26 bands for those who escape starvation
Ok, so this is weird. I'm a good British Celt at 5'7", a GG cup, no where near under my recommended BMI, but a solid 30 band size. Everyone tells me that my ribcage is freakishly tiny. But clearly, at 30, there are still a lot of people smaller than me!
My friend from Sri Lanka, who is half my size, albeit, doesn't need quite so much support, has to be smaller than me. I asked her about bras and bra sizes the other day and she told me that she just buys that sort of thing when she goes home for a visit and they don't really size things like that over there. It is kind of still a s-m-l and if it fits, its the right size. Usually, they are all un labelled in a bin and you hold it up to see if it might fit. Alternatively, her aunt tailored her Saree for her directly. Apparently, she has put on weight since she has been in Canada and she bemoans the fact that she would have to actually pay someone here to alter the top for her. All of which is neat, but not helpful when it comes to helping me find a practical solution to a tine ribcage.
My adopted cousin from South China is also half my size, albeit still a teen and can get away with training bras. But, we are starting to wonder what she can do when the North American diet and lifestyle catch up with her starved-for-the-first-year-of-her-life frame when she hits metabolism slow down at 23. She is a super active 17 year old .... but so was I. We don't have a "home" or an aunt as my friend does. Do Asian brands make smaller band sizes? The language barrier prevents me from discovering, BUT all the immigrant and second generation-ers I grew up with think I'm freakishly tiny in the ribcage. Most of my first generation Fillipino friends have no problems finding bands either, but they didn't exactly grow up malnurished.
There is a stereotype about tiny Asian women, but to my limited personal experience, that is really only the case in those who were poverty stricken under five years old. So, I would wonder if the bigger Asian brands even bother with smaller band sizes as that population tends to be marginalized and live on less than a dollar a day. If finding food is a daily struggle, then bras that fit are totally a luxury. Ok, no problem. But if that means that the average population percentage of women sub-28 here is the same everywhere people grow full size bones, then where can my cousin look for quality products if No One is actually that small?
Ooooh, idea! (loaded with cynical sarcasm) Maybe, we can move the anorexia beauty ideal campaign to the nursing and pregnant mothers target group teaching for beauty's sake that starving your infant daughters will guarentee them a career in modelling thereby creating a consumer population with large buying power and tiny ribcages! Create the demand in a population with money and the problem of suppy is practically solved!
But seriously, any thoughts?
Filed under Boob and body issues
14 comments
this is kind of all over the place...
But I will say, from working in a high tourist area, I've come across A LOT of thin non American Asian women. And seeing as how I worked at a clothing store, I think it's safe to say they weren't struggling to find food in whatever country they were from.
And I also think thre are women/people that are sub-28 bands. (I'm not one of them, however one of my former coworkers (who was half Asian) most likey was a26 band.
Interesting. Hmmm....my twin sisters, conceived one month after my birth, have larger underbusts than me. They have several signs of malnutrition, but their underbusts are 3-4" larger than my own. Our weight is distributed differently. I am taller with wider shoulders/hips and longer feet/hands. But, my underbust and waist are smaller. Genetics and nutrition likely attribute to our differences. I wonder if many people just suffer with larger bands and falling straps because there are few small bands options readily available?
When I consider supply and demand, it is the demand for smaller bands that does not exist. Even I wear 36 bands because I can't find 30 bands for breasts as close-set and center-full as mine. The industry changes slowly and we need to help them understand the range of sizes their customers require. Or, we find ourselves with bras that provide virtually no support. Sigh.
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