An interesting article was posted in the United Kingdom Telegraph recently.  A London consumer watchdog group called Which? sent eleven mystery shopping women with cup sizes of DD or larger to 70 stores in the high street area to see how well they would be fitted in bras by the so-called experts in each store.

The results?  Only 29% of the bras sold to these women were rated as a ‘good fit.’  But even then, none of the eleven women felt the service they were provided at any of the stores warranted a recommendation.

Many of the women from the watchgroup were sold wildly different sizes.  For one of the women,  two different shops had fit her in bras that differed in cup sizes by 7 sizes.  Another went to the same store in two different locations–one sold her a 34C, the other a 34F.

Now, I have written on this before.  Yes, there are hard-working bra fitters out there who do a very good job of getting women into the proper bra size.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to know which are good and which are not.  And, keep in mind, that if they can convince you that you are a different size than what you walked in wearing, they can probably talk you into buying several new bras. The temptation is simply too great to get you into a different size – especially if the fitter is working for a commission or piece of the sale.

I have said this before, so I’ll gladly say this again.  I think we women are smart enough to figure out what size we are with a better understanding of bra sizing and how to translate your fitting symptoms into size changes.

I’ve spent hours researching and writing about bra sizing. Simply go to the HerRoom Bra Fitting Advice section located at the bottom of each page of HerRoom.com.  There are over 40 pages that I hope will answer any questions you may have on how a great-fitting bra should look and feel.

Read earlier posts about proper bra fitting and about understanding cup sizes.

Find bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

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I’ve been watching some old movies lately – mostly ones with Doris Day and Rock Hudson.  It is amazing how, no matter how much things change, they really stay the same.  Specifically, the fashions.  Tight sweaters, pencil skirts, fabulous pumps.  Many of the fashions back then could be worn today.  And guess what? In those old movies, I’m not seeing any bra seams.

A quick bra history lesson.  The common t-shirt bra of today was first introduced by Josie Natori less than 20 years ago.  The timeframe for these movies is late 1950’s and early 1960’s– before bra cups were molded as they are today.  Older bras were actually "cut and sew,"  meaning there were seams in the cups to give them shape.  Granted the shape was more cone-like, but even creating a round shape back then required seams in the cups.

So, how did women back then pull off a seamless look in those tight sweaters?  The answer is they wore additional undergarments that most of us have forgotten about. 

Adding a slip, chemise, or undershirt was a natural step for most women before putting on a blouse.  Surely some of us may still have a full slip in the back of the lingerie drawer. This additional layer of fabric eliminated, or at least minimized, the seams in the cups of a woman’s bra.

It is still true today that a seamed-cup bra or cut & sew bra (as some call it) will give a woman the best breast support and will last longer than seamless bras.  They also tend to be much prettier because they can incorporate lace and beautiful trims. But their popularity has waned because of the seams showing through t-shirts and form-fitting clothes.  We seem to have forgotten that simply wearing an additional layer can solve the problem.

Women who are a D cup and larger, don’t shy away from a seamed bra the next time you go shopping.  Instead, find a great underpinning such as a camisole or full slip, and enjoy the feminine feeling it gives you along with the seamless appearance.

Find seamed bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

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I know I haven’t put a thong on in a long time.  A couple of years ago, I wore them more.  But, frankly, I like to wear skirts and dresses more than pants.  Wearing a thong with these always left me feeling a little… shall we say "breezy" on my backside.  So, my panty shape of choice is a low-rise bikini.

I was reading an interview with supermodel Gisele Bundchen in Elle Magazine.  Now, if anyone would be wearing thongs regularly, I  thought it would be supermodels.  Guess what?  I’m wrong.  Here’s what Bundchen said:

"I’m a huge fan of big cotton underpants; they’re comfortable… I wear them every day."  Now, it was also noted that her words are in Brazilianspeak – "big" in Brazil is equivalent to a bikini-cut panty and not a granny panty.  But still, it was great to read this.

Another supermodel, Tyra Banks, was once quoted as saying that the smaller the bottom of a bathing suit, the thinner you look.  And, I agree.  Not only do bikinis not poke out above your pants, but they are comfortable while providing enough coverage so that you wouldn’t be embarrassed should a gust of wind raise your skirt.

Finally, on this same subject,  an article came out in the New York Times about the panties that erase panty lines.  Five panties were featured – not one was a thong.  The winner was the OnGossamer Cabana Cotton Hip-bikini.  The article stated that this bikini was "totally comfortable" and "Literally, there were zero lines…" 

If a bikini can provide zero panty lines, what woman wouldn’t prefer a panty over a thong?  Does anyone disagree?

Sometimes, the way a panty looks depends on the way we wear them. I wrote about wearing panties too high a while back.

Find thongs, bikinis and more at HerRoom in these departments:
Panties

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The industry answer to women complaining about underwires poking into their underarm is usually to say their cup size is too small.  The theory here is that the underwire is not wide enough to totally wrap around your breast and the cup is not deep enough. Thus the wire is resting on breast tissue too far forward on your torso – the result being the underwire tip is getting in the way and hitting your underarm.  A larger cup size comes with a wider underwire and deeper cup that will rest further back under your arm and not rest on your breast tissue.  Thus you will no longer be poked.  In many situations, I would agree with this recommendation.  However, I own bras where this symptom has occurred, and I have been able to solve the problem without having to size up. Want to know how?

First, you need to put your geometry cap on.  Think of your torso as a cylinder.  As a cylinder, your torso has no flat horizontal surfaces – only curved surfaces.  If you held a ruler horizontally to your torso, the center of the ruler would touch you, but the ends would not.  They would be extending away from your torso.

A bra’s underwire is cut from a flat sheet of metal.  It’s basically a smiley face shape, but flat.  So, the ends of an underwire can have the same effect as the ends of a ruler.  However, if you bend your underwire a little in the center of its smile, the underwire takes on a shape better suited to your cylindrical torso. (See image above.)

Personally, I give all my underwires this subtle bend. It’s not very much, but I’ve found that the fit is better and my underwires are more comfortable.  And, when I try on a bra in my size and notice the underwire ends under my arm are protruding or resting on breast tissue instead of where they need to be, I’ll give them a little bend in the middle.  This always seems to solve the problem. Again, it’s not much of a bend, but it can make a big difference.

Let me also share with you that there is sort of a moral to this story: don’t be afraid to manipulate your underwires.  Underwires can get bent out of shape in a number of ways – during washing, mishandling in your lingerie drawer etc.  So, don’t be afraid to work with them until they fit you.  You have to put a lot of stress on an underwire before it will break.  And, it’s been my experience that if I don’t like the bend, underwires are easy to manipulate back to the beginning position.

Learn more about underwires and bra fitting.

Find underwire bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

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I know you may think this sounds like a silly question, but are you?  Are you pulling your underpants up too high?  I bring this up because I realized that with some of my panty styles, I was. 

Here’s a little background.  The thong as a mainstream panty option hit about 15 years ago.  And, if you remember, the initial trend setters complained it was not comfortable.  Further research discovered that these women were putting on the thongs and pulling them up so that the waistband rested high on their hips – this was the problem.  Women didn’t realize at the time that the thong was designed to sit lower on the hips. After all, low rise pants were not yet making their debut on the market.  Only strippers and showgirls knew that thongs were to rest lower on the hips.  Since then, manufacturers either made thongs with longer rises so that women could pull them up to their waist, or put tags on them to let women know they were low-rise.

Okay, so back to my question.  I was going through my panty assortment the other day and singling out the panties that I felt were not comfortable to wear.  I have all styles in my drawer – boyshorts, thongs, bikinis, briefs–you name it, I have it.  When I had finished sorting out the ones I didn’t like, I noticed something; they were all low-rise.  So it got me thinking.  I grabbed a pair and put it on like I do all my panties and realized I just instinctively pulled them up too high.  When getting dressed, I have a bit of a ritual and move from item to item without much thought. All my panties were treated the same, regardless of style.

So, this time, I put on a low-rise bikini, but instead of my normal mindless pull-up, I thought about where it should be placed and I lowered the waistband to rest more on my hips.  What an epiphany!  This panty was now comfortable.  I wore it all day and it felt great.  I can’t believe I was doing this.

Here’s the lesson; stop and think about the style of panty you’ve just picked before mindlessly putting it on.  If you have some panties you have been avoiding because of comfort, go back and look at them through new glasses.  I think you’ll be as surprised as I that many pairs really are comfortable when put on correctly.

Find thongs and other styles at HerRoom in these departments:
Panties

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It makes perfect sense that the strap adjuster should be in front on bras.  Think about it.  It would make putting on a bra easier because the straps could quickly be let out to get them on your shoulders.  Once your bra is on, you could easily adjust the straps yourself until you had adequate breast support.  So, why aren’t they in front?  Well there are 4 reasons.

1. Strap design.  More and more bras now incorporate the front of the bra straps into the overall design of the bra.  If there is lace, you will see it also crawling up the bra strap  If there is a design element on the cup, many times it will continue up the strap.  Designers also like to shape the bra straps differently.  For example, start them wide where they attach to the bra cup and then taper them up to your shoulder area.   These design options would never work with a strap adjuster.  In these cases, the strap adjustment needs to be in the back.

2. Wide Strap Designs.  In the last 5 years, the concept of "comfort straps" has really taken off.  This is where the top of the strap that rests on your shoulder will be wide and possibly have padding.  Such a design necessitates any strap adjusting being handled in the back.

3. Aesthetics. It is the common opinion of the industry that when looking a a bra, it is more attractive if all the hooks and adjusters are in the back.  It’s a rather old concept, but one that seems to stick around.

4. Show-through.  In this age of t-shirt bras, when no one wants seams from a bra to show through their form-fitting clothing, the strap adjuster gets the same scrutiny.  If it’s in front, you would have a bump that would be visible under clothing.

Another interesting piece of information on this came from our friends at Wacoal.  Years ago, the strap adjustment was always on the front of a bra. But, unlike today’s adjusters, it was a slide and pull-through strap adjuster that was rather bulky.  Women complained about it showing under tops so the industry moved them to the back.  When the new adjusters became popular, the industry never moved them from back to front.

So, for all these reasons, we are left taking off our bras and then guessing as to the right adjustment, or depending on someone else to do it for us.  Now, there are some bras out there with front adjusters.  You’ll just need to look closely at our images, or use our nifty feature to have all the back shots pop up in your search.  And, you can purchase a convertible bra and switch the straps to your liking.

With all these explanations, it’s now understandable why the adjustments are in back.  But, it sure would be great if someone could figure out how a girl could get to them once she’s put on her bra.

Find bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

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So we don’t know if bras prevent the inevitable breast sag.  But, here are a few things I do know.  My 80 year-young mom has great looking D-cup boobs.  Even her gynecologist has commented on how high they are compared to those of other women her age.  I too have pretty perky ones.  What both of us have in common is that we have always worn a bra.  Though I’m a C cup, I really avoid clothing where I can’t wear some kind of bra.

I had the opportunity to work with Joanna Scurr last year.  Dr. Scurr is the only one I know currently doing work on breast bounce and movement.  Her research shows that our breasts move in a figure-8 motion as we move – especially while running.  Though she wasn’t able to measure an increase in sagging, she did discover that breast pain and thus breast movement can be reduced or eliminated by wearing a supportive sports bra.   The more support, the less the bounce and thus less breast pain.  HerRoom, in fact, is the only website that conducts a bounce test on every sports bra and shows you how much breast bounce to expect when wearing various sports bras.

Our breasts, like our faces and other body parts, are subjected to daily gravity.  They will sag.  And, since they have little to no muscle tissue, it’s not possible to tone our breasts to make them firm.  Wearing a bra may or may not reduce your sag over time, but what a bra can do is put your girls in a more flattering light.  A bra can lift, separate, push up, minimize, plump up and generally present your breasts in a more youthful and attractive silhouette to make your clothes look better.  And, wearing a bra cuts down on breast pain, reduces jiggle, provides modesty from headlights showing, and makes us more comfortable.  All in all, it’s a great idea to wear a bra.

Find Sports bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Sport Underwear

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I think we all know about that silicone gripper tape that is often used to line a strapless bra or the edges of shapewear.  Consumers, and I’m one of them, have always thought that when a garment has this, it will stay in place – no more pulling up a strapless bra or feeling that creeping up feeling from the legs of your shapewear.  Well guess what?  Having that silicone inside your garment doesn’t do anything.  That’s right, Flexees in particular has run tests and found that it doesn’t really work.  It’s a purely cosmetic feature.  Consumers see it and the perception is that the garment will stay put.  If deciding between two garments, a consumer will pick the one with the gripper tape because the perception is that it will stay in place better.

So, the lesson learned here is to look at the construction and fabric of the garment.  Quality elastic that isn’t skimpy, and fabric with an ample percentage of spandex will provide the best support and staying power.  All that gripper tape is doing is pulling on your body hairs and irritating your skin.

Find strapless bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

Find lingerie accessories at HerRoom in these departments:
etcetera

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The lingerie industry has created confusion over the last several years with the two terms "molded" and "contour" to describe a bra cup.  So, allow me to explain the difference.
 
A molded cup has been shaped over a breast mold to give it a pre-defined breast shape.  Fabric with synthetic fibers is stretched over a hot mold form, a second hot piece comes down on top of it and molds the former flat piece of fabric into the shape of a breast.  this piece is now the bra cup and is sewn into a bra frame.  Usually, the fabric is seamless, but molded cups can also contain seams – this gives added support.
 
A contour bra is a molded bra, but with a thin layer of foam included in the cup to provide modesty by reducing or eliminating nipple show-through.  This foam also helps create a specific shape to a woman’s breast tissue.  It can make you more rounded and uplifted.
 
Now, here’s where additional confusion comes in.  A contour bra is also called a t-shirt bra by many retailers and manufacturers.  So, I empathize with women out there who find this confusing.  But, there is a subtle distinction here as well.  A t-shirt bra always has a seamless cup with thin foam for modesty.  A contour bra also has the foam, but it can also have seams for added breast support.  So, a t-shirt bra is always a contour bra, but a contour bra is not always a t-shirt bra.
 
I personally am a big fan of the contour bra because it’s the perfect choice for any woman seeking a sculpted silhouette.  It offers a significant amount of coverage and adds definition, smooth shape, and best of all, the elimination of nipple show-through. Contour bras are also a good choice for in-between bra sizes, or a woman with uneven breasts.
 
Now, contour bras do have their detractors.  Larger breasted women don’t like them because they believe they add size to their bustline.  I would agree that in the past, this probably was true.  However, the manufacturers have really refined the contour bras to give shape and contour to the breast without adding volume.
 
A molded bra is usually made with a single piece of fabric or has a second layer for opacity and additional strength. It is the ultimate light-weight bra for a woman who wants to feel and look like she’s wearing nothing, but knows that she needs to wear something to make the girls look attractive and youthful.
 

View HerRoom’s selection of contour bras
View HerRoom’s selection of molded bras

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This body type is a woman who is almost there for having an hourglass shape – she’s well-proportioned, has an obvious waistline, but there is something that is throwing the perfect proportion off.  It could be short legs,   breasts that are a little too small or large, or hips and thighs that are a little too big.

Some minor issue here or there that upsets an otherwise hourglass balance can be easily adjusted to get you to the ideal hourglass figure.  For example a contour bra that has molded foam in the cups can give your breasts a more rounded and beautifully shaped bustline.  Or a bra with a push-up pads in the bottom of the cups can give added fullness to the breasts.

If your legs are short, it’s important that you not make your bottom look heavy or wider by covering it with boyshorts.  Instead, go for the g-strings, string bikinis or rio style briefs.  These smart choices make your hips and thighs look narrower and your legs look longer and slimmer.  Of course, slipping into a pair of heels also helps.

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