Bra shopping misery...yes, I'm aware I've gained weight. But didn't think bra shopping would be this hard

[alltoomuchrightnow]

For most of my 30s I fluctuated between 36 - 38 DD apart from when I lost a load of weight with Lighterlife and was a 36D for a couple of years before I regained the weight
I have a broad back/ shoulders and my bra size doesn't change that much... having lost five stone with LL and getting to a size 10-12 on bottom half (and looking v slim as i'm tall), I was still a top heavy 36D
But anyway...sigh..that was then
I have put weight on in the last couple of years, I need to address that, I will address that, but need a bra for the here and now especially as I have job interviews . Right now, as from very recently, am a 40DD. Just gaining that bit of extra weight backfat has made high street shopping today a nightmare...I had to try as all my 38DDs were cutting in my back

Primark... only one 40DD in the entire (large). Balconette style, which is not my thing, but I snapped it up because it was cheap and I'm out of work.
Went to John Lewis, really thought I'd be able to get something in Freya or Triumph as I've been wearing Triumph for years, never a problem with my normal 38 DD...not a single one. Assistant asked me if I needed help. When I told her the size, she said they didn't stock it because 'we don't do that size. Buyers would never want to buy in that size for us' . I felt like such a fat frump.

So it's not the DD's is it..but being a 40 that's so hard?
Where can I get non frumpy but supportive and not extortionate ones? Guess it's going to have to be online?
Is 40 really that unusual? There are plus size shops and plus size clothing ranges everywhere (and to be honest I'm not entirely at that stage yet, can get away with 16 - 18 in most stores and hope to lose weight. i.e. I'm a 16 bottom half but an 18 top cos of the norks) but I do need a plus size bra...

Go to Bravissimo in Milton Keynes, I would say.

Go to Bravissimo in MK. Chances are you need a 36 band and bigger cup size than m&s/primark stock. They do decent bras at around the £30 mark.

Bravissimo or Triumph.

I've gone from 34f to 38j due to pregnancy. And I've still got 10w to go. It's a nightmare trying to get decent bras above G cup no matter what back size

Hope you find sthg soon.

oh poo i know realise I've been there (MK store) and got a Pepperberry dress and didnt even see the bra section!

thanks for all the advice.
I still don't get it though! can someone explain the 'science' i.e. if I'm about 37 inches , how can my worn out old 40 bra cut in?? surely it should be too loose?

Bravissimo. Buy one there then shop online. Until I was BF Freya bras were brilliant for me. Once you have been measured properly you can buy sale ones from figleaves, bravissimo and debenhams.

Because cup sizes make a difference to the band size.

If you had a ribbon and tied a couple of marbles on it, do you think it would be the same length as if you tied a couple of beach balls on it?

Read here www.epbot.com/2013/04/everything-you-never-knew-you-needed-to.html

ok , putting it like that helps, thanks Ida!
Yet I thought my cup sizes looked and felt ok.
So basically.. my norks are .. ??? pulling the back band into my skin???
going to ring Bravissimo MK tomorrow and see if can book a fitting

The ribbon would still be the same length though . You mean how taut it would be

anyone know what size Bravissimo go up to? as Pepperberry only go up to size 18

Click on the link above. Click through to the nsfw scooping links.

Measure the actual band of the bra, if you like! But if it sits in the wrong place, and your boobs take up the band size instead of the cup size, it will dig.

Take me as an example. I was wearing a diggy 36C. I kept tightening the shoulder pieces. It looked like it fit from the front. But it rode up the back and dug in.

Going down in band size allows it to sit in the right place, allows the cups to actually encase the boobs and offer support. I needed less band and more cup. Cups wider to stop the band digging in.

I ended up wearing a 30E. Down three back sizes and up three cup sizes. Now it fits.

Sorry, just missed some of this. Ok, yes you can very definitely need a 36. M&S put me in a 36F when I'm a 30HH. They're eejits.

It's very common to feel like your band is too small when it's really the cups.Basically, if you need more cup space than you have then the edge of the cups isn't in the right place - it's too far forward/round to the front of your body. That means that the band is covering more of your torso than it should be, so it feels too tight.

Bravissimo go up to a 40L so they will very definitely be able to help.

Pepperberry goes to an 18, but the bust of their 18s is considerably bigger than the bust on a standard 18. Something like an 18 SC probably has the waist of an 18, but the overbust of more like a 22.

Hi OP. I went to Bravissimo after reading these bra threads (had to go to a different country!!) and they just looked at me and knew what size I was. Used to wear a 36C which got too tight and now in a 30G. It's amazing. Go go go!

I LOVE a good bra intervention revelation. I was a 34b or a 34b sometimes. Measured as such by M&S.

The interventionists, and Bravissimo, put me at a... 28f. Sometimes a 28ff. So a bit different. But perfect.

wow, Spotted!!!!!

so what sort of dress size, would a true 40 be then?? 22? 24 or more?

I know!!!!
I was dreading walking into Bravissimo (MK too!), as tho I wear an F, I am still really tiny up top. I thought I'd be laughed out of store. But they were lovely. And now, with the scooping, I am slightly less tiny than before.

Oh, perfect was meant to mean the right-sized bra, not like 'ooh, get me, I am so perfect'.

It's hard to say exactly re dress size, as dress size is itself distorted by boobs! So if I was buying a non stretchy shirt I'd probably buy an 18, but I'm a 30 band. It varies a lot depending on body shape too, so an hourglass 18 will tend to have a smaller band size than an 18 apple

Yes i am a size 10/12 with a 30 band! So really depends.

Another bravissimo revelation here - from never-quite-right 34c to 30f; and only £23 per bra too. Go go go.

i will confess.. before writing this thread, I was so pissed off and fed up that on impulse I went on ebay and bought two 40DD bras
even more effed off now! that's money that could go towards the RIGHT bra. I really can't afford to make a mistake like that. Resell them? -see if Bravissimo have any vacancies when I visit them!--

ok that makes me feel better , Statistically. Thinking i was now a 40 , I thought my dress size was going to end up more like 22 or so.
You say you're a 30 band.. to me in my head, and as an ebay clothing seller, that would be a size 6 or 8!! yet you say you would buy an 18 top! this is all a revelation to me.
I can't believe i've been a nork-ignoramus for so long! (puts head in hands and sighs deeply)

Im an 18 SC in Pepperberry by the way. Wore one of their nipped in style non stretchy dresses last night, which fits great