Tomima’s Blog - Lingerie & Underwear Expert

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.

Here’s the truth – there is no exact measuring system when it comes to figuring out your proper bra size. Now, I appreciate that this is a rather provocative statement, but after 8 years of helping women find their correct bra size, invariably the tape measure is abandoned and in its place is a conversation about what’s not right about their current size.

First, you need to understand that the tape measuring system was designed by manufacturers to help women with A to D cup sizes only. That’s right, it was never intended for the larger cup sizes, yet retailers will try and make it work anyway.

Measuring to determine your bra size isn’t often accurate because it’s frankly too easy to take the wrong measurements. As an example, when measuring your under-bust, have you first taken a deep breath? Having been a synchronized swimmer in my younger years, my under-bust measurement can expand more than 3” with a good intake of air. Most don’t know that this measurement is to be taken after letting out all your air.

Your tape measure must also be exactly parallel to the floor when taking the under-bust measurement. This is very difficult to do. What if someone handed you a funnel and asked you to take its circumference 1" down from the top? It would be tough; the tape measure would want to slip. As most of us know, we aren’t columnar shaped, so getting this measurement accurately is almost impossible without help.

Now, those are just the issues with the under-bust measurement. Let’s move on to the bust measurement. Again, the tape measure should  be parallel to the floor, and cross over the nipples. Okay, but most of us, except for maybe A cup women, have sagging breasts. So, how do we measure this? Do we take this measurement naked? Do we bend over so that our breasts measure at their fullest? Do we measure while wearing a bra? Do we have someone hold our breasts where we would like them to eventually wind up, then take this measurement? And then, should we breath in or out during this measurement? As you can imagine, all of these considerations will render a different measurement.

The answer is to find your best fitting, non-padded bra, breath out and take this measurement with the tape parallel to the floor. Of course, your best fitting bra is probably wrong (which is the reason you’re going through this exercise in the first place) so even this measurement will be inaccurate.

So, what’s a girl to do to find her correct bra size? What I have found over the years is that treating the ill-fitting symptom with a size change is the most accurate solution. In my next blog entry on this subject, I’ll explain to you what a correctly fitted bra should look like. Knowing this is the first step to getting you to your correct bra size.

You can get more help with measuring for bra size in HerRoom’s fitting guide.