If you have a Penny’s you may not need to. The important thing is to go and be measured during the day.
The best shifts to work are during the day, right? So the people who get to work them are the ones who have seniority. So go get the nice battle-axe who has ruled the lingerie department for the past 20 years to measure and fit you.
If that doesn’t work (the battle-axe retired), *then *you can go up to the expensive stores. I happened to get my best fit at Bloomingdales rather than Nordstrom’s, but choose the store based on the number of bras they have to choose from. And don’t be afraid to ask the sales people who has the most experience with fitting - this is your money and your boobs.
And acsenray, I’ve done this a couple of times (weight changes, need perfect bra for occasion, etc.), there is no way that you can accomplish this for your wife in her absence.
Maybe you can throw a surprise bra party? (That is, lie and then take her out after to make up for it)
Get her to to lingerie department somehow - maybe you scope it ahead of time, and present a bra or two that you have “researched” and believe to be ideal, but she has to try them on. Then shove a fitter in with her. Tell her you really have done research and 30 women told you this was the only way to get a comfortable bra. Then be lavish with gifts, food, alcohol - whatever it takes to get you out of the hole.
That’s just one idea … I have more! The more I think about it, the more I like it: a surprise bra party!!
Okay, the number of people on this earth who have seen my breasts has increased by one. Which is weird.
I was in Belk’s, and I tried on a couple of bras that I had read were particularly “good fitters”, and was disappointed, but all over the fitting room were all these posters about their bra fitting services. Now, I was going to go to a really nice department store, but Belk’s is okay, and I thought, what the hell.
We went through at least 50 bras, if you count all the sizes we tried. From measuring me, she picked up a bunch of Ds and DDs, but then when we started trying them on she ran and got a bunch of Cs, and then when we figured out the real problem (Lefty is an ornery son of a bitch) we went back to the Ds. Finding one that fits both breasts was… difficult. I ended up with one bra (wireless, even!) that fits perfectly, and one that fits pretty well but she wishes it fit better. The perfect one is a 34D, and the almost one is a 36C.
She also gave me a lot of help in the “wearing bras” area - I didn’t know I’d been wearing my straps too loose. (I thought most people wore them too tight?) Also, I’ve been instructed to make sure I “fluff” my breasts every morning.
Anyway, the woman seriously knew her stuff. She was great at showing me what we were looking for and why the ones that didn’t work, didn’t work. It was weird and awkward taking bras off and putting them on in front of another human being, but you get used to it and IMHO it was totally worth it. I’m going to wear these two for a while and make sure I like them before stocking up, though.
By the way, both bras were in the $30 range, and we tried on much more expensive ones.
Zsofia - Glad you didn’t need to head up to Nordstrom - I was thinking “I’m going to feel guilty if she drives all the way there and ends up with a bad bra lady.” Also glad you had a good bra lady so you can join those of us that sing the praises of a good bra lady. Its a calling, I tell ya.
Yeah, how you kind of lift them up and make sure all that’s “breast” is in the cup and over the wire or the “not-wire”, and that they’re not all smushed down at the bottom.
The more I see and think about this thread, the more I think about teenagers (mostly girls) who think they’re ready for sex but aren’t ready to see a doctor to arrange for birth control (because OMG it’s so embarrassing! or OMG I don’t want anyone to know!). They want the goodies without facing up to the uncomfortable part.
True, having breasts is (usually) not a choice for an adult woman, but taking care of them is part of the job. Does she go for her annual gyn exam? (I hope so.) Getting fitted for a bra is way less intrusive than that. I just can’t help thinking that she needs to be a grown-up, put on her big-girl panties, and just do it. She hasn’t got anything that the bra lady hasn’t seen before.
Mild hijack: I’m starting to think I’ve got the same thing - macromastia, I think it’s called. My favourite bra sprung a wire yesterday, so I went in today to replace it, and discovered I’d gone up a cup size again (H! I’m going to run out of letters soon!); I then did some counting and realised I’ve gone up a cup size per year, every year, for the last five.
I’m 26 for chrissakes, they were supposed to stop growing 8 years ago! :smack:
See, this is what I keep harping on. They say go get fitted and you’ll find your “real” size, not what you think you are. But the bras aren’t consistent! Did you learn enough about how it’s supposed to feel that you won’t need the bra lady every time?!
Yeah, I learned that when they say “it should sit flat on your sternum and it shouldn’t gap at all, anywhere” that they really mean that, and if you can’t find a bra like that don’t buy it. And that I wear my straps too loose.
Now I feel weird, though - it’s my first day wearing my new bra, and the straps feel tight and my breasts feel… assertive. Out there. Enormous. Suspiciously D sized. Eek. My boyfriend said “No, I don’t like them out to the sides like that”, and I had to tell him that’s where my breasts are, just not where my bra used to be, which is the problem.
I remind my wife every two or three days or so that we need to go find here a comfortable bra.
Finally, on Friday after work, I somehow get her into the mall. I just start walking towards Nordstrom. Once inside we take a spin around the lingerie section, but as soon as I make a move for a sales assistant, she declares her intent to vamoose. …
… We walk, and come across … Frederick’s (I know the layout of the mall well) … I jump inside … but she refuses to enter the shop … (I wonder what it looks like … a husband trying to force a demure wife into a naughty shop … but actually she owns several Frederick’s bras) …
walk walk walk …
Duck into the Apple Store for a temporary distraction … and then …
We’re in Victoria’s … Her attention is caught by a brand that is labeled as having no underwire … before she knows it, I’ve grabbed three different sizes, stuffed them into her hands … and I’m asking one of the dozens of sales assistants “Do you have a fitting room?” …
I steer her towards the fitting room, and propel her in, noticing that the assistants are walking around with measuring tapes draped over their shoulders …
I wait – conjuring up scenes in my mind of my wife trying to fight off shop assistants approaching her with ruled tape –
She comes out – with a neat little, foldable, pink card with her bra size!
Woo hoo!
Apparently, as soon as she went in, the assistant ask her “Have you been measured?” and she was too flummoxed to say anything but “No.” Perhaps my weeks of attempted brain washing helped.
Thank you Victoria’s for veritably crawling with attendants.
Doesn’t matter how many times people tell me I’m ‘proportional’, I still wish I were a C cup.