So, it's my twenty-first birthday coming up. My mum asked me what I wanted for my great, big special present. At the moment that choice is pending, but I did manage to tell her what I needed - a couple of new bras. It is an issue that I have been struggling with for a very long time, my bra size. Hours and hours of measuring, calculating and judging my bra size has led me from the most bizarre sizes of 36B to somewhat more realistic sizes of 34DD. Turns out that both these sizes were wrong. I am, in fact, a 32G.My advice to anyone before I begin this review would be this: do NOT trust internet bra measuring websites because a majority of the advice they feed you is rubbish. It is from one of these that I got the ridiculous fitting of 36B, a size I knew I couldn't possibly be. Although I know very little about bras I do know my body, and many of you will find you do too. Women can tell if their breasts are big or small. B is small, and my breasts are not. It is my back that is relatively small, yet because of being side-tracked by all these internet wonder calculators and do-it-yourself graphs, I allowed myself to believe that my back size was a 34/36 rather than a 32.
A few years ago when I was still a teenager, I complained to my mother that the bra I was wearing was riding up my back. I was wearing a 34D at the time. Another measurement on a graph provided (at the time) by Bravissimo suggested I should go down a size and it worked. Yet years later I was tricked into believing it was my back, not my cup, that was increasing.
Finally, with my 21st coming up, the one thing I truly desired was to have some proper fitting bras, My mother suggested that I get myself fitted properly at Bravissimo. She herself had discovered them during the 80s when she happened upon their store in Shepherd's Bush in London and has never looked back. I went to the one in Covent Garden as it was at the end of my bus route.
After a brisk look around I finally went downstairs to the fitting rooms and asked for a proper fitting. The first thing I noticed, to my delight, is that all the women who work at Bravissimo appear to have D+ cup sizes themselves, i.e. they aren't the pint-sized, skinny little things you find in other shops (Required to be that way in order for them to fit into the standard size 10 clothing). It is reassuring to know you are being tested by women who understand the problems you face when trying to find bras that fit. It appears to be the impression of most shops that women with larger breasts must be larger in every other department too. It is not true. Many of the women I saw, and myself, all turned out to have much larger cup sizes than we outwardly would seem.
Probably the most important thing, and I learned this from my fitting experience, is that very few women appear to understand the way bra sizes are supposed to work. Generally, the smaller the back, the larger the cup. It is entirely possible for a woman with a very small waist to have breasts even larger than a DD. One of the testimonials on the wall of the changing room described a woman's experience with the Bravissimo fitting:
For years I was told I was a 32C, it said, until I was fitted by Bravissimo and found out I was actually a 28FF!
It is estimated that a majority of women probably have an issue within their bra sizes and are currently wearing the wrong one. The reason for this likely comes down to the fact that most women believe that their back is larger than their bust. I can assure you that this was my mistake. Having so much trouble with my bras, I thought about getting a 36, which rather than making the matter better would have actually made it worse.
The fitter and the trainee girl who booked my appointment both sat in on the biggest question in my life. Now, first thing you have to know about Bravissimo is that they NEVER use measuring tapes. It may seem silly but, let's face it, no one can ever get the same result from a measuring tape. It is a fact that women's breasts also change shape depending on the time of month, so measuring results are all the more unreliable. Instead, they use their knowledge of how a bra should fit to find the right one. For me, the cup size was too small and the back-size was obviously too big. First they tried me with a 34F but found my bust was still too clammed in and my back was too loose.
She explained then that she was going to take me down a back-size, and up another cup size. Now, because my back size had gone down, she had to take me up two cup sizes to my current size: 32G.
The special treatment does not end here. Once the correct bra size is found, they bring out several different types of bra (at whatever colour or type you want) for you to try. Moreover, if you need anything special - like a sports bra, maternity bra or swimming costume - they will fit you properly for that as well.
Considering that a majority of women wear the wrong bra size in the country, under the delusion that they are no bigger than a D or DD, I think that every woman who feels uncomfortable in her bra needs to get to her closest store pronto and get yourself fitted! Do not trust Marks and Spencer's fittings, which are notoriously poor especially in regards to women who have small backs and larger busts.
Trust me, you will never have a better fitting than at Bravissimo. Moreover, if you do have a cup size over DD and a back-size of between 28 and 40, it is the only place where you can by pretty bras that last and are somewhat affordable.
10/10
Notes:
1. Remember that if you go to your local Bravissimo, there are more sizes in the stock room. So if you can't your size in a bra on the shop floor just take it downstairs and ask them to check for you.
2. Fittings are mainly drop-in so it is best to go late morning or early afternoon if you can to avoiding waiting too long.
3. When you are at the till, sign up for the mailing list. This may sound unattractive but you can opt out of receiving any correspondence and, if there are any problems with your bra after a month of purchase, they will often take the bra back and replace it with another.
