It’s been a few years since I bought bras. During the ensuing time two things occured unbeknownst to me:
36C suddenly became “very small - we hardly stock any at all”
Underwires every-fucking-where
Since when is 36C small? It’s never been huge, no, but I remember when it was a fairly common type. Now, most of the bras seemed to be 40+ and D+. What the fuck? One poor fellow customer (I will NOT use the word “guest” or whatever bullshit is being foisted by the Big Box Store of the moment) was searching for an A cup - only to be told that she was too small to even need a bra. :rolleyes: (Uh, yeah, right, way to win customers who might be looking for pretty “intimate apparrel”, or don’t A-cups have a right to dress up for their SO’s?)
And what the fuck is it with the goddamned underwires? EVERYWHERE? Including the smaller sizes? What the hell is with that? Underwires combine the joys of a too-tight ace bandage with a fork in the eyeball. Had one teeny-booper salesbitch tell me that I didn’t have a choice - if I wanted a bra small enough to fit me underwire was all that was available anywhere (not true!). Had another one demanding a lengthy explanation of why I didn’t want an underwire. I finally shut her up with “I spend a lot of time in airports. Underwires trip security devices and I don’t enjoy being strip searched on a daily basis” which, admittedly, is WAY an exaggeration but I don’t fucking owe ANYONE an explanation for what is bascially a personal preference in underwear.
I was finally helped, genuinely helped, by a nice older saleswoman who asked me what I wanted and took the time to help me search the shelves. After which I walked out with four satisfactory bras. I mean, really, I was standing there saying I don’t really care about color or styling - I just want some bras that fit that don’t have underwires.
Why is shopping for clothing such a fucking nightmare? (Except for panties and sometimes socks. For some reason I can usually get those without a fuss)
I won’t even get started on my bitchfest about bras that can’t be machine washed AND dried…
Perhaps you just weren’t in the right store. If you’re a 36 C, go into Victoria’s Secret- they should have tons of Cs and they are marketing a new, completely wireless and seamless bra.
I’m a 38 D, give or take. In any “normal” store, all of the bras run really tiny in the cups and I’d be hard pressed to find a single bra that could hold my tits in. It’s even harder to find something that goes bigger than a C in an attractive design. If I go into the fat lady stores (I can say that, being a fat ass), I have to scrounge for a 40 C, otherwise everything else is way. too. big.
I’m a 38DD, and I’ve recently found lovely, comfortable, and affordable bras in a variety of sizes (even some without underwires!) at Soma, the lingerie arm of Chico’s. I’ve been very pleased with the variety and quality, and they’re under $40 each, with frequent sales. And if you join their “club,” then you get 5% off every purchase, including sales. Plus our local store has a lady who’s an excellent bra fitter; until I went in there, I’d been wearing a 42C, and you want a hard size to find? Ack!
Uh, I think you’re wearing them wrong.
Seriously, though, I don’t know where you were shopping, but in my experience, smaller bras are everywhere, and I’d think it would be difficult to find the larger sizes rather than the other way around. Which is good for me, a 36B. As for underwires, all of my bras have them, and even though I don’t really need the extra support, I like them. Or have just gotten used to them, at any rate.
Nah, I have a problem finding 38Cs. They might as well not exist for all the luck I have finding them. They skip from 36-40.
So by the time I finally find some (I don’t care about underwire I just don’t do the granny bras that give you pointy boobs) I don’t bother to try them on, so it’s hit or miss whether they actually fit or not. And I don’t return them, it would be too much of a hassle deciphering which size this particular manufacturer thinks my boobs are (what’s with nonstandardized sizing? Isn’t that why men can just pick up a pair of Levis or Lee or Tommy Hilfiger jeans that are 36-32 and they fit?) I know my boobs are 38Cs, a friend once dragged me into Victoria’s Secret and a sales lady with a tape measure pounced on me.
I’ve got half a dozen bras, maybe more (you’re right, the underwire doesn’t fare too well in the dryer) and oh, 3 or 4 of them have boob oozage or otherwise look or feel terrible.
I hate bras. I hate boobs too for that matter. I want to be a 36B again.
Meier’s. K-Mart. Wal-Mart. Fashion Bug. A couple other places. I’ve been looking for new bras for a month now, and even went shopping when I was in Tennessee (I live in Indiana). I swear, everywhere I went I felt like I was undersized for having udders smaller than 44DD. You ladies who are amply endowned with boobage might try those stores, as they seem quite willing to cater to you around here.
I just wanted some cheap-ass fucking bras that I could tolerate wearing most of the day until my life settles down enough to do some real shopping for top-shelf stuff. I shouldn’t have to go to a specialty boutique or pay through the nose for a fucking piece of underwear!
Many of my bras are 38Cs. This is an annoying size because bras are often divided into “decorative for the smaller figure” (which stops in the vicinity of 36C) and “SUPPORTIVE for the larger figure” (Which starts in the vicinity of 38D).
I exaggerate slightly. But I don’t have any interest in brightly colored or lacy bras, and I’m not that keen on the industrial strength looking ones either. And being the size I am, I often do feel like most bras are made for someone who is either way more petite than I am, or way more endowed than I am.
And I’m not so keen on the underwire thing, either. Although, I have found at least one style with underwire that does work for me.
Of course, it was long enough ago that I went bra shopping, that they probably don’t make those styles anymore, whether or not they make the ones which I tried on which I hated.
I went bra shopping last week, and bought a number of 44DDD bras. Every single one of them, in fact, that I could find, even the ones with underwire, which I normally avoid. They all seemed to fit okay when I tried them on.
Then I brought them home.
It never occurred to me that I should sit down while trying on bras, but apparently it’s a requirement. Because 6 bras that fit me in the store jam underwire so far up my armpits it comes out my ears when I sit in my office chair. D’oh!
So, today I went bra shopping again. This time, instead of the fat person store, I went to the highly specialized expensive lingerie store. For twice as much as I paid for 6 bras, I got two, but with any luck they’ll actually fit. They’re 44G, which is the next size up from what I was buying, but not a size that exists in non-specialized stores, as far as I can tell.
Oh, I hear you on the underwire thing. I HATE underwires. You’re right, wire-free is very difficult to find unless you go into a sports bra (I hate those too!). And try finding a 40B. Almost impossible. I finally found a comfortable 40B WonderBra without wires for $40.
And try finding a seamless bra without wires! Gack.
RedRosesForMe, if you have a bra you really like, you might want to check the manufacturer and style # on the tag, and see if you can find it “new with tags” on ebay. I’ve been wearing the same style for years (lilyette #428), I always pay less than retail.
A 40B- wow, I bet you have as much trouble finding bras that fit as I do finding shoes that fit (9 1/2 narrow)!
I do have one bra that I love and wish I could find more of- it has a contraption in the front in the middle that allows you to pull it tighter and make your cleavage pop, literally. It especially comes in handy during that PMS time, when I grow a full cup size. Va-va-voom!
There’s nothing worse than shopping for a bra that fits (unless it’s shopping for bathing suits :eek: ) And there’s nothing better than having a couple of bras that you love in the lingerie drawer to choose from each morning. I tell you, when I find one that suits my needs, I buy three of them!
This thread reminds me that, no matter our size or shape, we all want our girls to look their best when they greet the world. Me, I’m a 42DD, or a 42D, or a 44D, or a XL sport bra or . . . or . . . depends where (and what time of the month) I’m buying. I look at catalogs filled with styles and sizes, but hesitate to order when I can’t be sure what’s going to be just right and what’s going to make me look like a mutant.
But, like they say in the “periods from hell” (paraphrased) pit thread, at least we get multiple orgasms! (insert rolleyes smiley or grinning smiley, depending on your outlook)
I am a 36C and I buy my bras from Victoria’s Secret too. I wash and dry mine all the time and so far so good. Hand washing is BS to me. I like underwire bras but VS makes all kinds and all sizes like DiosaBellissima said. I’d try there. Good luck.
We don’t have a Meier’s here, but everything else you list are low-end retail stores. Those types of stores tend to upsize everything. Have you ever looked at the women’s tshirts in a Wal Mart or Kmart? They are almost all XL or bigger.
Rather than being frustrated and spending $15 on a bra at Target (which, in my experience, Target bras break within a few wears anyway), spend $35 and get one from a lingerie store or VS (a bra that will last you a year).
You know, that MIGHT work IF I knew of a Victoria’s secrect or “upscale lingerie shop” around here.
I shopped at those stores because that’s what’s around here, in outer-suburbia/near rural hell.
(Yes, I’m having a bad day)
I would have considered shopping on-line except that, having recently lost 25 lbs (due to illness, not through desire) I no longer knew what size I was! So I had to have something I could really try on.
And it really is fucking ridiculous that a woman of average size has to go upscale to find something that fits.
I hate underwires, too. So if the bra that fits best has one, I buy it and take it home. It generally takes only one tiny snip to get to the wire and I’ve never found one that was anchored in place. So one snip, a pull or two, and no more wire jamming me in the underarm. Ahhhhhhh.
Wow I never even thought of that. I do have a few styles I like, but never seem to find the same style in the right size when I go out shopping. I’ll definitely try that next time I’m in need of new bras.
Beats wearing the 3 bras I like 4 or 5 times between washings, anyway.
