Cate Sevilla shares her wonderful experience of being properly fitted and finding out her correct bra size at the life changing shop: Bravissimo.
For any girl who has breasts larger than a C cup, bra shopping can turn into a frustrating, and hellish experience. I was told by some "expert" at Victoria's Secret that I was a 34D a couple years ago, and up until last week had been wearing a 36D bra, because that's all I could seem to get into.
Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when I went for a fitting at Bravissimo, and walked out with three incredibly cute, sexy bras in my correct size...a 32FF. I'm an 'effing F. Gee, maybe that's why those 36D bras didn't fit me...
My fellow big boobed Shiny Lady, Carly, went with me to visit the miracle workers at the Covent Garden Bravissimo, as she has the same problems as many big busted ladies do. (Ya know, back pain, sore neck, uncomfortable, too-small bras, frustration at not being able to find a bra that fits, etc.) I was fitted by a wonderful woman named Mercie who looked at me in my current bra, and explained how it should fit. Everything she told me I had never heard before, and I was appalled at the ZERO amount of support my current bra was giving me.
At Bravissimo, their fully-trained Fitters don't use measuring tapes, and Mercie was able to measure me from just looking at my in my old bra. She helped fit me into a white Freya bra, and didn't tell me the size. There was a lot of jiggling and adjusting ("You gotta jiggle to get yourself in there!"), all of which I had never done before, but once I was in the bra, I'm pretty sure I saw harp playing cherubs and heard angels singing Hallelujah. I couldn't believe it. My breasts were supported. They weren't pointing outwards instead of down! What a concept! Then Mercie told me that she had just fitted me into a 32FF, and I nearly passed out.
F sounded so huge to me. An F? How did I just skip E and go straight from a 36D to a 32FF?! Mercie explained that the media makes a D cup sound huge, and that most women read in magazines that women like Jordan are an F, and it's just not true. Turns out the much rapped about "Double Ds" really aren't that big, after-all.
I spoke with Nicole, the shop's assistant manager, and she told me that the biggest mistake most women make before coming into Bravissmo, is that if a cup size doesn't fit, they'll automatically get a bra that's bigger around the back, instead of going up a cup size. Mercie also brought this up and said all too often girls who are a size 10 will be wearing a 38 inch bra, when they should be wearing a 30. What's even worse, is that young girls with large breasts often have quite small backs, and need a size 28 inch bra, which is a size impossible to find at most shops.
What I found most exciting about Bravissimo, aside from their incredibly knowledgeable staff, was the general feeling of the store. Everything was so positive and feminine, and it just felt amazing to be able to find clothing and underwear that came in MY size. Carly and I were like little kids in a candy shop; we poured through the catalog, tried on swimwear, and were amazed that we could find bras that were not only sexy, but FIT. We both finally felt as though we were the norm, instead of being the freak that went into a changing room for an hour and still couldn't find anything that fit.
As Flaming Nora wrote about earlier this month, finding your correct bra size isn't just about finding pretty bras, it's about your health. If you're wearing the wrong bra size, you can get grooves in you shoulders from ill-fitting bra straps, neck and back problems, and you can even damage your breast tissue from having underwire dig into the size of your breast. Nicole told me that a startling 80% of women in the UK are wearing the wrong bra size, and that 6 out of every 10 women could be wearing a size D-F bra, and not even know it.
I cannot even emphasize how strongly I now feel about women getting a bra fitting. Even if you think you're an A cup, GO GET FITTED. For the bigger boobed gals, Bravissimo is the place for you. They have over 14 locations in the UK, and an extensive online shop where you can buy swim suits, lingerie, clothing, and soon they'll even have sleep wear. I bought three Freya bras, and to be 100% honest, I feel like this experience has changed my life.
My deepest thanks go out to Nicole and Mercie from the Covent Garden Bravissimo. You have helped change my life.
Cate Sevilla is the Editor of Dollymix. She has 32FF sized boobs and pretty bras. Envy her. Or just go to Bravissimo, already!
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makes a world of difference, doesn't it? I'm still over the moon to find out I'm a D cup! Me, a D!
Sounds wonderful! Now if only I were in the UK and could take advantage of this place... Any American readers have any suggestions of where to get a similar experience on this side of the pond?
OMG, I need to find this in the US.
I'm wearing a 34DD and it's sooo uncomfortable.
I wasn't particularly fond of my experience in the Manchester store. After having a few bizarre results with fitters in other stores I went to Bravissimo, a lady fitted me with a few bras, explained that ''you can be several different sizes in bras by different designers'' (which I was already convinced of, admittedly I was hoping for the one size to rule them all) and then tried several times to get me to buy a bra I didn't really want before acting like a sulky child when I said I wanted to look around! It wasn't very enlightening either, if you know the whole ''go down a back size, up a cup size'' mantra beforehand and are willing to test it out and try different sizes you can figure it all out yourself.
@ Kate - visit their website and find the page on sizes and fittings, this gives some helpful advice on incorrectly fitted bras and the solutions, it is actually a great help.
I've been using this shop for a couple of years now. I love it, except for the prices, I have had to spend about £200 in there this year alone, £100 on 2 different bra sizes, being 17 I have the problem that they just won't stop growing, and when they grow they need a fitted bra. I'm 32G at the moment and I hope to god I'm stuck there. Still, Bravissimo can't help that, and if I had to spend £100 on bras then it would have to be there, they have the best customer services, as most the women working there are also customers they know what they're on about, and I have some nice looking bras rather than rubbish ones =]