I have long enagaged in a futile search for a good, feminine bra that would fit. I’ve spent years listening to one female relative or the next tell me I needed a bigger band, a diffent cup style, wider straps, a minimizer, ad nauseum. I know what I need. I can measure. It’s just that they are super difficult to find in my peculiar size, and when I do find them they are usually hideously frumpy. I finally found some I thought might work with a popular mail-order lingerie store. Their selection was a little ostentatious, for lack of a more circumspect word, but I was able to find a couple of nice, plain satiny ones.
They arrived today, complete with their spongy foam inserts to fully pad the lower half of the cups. I think I’ve got the volume part covered, guys. Hence me buying this particular cup size.
Do women buy larger cupped bras than they wear and pad them up?
Have you ever gone to a specialty store that carries up to TTT cup size?
You’ll find them under “Mastectomy supplies” :eek: in the phone book. I can only guess they carry such diversity because they specialze in titty covers of all kinds.
If it’s anything like a couple I have, it’s not to make them seem bigger, it’s to prop them up more. If they’re big enough, gravity wants to put them closer to one’s waistline that one really wants. Pushup bras are extra fun if you’ve never been “perky”. They take what you have and do what they have to do to hold you in place and defy gravity a bit.
I’m like an idiot savant when it comes to womanly ways.
Back after preview: Okay, when I put the bra pads back inside, then put it on, my stuff doesn’t fit down into the cups! :eek:
Maybe so, but when the cups runneth over, it doth not look good under the shirt.
I recently found the best bra in the world (Cacique, Lane Bryant [they have down to a 36 band]). It makes my usually-saggy girls look like perky melons reaching skyward, with no bulge at the top. All the bra threads here helped, too, because I realized I was buying the cups too small, and the band too big.
My problem is that I can never find a band size small enough coupled with a cup size big enough. Hm… fredricks of hollywood sells some very supportive and attractive stuff. But other than that, the bra sections in any department store are off limits for me. Actually, I just buy a cheap $5 bra close to my size from Wal Mart that can squish me good, then I buy a good tight sports bra to wear over it. It’s cheap, and it works better than any single bra money can buy.
As for the padding thing, I always toss those in the trash. I can see how some companies might think it “perks” you up, but no. Just leaves less room for me. The boob spilling over the edge thing is uncomfortable, I don’t like the lumpy look, and it always leaves an ugly red line. >:/
Have you seen the styles they sell to bigger breasted women?
Lo, the quatroboob. Verily, it doth look tacky under sweaters.
Sadly, most Lane Bryants don’t carry the 36 bands in store, so you have to get them online. I can occasionally get a free shipping coupon from the salesgirl if I give the extra puppy-dog eyes over my misfortune.
Habanero, the smaller band/larger cup is my problem, too. I may try your idea.
There ought to be a rule against posting comments like these without supporting pictures. Especially when I’m seeing my GF tonight after a few days apart.
Quite. Just because one is well endowed does not mean one does not like one’s underthings to look pretty. One ex (in a moment of levity, before he was an ex) did comment that my bras probably were probably designed by structural engineers, rather than clothing designers. It’d explain a lot, certainly.
Actually, that said, shops in the UK are getting rather good about selling larger sized bras, especially those with small(ish) band sizes and larger cups, but its only really happened in the past few years, and some places (i.e. the ones that do affordable underwear) still think that large cup size+small band size will not sell. Consequently, my underthings tend to be expensive. Sexy, but expensive, as getting things in the sales is very much hit and miss.
I have two of the bras-with-weird-inserts things, and I personally love them to tiny bits.
This is not because I have any need whatsoever of extra bulk. God no.
I find that they help keep the girls in place. They sort of go at the bottom outside edge, and have the effect of keeping the girls front and center (and up - up is important when you’ve had DD+ for over 15 years). The ones I got (Lane Bryant - also Cacique - I recommend them highly), the engineering was such that it allowed for the inserts with the cup size so that they didn’t actually take up any space. Plus they were neither beige nor white and categorically failed to resemble my grandmother’s brassiere.
As an extra bonus, I haven’t had any trouble with quadraboob with them.
I also hate quadraboob, and wholeheatedly endorse Lane Bryant’s Cacique bras. I have several styles, including the Flaunt style with the removable padding (actually little plastic air pillows). Those are nice because they’re extremely supportive and push-uppy but the middle part is low enough to accomodate the occasional plunging neckline. I have a couple of slightly less dramatic ones, like the one I’m wearing now, that are smooth and attractive and also allow me to jump up and down without snapping my spine. Not that I do much hopping, but now I can if I want to.
I also found the only sports bras that could ever contain me at Lane Bryant. They have a comfortable underwire and are made of material that breathes well (because getting sweaty in Houston is NASTY) and minimizes me well enough that I can do whatever I want to do, again without spine snappage.
Pepper Mill wears Cacique from Lane Bryant, too. She generally hates underwire, but she needed one for a formal gunction recently. The bra itself is attractive, but it’s got so much padding that it stands up and fully shaped by itself. If you’re a guy, you could buy one of these and not actually need a human date.
And Pepper Mill does not need additional padding.
At the function, she dropped some crumbs on herself, and a friend (a guy) offered to brush them off (her hands were full), but hesitated out of a sense of propriety – he didn’t want to be touching her boob.
Pepper Mill, seeing his unease, said “Oh, go ahead. You’ve got 1/4” before you start getting fresh."
I was going to recommend the Lane Bryant bras, as well, but I see plenty of people have beaten me to it. I have one of the Flaunt style, and I adore it. Most especially because it’s the only red satin bra I’ve ever bought that actually fit right. It came with the plastic air bubbles, which gave me way more cleavage than any woman has a right to. You’re still going to run into the uberthick-strap difficulty, but those cute little spaghetti-straps just don’t hold the Twins up.
In addition, Lane Bryant has strapless bras that are nothing short of magical. Beth, you know what I look like–I have an LB strapless that allows me to jump up and down without injuring myself or giving the girls a chance to make a break for freedom. And they’re so comfortable, I occasionally wear them even when I don’t need to.
God, where can we get comfort and support and not look like east German swimmers or Mia Hamm?
Hate bra shopping. Hated when I was a stick and wore a 34A, hated when I was a 36B and hate it now at 38B. hate it, hate it, hate it.
No-I do NOT want black lace–it’s itchy. Victoria’s keeping her secret from me–her bras are NOT comfortable.
off to grouse by myself. sorry, red flag topic to me…
WOW. I’ve never tried on one of the strapless ones, but I think I will.
I also have the red Flaunt bra and the matching panties, as well as sets in purple and black. It’s so exciting to have matching sets! After 15 years of what a college friend of mine once termed “lunch lady bras”, I can finally have pretty things too.
I can’t recommend these enough. They come with detachable straps, of course, but I find the straps aren’t even necessary, most of the time. I have an unfortunate set of shoulders–they’re almost nonexistent, so I spend most of my time hiking my straps back up off my upper arms. It’s amazing how much easier my day is when I don’t have to.
I’m a 36 or 38 G (possibly H). I consider myself lucky that I can even find 36F nowadays; I can make do with those if I get the right style (then they’ll be too small but you can’t really tell, thank goodness).* Without spending a lot to mail order from Bravissimo, I make do with what I can find at Freddie’s or Lane Bryant.
I love the removable padding because my right boob is a bit smaller than my left. That means I can keep the padding in the right one and then my boobs are symmetrical.
I have an interview at Lane Bryant for a part time job on Monday. 40% employee discount! I can buy more bras!
I think I’ve got the volume part covered, guys. Hence me buying this particular cup size.
