help: the Internet has no definitive answer!

[dragonlady7]

Sites by and for women are, disgustingly often, extremely amateurish, done in ridiculous colors, and featuring terrible grammar and spelling, incorrect word usage, and, most irritating of all, inconsistent information.
After searching awhile to discover what my bra size would be in UK sizing, I am forced to conclude that I don't know what fuckin' size my bra is in US sizing to begin with. Each site had a different sizing guide as to how one ought to measure, and of all the comparison charts, no two had the same answer. (One site had two charts on the same page and they differed.)
For example: In US sizing, are DDD and F the same? Or are they distinct sizes? Extensive research on my part has proved inconclusive; apparently, it varies by manufacturer.
Without knowing whether DD, E, DDD, or F are indeed separate sizes (they are all a confused jumble), I can't find out my size.

So. Please. Anyone. Anyone who knows anything about this, please help me.
My measurements are:
around the chest under the bust: 34" (86.5 cm)
around fullest part of bust (in reasonably well-fitting, unpadded bra*): 44" (112 cm)

So WHAT SIZE AM I?
I've no fucking clue. There was one calculator online, and I entered the measurements and it blithely assured me I was a 38F, but then I realized it was an international site and it didn't specify whether that was American, British, or European sizing. So I still have no idea.

*it has always amused the crap out of me, in a thoroughly unfunny way, that in order to determine your bra size, you have to already have a bra that fits, and yet they still assume that if you have a bra that fits, you're going to go to the trouble of measuring rather than just looking at the tag and buying another one. Except that the tags of the bras that more or less fit me all say different things, or are so worn that they say nothing at all. Which is, I suppose, why this ludicrous method of fittings is still the standard way of doing things.

I would abandon all attempts at buying lingerie online, except that I have already established that of the shops in the mall, I can only find my size at Fredericks' of Hollywood, and their 36F (the saleslady explained that DDD=F, which I have found is not universally the case) fits me okay except that I really ought to go one cup size larger, as they tend to need drastic readjustment every time I bend over. And they don't make any larger ones, so it's not an option.
And nobody else in the mall carries even that size, except sometimes at JC Penney you can find the Old Lady Specials in up to size GG, but those aren't bras so much as lifestyle systems for a lifestyle I don't plan to get into for another 30 years or so.
And yes, this is after losing 15 pounds.


Conclusively, bras are designed, manufactured, and sized exclusively by men who don't know and women who don't care. I suppose this is all inconsequential if you're a carefree B or so, but for me, the support undergarment is the most crucial bit of my wardrobe, and it requires not only consideration but also engineering. I do not own one single solitary bra that is actually satisfactory, and it's bumming me way the hell out.

Comments

[eggplantia5.livejournal.com]

I haven't been able to find a new, decent bra to buy in ten years. I'm barely a 32A, and apparently, they no longer make bras in that size that do not have a ridiculous amount of padding and/or underwire. It's a 32A!!! I don't NEED underwire!

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Alas, it is always difficult for one with a particular problem to understand the hardship of one with the opposite problem. But I will not rhapsodize about how nice it must be not to be me, because that never furthers discussions and usually only clouds the issue and irritates the participants.

But you're right. You don't need a tremendous and complex contraption. Just as I do not necessarily want an overengineered elastic monstrosity with cantilevering and forty yards of heavy-duty elastic, fastened in back with eight massive hooks, and garnished in the front with a huge plastic pearl-adorned lace flower like that's somehow going to make it magically be attractive.
ARGH.

But in my case, having the wrong bra significantly changes my appearance, because my boobs are such a large proportion of my torso-- if I'm stuck in one of the Old Lady World-Smothering monstrosities, they tend to make me sort of shapeless, and I look 20 pounds heavier than if I manage to find some kind of bra that will hold my boobs up away from my waist. Finding a bra that fits is a major life event in that it opens up a world of not-looking-like-a-schlump.

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Does that British company have a decent return policy? If so, I'd buy several bras and then keep the one that fits. I think this is the only way to buy underwear, anyway, as sizing is so very inconsistent. My three favourite bras are all different.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

The return policy (http://www.bravissimo.com/Bravissimo/info/DeliveryReturns.aspx) appears reasonable, but I balk at the initial outlay of cash that would be required for me to purchase multiples of an expensive bra!
Also, I'd have to pay shipping. But you're right, it would probably be clever. Cleverer than doing it one bra at a time and racking up ridiculous shipping...

[fafojoy.livejournal.com]

I am LOL while empathizing with you.

I recently came across this link (you might have seen it too, as it was on someone's LJ)

http://www.medianstrip.net/~julia/webstores.html

I found a custom store in Minneapolis, which I will be visitng next week. :/

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Ooo, an interesting page.
Unfortunately a lot of the links now either go to 404 error pages, or bogus directories camped out on the formerly-useful pages.
I also have trouble using the sites/shops that Carry All Sizes-- I think I am easily overwhelmed, and what really bothers me is that large-cup bras are lumped together with Full Figured, but Full Figured is usually just for "fat girls"-- which means you can find large band sizes, but the cups often don't go beyond C or D. It infuriates me in stores to find 36B bras filling the "Full Figured" section.

A lot of the custom stores listed in there are in New York City, which is absolutely infuriating given that I lived there for two years and never found any of those stores. D'oh!

Well, good luck to you with your custom store, anyway. :)

[mother2012.livejournal.com]

Putting together the info you've given about yourself, and what I'm comfortable with:

I prefer to wear a 36DD. This is not generally available in stores, but I easily order them from Playtex. I wear only 18-hour bras, which I treat like gold. (Never wash in hot water, nor put in dryer.) They breathe with me but hold me in place.

I'm 32 inches chest and 43-44 breast, so just under you. Probably you would want a 38 inch bra, but a 38" has a smaller DD cup than a 36" (because the measurement system is so stupid) so I expect you're right that you want a DDD.

I know that in Playtex, DDD is indeed F. It looks like the http://www.taraschoice.co.uk/tips4.htm site is saying that UK and US are similar, but European are different. (British / USA DD cup is an E cup in European sizes.) Basically I agree to guess the size and go ahead and order. If you can do two in different sizes, I'd go with 36DDD and 38 DDD.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't really like the 18-hour bras. I am not fond of the beige-elastic genre, because of the shape they make me-- and also, that type of bra is what my mother always bought me back when she was so busily teaching me to be ashamed of my body, and she never helped me try them on, and so I often ended up in 40 C or worse-- always too large in the band, too small in the cup, as she continually sought to convince me of how fat I was.
So i've kind of got a backlash against the Practical And Somewhat Unattractive bras. In them, I generally look like a refugee from some sort of German opera-- I look Imposing And Broad, which is not usually what I'm going for. I really prefer to have cleavage, and as weird as it sounds I'm more comfortable with my boobs jacked up as high as they go and squashed together, as opposed to the cross-my-heart type bras that tend to separate them and hold them down low. (Down there they get in the way of my arms a lot more!)

But why on earth would a 38DD be smaller in the cup than a 36DD? I can't even wrap my head around that.

Really I just need a wardrobe of custom corsets, but given that I can't afford even one...
You did very well with your daughter's for her prom, by the way! Did I mention? She looked fabulous! Where on earth did you find it?

[mother2012.livejournal.com]

*deliberately totally OT icon*

"But why on earth would a 38DD be smaller in the cup than a 36DD? I can't even wrap my head around that."

Now did I actually say it right? I'm dyslexic, and constantly get things backwards. Let's see:

According to the nice chart that someone else recommended, http://www2.marksandspencer.com/help/size_guides/women/bras.shtml, if you have a bust size of, say, 44, and a chest size of 33, then you are a 38F. If you have a chest size of 37 though, you're a 42C. So I did NOT say it right.

The important thing is that the cup size is the difference between the chest and bust. Duh. Sorry for trying to confuse you.

Anyhow, according to that, I'm right that you would be a 38DDD (I always go with the smaller possible size, since they stretch), depending on how you count - 38E by their sizing. Apparently they count C, D, DD, E, F, G - which is, as you were pointing out, confusing and stupid. I guess you'd need to know how the particular bra maker does their sizing. Sticking with one manufacturer all my life, I just 'know' what I need.

On the other hand you might want the fuller cup and go with 38F.

Now haven't we all been so helpful? *not*

My daughter eschews the Playtex for pretty much the same reasons you do, but she is (so far) only a C cup, so hasn't run into real problems.

UK Bra Sizes

[(Anonymous)]

Hi

Most UK women buy bras from M&S, so try this size guide:
http://www2.marksandspencer.com/help/size_guides/women/bras.shtml
Good luck
jess

Re: UK Bra Sizes

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's... confusing, actually, but dead handy if I can just perservere and find myself on the chart! :)

[arwenevenstar5.livejournal.com]

I definetly sypathize with you. It has been impossible for me to find bras. I went to store after store they all put me in the wrong size. I would go through bras at least one a month. One I had for only three days one time. I live in the us so I am not sure about uk sizing. I then found a store that custom fits them to me. I was in a size 46F but really I am a size 40K. That is big. I went down 6 sizes and came up like 11 cup sizes. No wonder all my bras never fit. I hope that you find what you are looking for. From your measurements it sounds as if you are around a 38DDD of E.

hugs
arwenevenstar5

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

What really really bothers me is that nobody, not even bra manufacturers, can agree on whether DDD=E, or DDD=F.
In Frederick's, DDD=F.
On Bravissimo (which I have been poring over ever since I discovered it), the sizes go D, DD, E, F. So obviously DDD=E for them.
But on another site I saw a bra labeled DDDD!!!! Whoever came up with that should be shot! If I had my way, there would be no double letters, because they're inconsistent and confusing. But then, there are a lot of things in the world that don't go my way.

When I was 18 I got fitted for a bra the first time, while an exchange student in Scotland (I am from the US). It was my first time away from home, and from my mother, who had spent all of my puberty complaining about how unfortunate I was to have big boobs. I was wearing a 40D or so, in the old lady thick beige elastic style. I went into a big shop in Glasgow and came out with a 34E, looking immediately 20 pounds lighter. People kept asking me what was different about me. I was suddenly so much more comfortable and for the first time in my life, could stand to wear something other than a t-shirt to my knees.

So I can only imagine what kind of a difference to your life going up 11 cup sizes and down 6 band sizes would make!

What drives me crazy is that I used to live right near New York City, and most of the online big-breasted bra stores have their locations in NYC and I could've sought them out before now. Ah well! Now I live somewhere I'm fairly sure there are no specialty bra shops.

Ah well. I'm glad you found the answer!

[arwenevenstar5.livejournal.com]

I live in Arizona, near Phoenix. The name of the store is Essential Bra Support. I do not know if they have a website or not, but I am sure glad that I found that store. It is true I actually had a waist when I came out of there. It was wonderful. What part of the country do you live in. Maybe I could look up some of my websites and see if there are any where you live.

arwenevenstar5

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I live in New York, so you'll find a lot of results-- but they're in New York City, which is 400 miles from Buffalo, where I actually live.

There are a few custom corsetiers up in southern Ontario, but of course they're way expensive, and I don't have the kind of lifestyle that really allows that sort of thing. :)

But yes-- just having a bra that somewhat fits is like a revolution.

[arwenevenstar5.livejournal.com]

well I hope that you find what you need
arwenevenstar5