It has been my understanding that, say: 32D, 34C, and 36B are, fundamentally, the same size. Is that correct? Is one size more accurate than another?
The number is the inches around the ribs cage… the letter is the size of the breast… so no they are not the same.
Since you asked a factual question… (try not to act skeevy in this thread, m’kay?)
The number refers to the circumference of the chest where the bra band goes around the woman’s ribcage. The letter refers to the cup size, how large the actual breast volume is. with the A (and AA’s, etc.) being the smallest and going up from there.
So no, they aren’t the same size.
The woman with a 32D has a small ribcage and large breasts. The woman with 36B has a larger ribcage and smaller breasts.
Thanks. I’ve seen cup sizes be perpetuated as the same, ie, DD=E. Promise not to be skeevy.
The cups on a 32D, 34C, or 36B bra will be very similar in volume, but they aren’t the same size. Hypothetically, that would be like saying that a pair of 32w, 32l pants are the same size as a pair of 34w, 30l because they have a similar interior volume: that’s not terribly applicable to the fit.
What I did wish they did was do cup size irrespective of ribcage size. So an A cup is the exact same size regardless of whether the ribcage is 32, 34, 36, or something else. It would mean we’d need a lot more cup label sizes - A through Z or whatever because each cup size would be individual, but that seems fine in my opinion. (and what the heck is up with stuff like DD and HH?)
It gets confusing that when you go down a ribcage size the cup size usually has to increase because right now the cup size is measured as “the difference between the size of your ribcage and the size of your ribcage + your breasts” so if you measured the wrong ribcage size you then have the wrong cup size and vice versa.
I dunno about you but to me it’d be a lot simpler to find the cup that fits your breasts and the size that fits your ribcage separately instead of two measurements that have to work in tandem. It’s no wonder we supposedly have a plethora of women wearing incorrectly sized bras.
I agree with Macca26–there needs to be a better way.
But you all are close. If we can just speak to underwire bras, the wire in a 36C is the same exact wire in a 34 D and a 38 B. So the actual breast size is similar for all those.
Additionally, I find the standard measuring technique to be an absolute joke. It has always led me to trying on bras that literally fall off my ribcage but aren’t big enough in the cup. But it all depends on the manufacturer as well. I’ve bought a ridiculous amount of bras this year, online, due to being pregnant and now having an obscene bra size that they don’t carry in any local shop. But the fit is never quite right, and I’ve found MUCH better-structured bras when I was a 38D than I can ever find now. What’s up with that? I’ve even tried the cantilevered-looking soft-cup ones they have for big gals, but after an hour I’m trussed up like a sausage with the band about an inch below the back of my neck, and my breasts cut into two. Or should I say, four. [/rant]
That’s not really so much that they’re the same size, more that most lines don’t have a size E for whatever reason. It tends to go AA, A, B, C, D, DD, DDD, F, G.
As for your original question, the cups in all three of those sizes would hold roughly the same size breast, yes. But they’re going to fit very, very differently. Assuming you wear a 34C, the 32D is going to be cutting your ribcage in half, and the 36B is going to be so loose your boobs aren’t getting good support. Also, the cups will probably be shaped very differently in the different sizes, so you can have spillage or floppage or cup wrinkling or all sorts of issues.
Would it be (at least partially) fair to equate it to mens pants sizes? Like for a good fit I would wear a 32x28 (32 waist, 28 inseam). I can wear a 32x30 and it works but doesn’t really fit right.
It’s probably more accurate to compare it to a 32x28 relaxed fit vs. a 34x28 slim fit, because that’s going to give you roughly the same hip/thigh circumference but shift hip/waist proportions, shaping, etc.
Me too.
I could probably find a way to go up a band size while maintaining the same cup size, but then I’d be looking at $50-75 bras and this 34A just ain’t spending that kind of cash on a bra that I barely even need. If I go for a 36A, my boobs just go swimming in the cups, so what I really need is to go down a cup size and up the band size to 36AA. I cannot find 36AA in any sort of conventional discount retail setting. I’m sure I could find bras at Dillard’s or something but like I said… A tank top with a shelf bra actually does me just fine for support and nip coverage, so it’s just not worth my time to go search out the proper bra size, especially if I’m going to shell out north of $50. I like the $15 Target bras just fine. So I wish the discount stores would sell a slightly wider variety of sizes. It’s probably not cost-effective for them to do so.
And to further complicate, when you order from overseas, England for example, they may not have a DDD size, instead calling it an E
Research for another “project” of yours ETV?
Aha! As a guy, I always hear statistics about how whatever-percent of women are wearing the wrong bra size, and I always find myself wondering how you could possibly not know which size is correct. Shoes and pants and things like that… they either fit or their don’t. Thanks to that link, I can actually see how someone might reasonably have made the wrong choice.
If you have an issue with etv78, you need to take it to the Pit and not rag on him here.
It doesn’t help that statistically something like a B or a C cup is stated as the average cup size for ladies. They just kind of leaving the statistic floating there like that, even though B or C cup volume varies wildly by the band size so it’s not a useful statistic at all. Still, that’s some sort of common knowledge thing that we all hear about at some time or other. Women don’t want to be small, and actually most of them don’t want to be gigantic either. Anything larger than a D and you feel like some kind of abnormal monster.
Then you get websites saying, “According to your actual measurements you’re a 32DDD!” and you think that it can’t possibly be the case because your breasts are average and that means you can’t be larger than a C…and you look at the bras that the DDD gals get versus the C gals…and besides labels don’t mean anything anymore anyway because you used to be a size 16 in pants and now you’re a 10 even though your weight hasn’t changed…(etc)
So you get the 36C because it sounds right and looks nicer on the rack, and the problem perpetuates.
Nitpick: Corduroy is not fabric.
Just popping my head in here to say that only 18 have posted on this thread, 625 have looked.
Close the curtains ladies.
:eek:
I think the bra manufacturers deserve pitting, seriously. I measure a 38 C and I can take a raft of bras into the dressing room with me, all different brands, all the same size and maybe one fits. Usually the Vogue, rarely the Triumph (no, not the car, silly). I venture back out and start sizing up and down. Now, I’ve got a 40C in the Wonderbra and a 36C in something else. The band sizes are way off, and the cup measurements are absurd. I still can’t find a Triumph bra that fits, and I love their styles.
This is so not like men’s pants, which to me seem rather consistent across brands. I should know, because I buy all my hubby’s clothes.