Tomima’s Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

Guy Fashion 101: T-shirts and undershirts are not the same. Undershirts should not be worn as t-shirts and vice versa. If you got it for free, it’s probably cheap and ill-fitting. Every guy should own a wardrobe of both undershirts and t-shirts. These are the rules.

Let’s begin with undershirts. An undershirt is designed to be worn UNDER another shirt. It’s primary purpose is to catch perspiration and, in the winter, to add warmth. A proper undershirt is one that is form-fitting, not too thick, and has the right neckline so that it can’t be seen under the top shirt. For example, you want to wear an open button down shirt. Wear a v-neck undershirt, and have it be long sleeve if you want added warmth. Of course, an undershirt should also be all cotton in order to absorb perspiration.

How many undershirts should a guy have? It really depends on your lifestyle. If you wear a suit and tie every day, you should have at least two weeks worth of undershirts. This will cover you for travel or lags in your weekly laundry. Styles again depend on preference. Some men hate the look of a short sleeve undershirt under their shirts. Then the answer is to get a sleeveless undershirt. Some men like their undershirt to be visible at the neckline. So buy crew neck undershirts.

Final notes on undershirts. They should be white, so bleach them. When the underarms become yellow, throw them out. Don’t buy them too big, or you’ll have layering and "tucking in" issues.

Now for t-shirts. T-shirts are more about fashion. The size and cut should flatter your physique. I interviewed Jason Scarlatti – designer for the 2(X)ist brand – and Gregory Sovell - designer for C-in2 brand and former designer for 2(X)ist – and asked them about the fit and look of t-shirts on men. Both agreed that most men wear t-shirts that are too large for them. This is probably because t-shirts used to shrink. Now, they are made-pre-shrunk, but men haven’t caught up with this fact. The second point both made is that the beefier or thicker the t-shirt, the lower the quality. And, the quality of a t-shirt can quickly be determined by looking at the price – the higher the price, the better and softer the t-shirt.

Scarlatti was very specific about the fit of a t-shirt. The new look in t-shirts is to try and capture the James Dean image – short sleeve that stops at the bicept,  fitted but comfortable across the chest, straight down the sides, and ends 2" below the belt or at the bottom of the fly. This, Scarlatti says is the look most men in fairly good shape should strive for.

Sovall made the same James Dean analogy, but went into detail about the sleeve. He said if you can run a pole through the sleeves of a t-shirt and it lays flat like a flag, the t-shirt will not fit nicely. The key is to find a cap sleeve. To tell if the t-shirt has a cap sleeve, lay the t-shirt down flat on a table. If the sleeve openings point downward, and can’t be layed completely flat, that t-shirt has a cap sleeve and a better fit. When your arm is down, the sleeve won’t have that strange fly-away flag look, and will not have the bunched fabric look under the arm.

The number of t-shirts in your wardrobe, again, depends on your lifestyle. However, they should be good quality, fit well and be of a color that is flattering. Black is always good and makes the wearer look thinner.

Find t-shirts and undershirts at HisRoom.

Let me just state up front that if you wear a D cup size bra or smaller, you can ignore this posting – you won’t know what I’m talking about. IF, however, you’re bigger than a D, read on – I’m finally going to explain to you why you think different bra brands don’t fit you right when you buy what you think is your size.

Here’s the set up. Okay, you purchased a 36DDDD in Lunaire. You love it. It’s the perfect fit. You’ve found your size – hurray! Now, you see a bra by Freya that you want. You pull down the sizing options and… no 36DDDD. What’s going on? You find a Chantelle bra you like. Again, you look for your size; it’s not there. You see a Goddess bra. Again, no 36DDDD. “What is going on?” you say. “Is my size unique?” “Am I stuck with only one bra brand that fits me?”

Well, here’s what’s going on. Sizing for A to D cups is the same for all brands I’ve ever worked with. So, a C cup in one brand should be the same cup size in any other brand. And most of the time, this is absolutely true. However, once a brand goes beyond a D cup size, for some reason the naming of cup sizes became a free-for-all with every brand deciding for themselves what to call those cup sizes. Put another way, It’s not that your bra size is different in the various lingerie brands, but rather your size is simply called by another letter or group of letters.

In the scenario above, here are your proper bra sizes in the aforementioned brands:

Lunaire = 36DDDD

Freya = 36F

Chantelle = 36G

Goddess = 36F or 36FF

Here’s another frustration. You are told you’re a 36F. So now, armed with this fact, you march into a lingerie store and start trying on 36F bras. But many of them don’t fit. Why?

Again, 36F is not the same across all brands. If you are a perfect 36F in a Goddess bra, a 36F in Freya will be one cup size too big. In Elomi, their 36F bra will be 2 cup sizes too big. And, in some specific Goddess bra styles, your 36F could actually be too small.

After seeing this, I know you probably want to throw up your hands in disgust and frustration. Well, I don’t blame you. It took me a long time to wrap my arms around all the sizing names myself. But, having gone through this analysis, I discovered a simple trick to help you find your correct size in any lingerie brand. So, pay close attention, I’m about to make your bra sizing/fitting dilemma go away.

First, know that regardless of the cup size name, your band size number will always be the same. In our example of a 36DDDD, you can count on your band to be a 36 throughout all bra manufacturers. Now, for the cup size. Here’s my trick: don’t try and find a specific cup size when shopping. Instead, know how many cup sizes you are larger than a D cup. In our above Lunaire example, Lunaire sizes their cups as follows: D, DD, DDD, DDDD. As a DDDD wearer in Lunaire, you are 3 cup sizes larger than the standard D cup. So, when you want to find your size in another brand, simply find what out what cup size letter (or letters) they give to the 3rd size past D. Let’s look at a Chantelle bras. Chantelle cup sizes go D, E, F, G, H. The third cup size after D is G. So, you’re a 36G in Chantelle. Let’s look at Panache. They size D, DD, E, F, FF. You’re a 36F in Panache. Voila! You’ve got it!

Now, I can’t help it; I’m an Internet retailer. I would be remiss if I didn’t drop a pitch in for why you women above a D cup size should shop for bras on-line. So, here’s my argument. Online retailers have a greater selection of plus size and full figure bras to choose from, AND at HerRoom, I make sure the sizing is displayed sequentially from the smallest to largest on every style. This makes figuring out your size in any brand much easier. You can’t do this at a retail store, because the bras are not hanging in any specific size order. There’s my pitch.

After reading all this, if you’re still finding it all a little confusing, this chart is the ticket. Simply find your best fitting bra by size and brand. The vertical column will be your size in all other brands on the market today.

Here’s the chart: available at HerRoom.com

Full figure vs. plus size.  The terms "full figure" and "plus size" have been in the lingerie lexicon since the beginning. They’re frequently mentioned and used interchangeably so often that many consider them synonymous. Well, they aren’t. That’s right, there is a difference between the two terms; you can be full figured without being plus sized. Let me explain.

In the lingerie business, the term, full figure means you have a cup size of D or greater. Plus size means you have a cup size of D or greater AND a band size of 40 or greater. So, a 34DD would be considered a full figure bra size. A 42D would be both a full figure and a plus size bra.

This is important for a couple of reasons. The bra size 38D is the cut-off size for the largest bra size in many brands. A bra can therefore have a size range up to a 38D and be considered an "average figure" bra. But, bra styles that include and exceed a 40 band size in their size run are considered a plus size bra. By contrast, a bra style that only goes up to a 38 band size, but includes cup sizes larger than a D is considered a full figure bra style, but not considered a plus size bra style.

The point here is that you need to pay attention to what term is actually being used on a bra style. If you wear a 42E, don’t be so sure that a bra claiming to be full figure will come in your size. Conversely, if you wear a 34DD, don’t think you need to be looking only at plus size bras in order to find your size.

There has been an increase in manufacturers who cater to the full figure market. These brands include Lunaire, Panache and Chantelle. Plus size brands are also on the rise. They include Goddess, Le Mystere, Fantasie of England and Freya.

If you need help with full-figure sizing, see HerRoom’s full-figure fitting guide.