Comedy from Victoria's Secret.
This weekend, I accompanied my friend while she went bra shopping at Victoria's Secret and Macy's. Miraculously, she found two in her size (32DD) that were on sale. Score!
They offered to measure me, too. Sure, I said politely, I've never been measured here. The associate first measured around my armpits, across the top of my chest. (This is an incredibly dumb measurement. You'll notice that most women do not, in fact, wear their bras across the top of the chest.) Then she measured my full bust. I could see her counting under her breath, and she looked alarmed when she clearly went past VS's available sizes. Still, she proclaimed me "a 36DDD" and handed me one to try on.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. My actual size is 32HH. That's two band sizes too big and four cup volumes too small. (The volume of 36DDD = 34FF = 32G.) I tried the bra for the sake of the experiment, and it fit exactly like you'd expect. The band rode up badly in the back, I was quadboobing out of it, and the center front stood out a good three inches.
To her credit, she didn't try to convince me that it fit, although when she checked on me, I already looked pretty skeptical and the fit was REALLY bad, so I think she knew it was a lost cause. I said gently, "Usually when I measure, I measure at the underbust. I normally wear 32HH." "I bet that fits a lot better." "Yeah, it does." She then asked if I worked in the industry, and I said no, I'm a corsetmaker. "Oh, that makes sense!" she replied.
Afterwards, we went to a specialty bra boutique (Ma Cherie et Moi in Santa Rosa) that sold Belgian and German bras. I tried on one that was labeled 32I, the largest cup size they had. European sizing is different from the UK system, and the saleslady, even after five years at this store, could not explain to me how the sizing worked, so I'm not sure what the UK equivalent to an I cup is. Of course it was much too small, and she suggested I go up a band size. I pointed out that the reason the band looked too small was because the cup was far too small, and going up a band size would just make the band ride up. She brushed that aside, clearly not believing me that a too-small cup can make a correctly sized band appear too small.
...I really just need to open my own shop. This is a tractable, solvable problem! The bras exist; they just aren't being properly distributed, and most "professional" fitters have no idea what they're doing.
They offered to measure me, too. Sure, I said politely, I've never been measured here. The associate first measured around my armpits, across the top of my chest. (This is an incredibly dumb measurement. You'll notice that most women do not, in fact, wear their bras across the top of the chest.) Then she measured my full bust. I could see her counting under her breath, and she looked alarmed when she clearly went past VS's available sizes. Still, she proclaimed me "a 36DDD" and handed me one to try on.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. My actual size is 32HH. That's two band sizes too big and four cup volumes too small. (The volume of 36DDD = 34FF = 32G.) I tried the bra for the sake of the experiment, and it fit exactly like you'd expect. The band rode up badly in the back, I was quadboobing out of it, and the center front stood out a good three inches.
To her credit, she didn't try to convince me that it fit, although when she checked on me, I already looked pretty skeptical and the fit was REALLY bad, so I think she knew it was a lost cause. I said gently, "Usually when I measure, I measure at the underbust. I normally wear 32HH." "I bet that fits a lot better." "Yeah, it does." She then asked if I worked in the industry, and I said no, I'm a corsetmaker. "Oh, that makes sense!" she replied.
Afterwards, we went to a specialty bra boutique (Ma Cherie et Moi in Santa Rosa) that sold Belgian and German bras. I tried on one that was labeled 32I, the largest cup size they had. European sizing is different from the UK system, and the saleslady, even after five years at this store, could not explain to me how the sizing worked, so I'm not sure what the UK equivalent to an I cup is. Of course it was much too small, and she suggested I go up a band size. I pointed out that the reason the band looked too small was because the cup was far too small, and going up a band size would just make the band ride up. She brushed that aside, clearly not believing me that a too-small cup can make a correctly sized band appear too small.
...I really just need to open my own shop. This is a tractable, solvable problem! The bras exist; they just aren't being properly distributed, and most "professional" fitters have no idea what they're doing.