Buying the Right Bra
Oprah’s recent episode featuring bra fit has created quite a buzz. Apparently, a large percentage of women are wearing the wrong bra, and they “made over” a few of the bad-fit-bra-wearing culprits on the show. It was actually quite wild – there were women who had been wearing a 36A who discovered they should be wearing a 32 D. Also, it was amazing what the right bra did for them. They had better proportioned figures, their clothes were more flattering, and they didn’t have the dreaded “back fat” popping out around the straps and band.
After watching all these ladies being transformed, I realized I’m probably wearing the wrong size bra. I’ve been wearing a 34 C for a long time. I had followed guidelines for measuring myself for a bra in the past, and measured as a 32. I thought this had to be wrong, as I had difficulty getting the bra comfortably fastened under my shoulder blades. Little did I know, it’s not supposed to go right under your shoulder blades - it’s supposed to sit down further, quite a bit further, as a matter of fact. The back fat popping out over the band is due to wearing a bra that is too big in band size. The bra band is supposed to fit below that fat zone, probably a couple of inches down from where most of us typically secure the band. Hence, the smaller measurement is to keep it from riding up into the fat zone.
Now on to the cup. Not only are bra bands designed to sit lower, but by positioning them this way, they provide proper lift in the cup. Apparently, cup size varies with strap size. So, if I go for that 32” band, I should probably go with a D cup, as the cup will be slightly smaller than it would be with a 34” strap. Amazing, huh? I haven’t had a chance yet, but I can’t wait to go bra shopping! I want the transformation that I saw with the Oprah guests that were made over. (I kinda like the idea of the D cup too, hee hee…)
Here are a couple of other tidbits I picked up from the show:
- Ideal boob placement is when the largest part of your breast falls at the mid-point of your upper arm. If you’re below that, you need more lift. Wearing a good bra with lift daily will combat the sagging of those puppies in the future too.
- When you buy a bra, get one that fits at the first hook. That way, when the bra loses elasticity over time, you can maintain the fit by hooking it tighter.
And finally, what is Oprah’s favorite bra, you ask? It’s the Le Mystere Tisha T-Shirt Bra (below). At $58, it’s not cheap, but a good fitting bra is cheaper than a boob job and an easy, painless way to a better figure.
~~~ Kris Bauer
