Free in-store fittings are now a standard service, yet a new survey has shown that most women are still getting their bra size wrong
I was 15 years old when I bought my first bra in 1997. It was a non-wired 28B, white with a yellow trim, found in the Oxford Street branch of Marks & Spencer, and sized and selected by eye by my mother. I don't recall seeing a specialist bra-fitter lurking around the dressing room that day. Nor do I remember thinking I needed any help (beyond my mother's) in selecting my own underwear.
That world is long gone. Now we have specialists wielding tape measures, happy and eager to help you with your brassiere needs. Almost every department store has a team of women who will size you up (for free) for specially engineered lingerie. But do we really need people to tell us what size bra to wear? Moreover, in light of this now ubiquitous service, are there really still women who do not know what size they are? A survey says British women own, on average, 16 bras at any one time. Are they all the wrong size? Can't women be trusted to choose their own undergarments correctly?
Bizarrely, the answer seems to be no. Last year, the University of Portsmouth's breast biomechanic research unit found that women tend to wear the wrong bra size, with the most common problem being a too-small cup. My call for bra-fitting stories via Twitter and Facebook resulted in an overwhelming number of responses. More than one person came up with the cliched "It changed my life!" reply. In my ? entirely unscientific survey ? almost everyone who responded said they had been wearing bras that were too small before they went for a fitting, and every last woman reported new realms of comfort and pleasure. Following my initial bra-buying trip as a teenager, I did not seek professional help fitting a bra until 2009, when I was 27. That day, I walked into M&S in a 34C (which I had been wearing for years) and emerged 20 minutes later with a straight back and a 32E bra.
Although shops must see resizing as a way of boosting sales, Debenhams surveyed 1,000 women across the UK and found the biggest reason for not going to get professionally measured was embarrassment. This, alongside a lack of knowledge about what a bra fitting actually entails, was the reason why 85% of women were wearing the wrong bra size. It's part of the reason why the store did a series of live bra fittings in the shop window of its flagship London branch yesterday. Although the store used models and provided modesty curtains for potential customers, it is difficult to see how this could help with the embarrassment.
Despite these findings, I'd argue that for most people, it's more force of habit. Michelle Dowdall Debenhams' lingerie PR manager, agrees. "You get a size that you start to wear in your late teens, then you stick with that until you're told otherwise, usually during pregnancy and nursing," she says. "After that, people just don't spend the time."
Amie, who has been working as a bra-fitter with Debenhams for 10 months, fits a minimum of five women every day, but this has been known to go up to 50 during busy sale periods. "I get people who are so off the mark, it's unbelievable," she says. "I've had someone come in wearing a 36A when they were actually a 32E." Amie reckons lots of women get it so wrong because they simply don't know what they're doing. "We're just not taught what to look for when we go bra shopping."
So, what are the basics? "Simple things: if the bra is underwired, make sure the centre panel lies flat against your chest," she says. "Make sure it's not too tight across the back ? you should be able to get two fingers between the bra and your skin. The straps mustn't slide off. When trying it on, always start on the loosest clasp. Most of all, make sure it's comfortable."
Of course, some people just don't see the need. One friend says: "I still stubbornly believe that I can try on my own clothing. There are only so many sizes out there and I've done the trial-and-error thing." She accepts that her smaller bust may be a factor. "I don't have much going on in that arena, so maybe that makes it easier." Others have eschewed bras altogether: "Uniqlo's one-size-fits-all supported vests have changed my life," says one. "I'm never wearing an underwired bra again."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/06/does-your-bra-fit-properly
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