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No bra will ever fit perfectly
Vee's recent adventure about flat/curved bottoms of breasts got me thinking about my fitting issues (largely because she called me lucky for having a rounded underbust which fits well in wires!). I am starting to wonder if there's a bra out there which will fit me perfectly. When I consider the list of issues I have, I doubt it. I'm fortunate that I have some bras which aren't uncomfortable, but there are still so many ways in which I'm dissatisfied. What about you? Will you ever find the perfect bra?
The problems I currently identify with bra fitting are:
* I have almost no difference between my loose underbust and tight underbust. At last measure it was just 1 cm. Most of my bras ride up in the back, but if I make them tighter the wires are distorted.
* My breasts are rather tall. The top tissue is rather thin, so most of the time it doesn't matter if it isn't in a bra, but it causes a lot of problems with sports bras.
* The bottom of my breasts has a lot of projection and many cups don't have enough depth for me, leading to a sort of orange-in-a-glass look where I'm constrained by the fabric rather than the wire width.
* Although I can wear gores of up to about 2 cm without discomfort, my ideal gore is narrower than any I've seen. This means a lot of gores wind up pushed away or end up tilted, even if the cups fit if I hold the gore in place.
* Wider wires don't sit flush against my breast root on the sides until they reach the armpit. Narrower wires are fine until my armpit, when they sometimes sit on breast tissue. I think I need wires which flare a lot as they near the armpits. This is probably why I have such a range of wire widths in my dresser and can't seem to figure out what works for me.
* My ribs get larger below my underbust; I've gotten the impression this isn't common. This means longlines don't work very well.
I've certainly learned a lot about breast variation from reading adventures here, and I've learned more about my breasts in the process, including an appreciation for things I hadn't considered but which help with bra fit, such as broad shoulders, low-set breasts which offset my (lack of) height, and a curve to the bottom of the breast.
Filed under Bra sizing and fit
5 comments
I think that it is probably correct to assume that no bra will ever fit anyone other than the fit model perfectly. That is just one person in one size. I worked in fashion before I had kids and even when fitting t-shirts or jeans if our usual fit model was sick or absent for some reason even though the substitute fit model would have the exact same measurements the fit from one model to the next was always a little off.
I always tell my friends when we go shopping that buying off the rack is just a starting place and the odds of finding a pair of pants or shirt or dress, that fit perfectly is unrealistic. I always try to find something that is nearly perfect and alterable. It isn't the body that is wrong it is the clothes. The clothes are made for an imaginary average size 8 or 10 or 12 depending on the brand. It is rare that a real person tries on a 0 or a 18 in front of the fit team to check the grading.
I haven't worked in intimates so I am only guessing that it is probably the same.
My ribs get larger below my underbust too. I don't think it's particularly uncommon to have an inverted ribcage, but it does seem like something bra makers never take into account. (This is not a problem for longlines, because they do not come in a small enough band or large enough cup for me to wear them at all)
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