Cover Story

Find your fit

4 out of 5 women wear the wrong size bra.

By Georgette Braun

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Apr 25, 2008 @ 12:01 AM

Let’s face it, ladies: Our breasts are bigger than we think they are.

They bulge outside our bras because our cup size is too small. And that digging-into-the-rib-cage feeling means the band size of our bras is undersized.

“A lot of women swear they are the same size they were 20 years ago,” says Georgene Callies, a bra fitter and supervisor in the lingerie and women’s departments at JCPenney at CherryVale Mall in Cherry Valley.

“We’ve had women come in, and we don’t tell them their size until after they try on a bra that fits, and they like it,” she said. Often, the correct-fitting bra is bigger in band width and/or cup size than the bra they came in wearing, she says.

The need for bigger bras is one side effect of Americans who are eating more.

Women should be refitted after gaining or losing 10 pounds. Breast implants and estrogen in birth-control pills are other reasons for bigger sizes, according to a 2005 Discover magazine article, which says the average American woman’s bra size increased in 15 years from a 34B to a 36C. It’s a burdensome trend. A pair of D-cup breasts weighs between 15 and 23 pounds, the equivalent of carrying around two small turkeys, the magazine said.

Another figure is a downer, too: Experts say four of five women aren’t wearing proper-fitting brassieres.

Understand, though, that even after you’re measured by a trained bra fitter or you follow the directions provided with this story, you won’t fit right into that size in every bra. That’s because various bra makers’ sizes are a bit different, and you may want to feel differently in various styles of bras. In other words, you like the way a 36DD sports bra feels when you’re jogging, but you prefer a 36D to showcase cleavage when you’re wearing a low-cut blouse.

The bottom line is that women like their bras to be sexy and supportive.

And the reality is that bras comes in all shapes and sizes for all shapes and sizes, from minimizers that can reduce bust projection up to 1 1/2 inches to padded bras that add size and definition to small bosoms. Push-ups create a fuller or more rounded shape. Underwires lift and separate. Full support bras feature banding under cups. Strapless bras go with dresses with bare shoulders.

How fitting that we have so many more choices than our mothers did.

Contact writer Georgette Braun, who prefers underwire bras for support, at 815-987-1331 or gbraun@rockfordwoman.com.

Fitting times
Victoria’s Secret and JCPenney, both at CherryVale Mall in Cherry Valley, offer free bra fittings.

You can get a fitting any time at Victoria’s Secret. Call 815-332-7525.

You also can get a fitting any time at JCPenney, but staff advise scheduling an appointment. Call 815-332-5000, ext. 322. Penney’s also hosts a bra-fitting clinic when no appointments are necessary, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 4 through 19.

How your bra should fit
* Cups should separate breasts.
* Breast should fill entire cup (no wrinkles, no overflow).
* Breast should project forward.
* Fit the bra band on the middle set of hooks.
* Band of bra should lie across the middle of the back.
Source: JCPenney

Determine your bra size
Getting started: When measuring, wear a comfortable standard or underwire bra, not a padded, push-up or minimizer bra. Remain standing.

First method —
Band size: Use a soft tape measure. Measure under your arms, high on your back, across the top of your chest. If this measurement is an even number, this is your band size. If an odd number, add one inch to determine your band size.
Cup size: Measure loosely around the fullest part of your bust. Next, subtract your band measurement from your bust measurement; each inch represents a cup size. For example, if your band measurement is 34 inches, and your bust measurement is 36 inches, the difference between these measurements is two inches, and you’d wear a B-cup. If it’s less than one inch, you wear an AA; 1 inch, A; 3 inches, C; 4 inches, D; 5 inches, DD; 6 inches, DDD; 7 inches, DDDD; 8 inches, FF; 9 inches, G; 10 inches, H; 11 inches I; 12 inches, J.

Second method —
Band size: Measure directly around rib cage, under bust. If this measurement is an even number, this is your band size. If an odd number, add one inch to determine your band size.
Cup size: Same as in first method above.
Source: barenecessities.com/fit_sizing.asp, JCPenney

How four women fared at their fittings
We asked four ladies to be fitted for a bra at JCPenney at CherryVale Mall in Cherry Valley.

They were a fun bunch. Here they are and what they had to say about their bras:

Just turned 30
Heather Hall
About her: Heather Hall of Machesney Park is a nail artist at Digits Inc., Rockford.
Her bras: She typically wears sports bras because they support her back, or the Ipex bra from Victoria Secret, with a graduated pad that offers coverage where you need it. “I like a molded cup because it is smooth-looking under clothes,” she said. At Penney’s, she found the Ambrielle Mystique ($28) a decent fit after adjusting the straps.

In her 40s
Glendia Strandin
About her: Glendia Strandin of Rockford is a drama specialist and before- and after-school program director at Spectrum School, Rockford.
Her bras: She’s had issues with underwires poking, straps falling down and too-tight bands. Her Penney’s fitting showed the same results as a fitting she’d had a few weeks before: She needed more band width and a bigger cup size. “We all were raised to wear beige, white, black bras,” she said. But now she wears bras with prints as well. “Only I know it, and some days, my husband. It feels fun.” At Penney’s, a Bali all-cotton, full-figure bra ($29) was a comfortable fit for her.

Nearly 50
Carmen J. Estrada
About her: Carmen J. Estrada of Rockford is a homemaker.
Her bras: She likes the ways her bras fit. So that more cleavage shows, she prefers her bra size to be smaller in cup size than she was fitted for at Penney’s, where she modeled a Vanity Fair underwire bra ($30).

In her 60s
Wanie Reeverts
About her: Wanie Reeverts of Rockford is an artist and poet.
Her bras: She’s been comfortable in the type of bra she has been buying at Penney’s for several years: an Underscore full-figure bra ($16), which offers full coverage and support with a wide band. She modeled the same type of bra off the rack after being measured. “I felt reassured after learning that the Penney’s bra I was wearing was a perfect fit for me.”