the gospel according to Bravissimo

[fox]

First of all:  I learned of the wonder that is Bravissimo from sebastienne, so she gets all the credit for my going in there in the first place.  And then they get all the credit for their policy of not using measuring tapes to decide what fits, but bringing things and trying them on you until they can see that they fit.  (This was the opposite of the experience I had at Dor-Ne in Silver Spring, which I know some people love, but where I said "This 36E is now too big in the band and actually a little too small in the cup, so I'd like to try on a 34FF, please," and the small Russian martinet who runs the place said "What?  No, look at the measuring tape!  You are 38!  And also, you are wearing that bra wrong, you don't need a different cup size."  And I said okay, but if 36 is too big I don't really think 38 is going to fit, and also, if I wore the cups the way you were suggesting, I'd hang out the bottom of them, so can I just -- I'll find it somewhere else, thanks.)  And then explaining what it was that didn't fit about the old bra, so that I'd be able to do this for myself in future.  HOORAY FOR THEM.

So today I went with abka to teach her what they taught me, and now I will teach you, too.

1. The band should be tighter than you think.  If you fasten it in front and then turn it around, you should probably have to tug it a little to do up the hooks, and then it should not turn all that easily around your body.  (You shouldn't have to hurt yourself, but if you can just pull it away from you and whip it around, it's too big.)  It should, in fact, press into your skin, assuming you have any subcutaneous fat at all.  Even if you don't!  Skin is elastic, right, so it should compress a little bit.  Basically, find a size that you think is maybe too tight; try the next size smaller.  If you can only fasten that smaller size with a great amount of effort, the original too-tight size is for you.  If you can fasten the smaller size with only a sort of minimal effort, try the next size smaller.  Repeat ad req. (eta2:  Yes!, as reginagiraffe says below, it should fit like this on the outside hook, because between washes and as it is no longer brand-new, it will stretch and you will need the second and third hooks.  If the bra only fits this way on the inside hook, it is too big and you should go down a band size.)
   • The band should fit right up under your breasts, in the crease between your breasts and your ribs, i.e. right where your breasts reattach to your body.  And it should be horizontal around your sides and your back.  If the band is higher in the back than in the front, it is too big and the weight of your breasts has pulled the front down.  This was the most counterintuitive thing for me to get used to, which is why I mention it here.  In order for the band to stay put, it needs to be tighter.
2. The center gore, the bit between the cups, should lie flat against your sternum.  All those people who joke about how they can store things in their bra?  They're wearing a much-too-small cup size (and probably a too-big band size, if the bra fits this way without violating #3).
   
3. The top of the cup should lie flat against your breast.  If it digs in, the cup is too small.  If there's a lot of slack, the cup is too big.
   
4. Adjust the adjustable straps so that they don't slip off your shoulders but don't dig in, either.  If they are at their shortest possible length and still slippy, then this is not the bra for you.  Ditto if they're at their longest length and still diggy, although I'm short enough in the torso that this will never happen to me.
   
5. (eta:  Oh, also:  don't forget that cup size is a function of band size, so if you change one, odds are you'll have to change the other.  If you're wearing 38C and the cups fit okay but the band is too big, the next thing you try should be 36D.  And if the band is still too big, you should try 34DD.  So if, to take one hypothetical example, you started out in a 38D and the band was too big and the cup was too small, going down to 34 means you're going up to F (=4D) at a minimum.)

It's just, it's so easy, and having a bra that fits properly is such a miraculous revelation, abka and I agreed it should be taught in school.  OMFG.  No joke, if you're wearing a bra that is too big in the band and too small in the cup -- as she was -- it just holds your breasts against your body, right, but too low, and not at all supportively, and argh.  Whereas if you have a bra that fits, it holds them up off your ribs and against your chest, and you seriously? look at least ten pounds lighter right there.  (Why?  Because it makes your waist visible.)

It takes almost no time for the new "this is too tight" sensation to reanalyze itself as the new "comfortable", and your clothes will fit better, and you won't be spending all kinds of time trying to find a graceful way to tug straps and things back into place, and honestly, y'all, there aren't a lot of things I get evangelical about, but it turns out this is one of them.  "I know this bra is the right size because I was measured for it" is not the right answer.  With all other items of clothing, you can tell if they fit by the way they look and feel, right?  I don't know why we so seldom learn what "this bra fits" looks and feels like, but we should.  The back shouldn't ride up.  The gore should sit against your sternum.  Ladies, it will change your life.  Trust me.

(see also post titled "can i get an amen?" later this month.)

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

wow, umm, okay. i can't imagine having a band fit that tightly. half my bras don't even *have* cups, just the elastic band, and are the pull-over-your-head sort.

i guess a visit to victoria's secret is in order....

(is this limited to women of specific size ranges? i'm a 34b or thereabouts, or a size "small", or at least so i thought....)

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I also gave up on Victoria's Secret because (a) they don't have anything bigger than DD and (b) their bras are quite stretchy and minimally-supportive anyway. But to actually answer your question, no, it's not that this is all true of some women and not others -- but the differences between a well-fitting and an ill-fitting bra are probably exponentially greater at bigger cup sizes. I've known smaller-breasted women who said they frankly wore the bra more for the insulation than the support; in that case, I guess it wouldn't matter much whether it fit snugly or not. But if you can wiggle around in a 34B, then (without ever having laid eyes on you, of course, so, grain of salt^100) I'd guess 30-C-ish, personally. I don't think of 34 as especially small (said the size M in 32FF).

[mearagrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah--if you're a 32B wearing a 34A, it's probably not going to make a huge difference, unless your breasts need a lot of support. Me, I wear them mostly for the padding, but I'm an A cup. :) But for bigger sizes it can definitely make a HUGE (and SO much more flattering) difference.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Everything darthfox wrote here is true for all women, for all bras. The band should be skin-tight, the gore should be completely flat against your breastbone, and the top of the cup should neither gap nor press - it should be flush against your breast. It can take a lot of trying bras on to find the right one.

Also, Victoria's Secret is crappy unless you are *exactly* the shape they make bras for and no other. Plus the quality of the bras is not that high. VS's success is mostly the marketing and not the product.

Also, what giraffe said below: it should be skin-tight at the first or second hook; it should be too tight at the third hook, because once it stretches out a little, you'll need to make it tighter.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

hm. i think i may be the shape that vs makes bras for, mostly b/c the curve of their underwires actually matches the curve under my breasts, without poking me anywhere. and they're cheap (well, on sale, which seems to be usually), colorful, and 100% cotton; i have some i've had for a good ten years that are not worn out. this is basically all i generally ask of any garment...

i will have to check into the smaller band sizes thing, though.

[creativecstasy.livejournal.com]

10 YEARS?? I've always been taught that bras should be replaced every 6-9 months! eep!

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

they're not ones i wear very often :)