A Bra-Fitter’s Guide to ensuring your bra is supportive and sexy.
The dreaded bra shopping trips. Ugh! There's nothing a woman looks forward to less than having to take all her clothes off and try on a million different sizes, just to get fed up and leave the store empty-handed. The majority of today's women are wearing their 'this will do' bra and have no idea what their real size is or what a correctly fitting bra should look like. A properly fitting bra will honestly change your whole life—your silhouette and how all your clothes fit. I promise! Even if you think your bra is fitting correctly now, follow this simple guide with my top tips on how to check the fit of your bra.
80% of the support from your bra comes from the back band, so it’s important that this fits well. Pop your two fingers inside your back band behind the hooks and pull the band away from you. Ideally, you shouldn’t have more than two inches of space in the back. Now, lift up your arms. Does your bra move up with you? If so, I suggest going a size down in the back.
When purchasing a new bra, you should wear it on the loosest set of hooks with two inches of space in the back. As the bra stretches over time, you should be able to tighten it with the hooks and maintain these two inches. When you reach the tightest hooks, if you have more than those two inches, it may be time to get a new bra.
The gore is the wire at the front of your bra and is connected to your back band. It should sit flat against your chest without allowing you to fit your fingers underneath it, and it shouldn’t be pointing outwards through your clothes. If it does, I would recommend sizing down in the back. If the gore is sitting on your breast, we can solve this by adjusting the cup size.
Now feel where your wire ends on your side. When you press it towards you, is it sitting on your ribs or on your breast? If the wire is on top of your breast, I would recommend a larger cup size.
Ideally, your cup should sit flat against your breast at the front without any spillage or wrinkling in the cup. If you are experiencing the dreaded double boob effect – where your breast appears to be cut in half by the line of your cup – then the solution will also be a larger cup size.
Once you have nailed all those steps and are wearing the correct size, it's time to adjust your straps. They should be tight enough that you can run two fingers underneath them and not have enough space to pull them away from the body. And remember, they may not be the same length, as everyone has one side bigger than the other!
And voila! Look at how incredible and lifted your whole shape looks now!
If you are still struggling, I recommend heading to your local lingerie store and checking if they offer a free fitting service. A bra fitter may also be able to recommend styles based on your body shape and everyday needs. It's worth it for that ultimate boost of confidence, trust me!