years because that's what M&S told me when I was first properly fitted at about 15/16 and because that's about the size my mum wore I thought it was okay.

Now I have a cleavage, the back doesn't ride up and my shoulders don't ache. If it weren't for one very insistent lady in Debenhams a while back I would never had guessed I was an E cup.

SaraBellumHertz What's your under bust (tight) measurement? I wouldn't be surprised if you could wear a 30 or 32 back with a much bigger cup.

My skinny size 8 13 year old niece with hardly any bust to look at has just been fitted as a 28DD.