Bra fitting help » Measured as 28DD, 28D close but still too big, may need 28C instead?
Curvy Kate » Gia Balcony Bra (CK2101) » 28D 28:4
Issue resolved
THANK YOU ladies, pointing me to all the "shallow" pages made all the difference. It has been eyeopening how well the 30C b'tempt Ciao Bella has worked for me!
Original problem
/r/ABraThatFits measurement guide sent me to a 28DD. I tried on Curvy Kate in 28DD, 28D, and 30D - this 28D was the best fit, but still very far off. There was at least 3cm of excess material along the top of the cup, the wires gouged into my sternum, and wires seemed too wide, reaching almost to the side of my ribcage. I think a 28C or 30B will be my true size, but these are few and far between, especially since the lining is very important for nipple coverage. Am I destined to getting a boob job just to find bras that fit?
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Suggestions (3)
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11
helpful
This is totally a bra shape issue. You've got shallow breasts, and the Curvy Kate unpadded styles (like the Gia here) are definitely not shallow friendly, and very rarely work in your size range on anyone.
Numerically, if you've measured correctly, this cup is actually shallower than your breast perimeter, which means that it's too small for you. It's the comparatively narrow, deep shape which makes it unsuitable to wear. I'd say that 28DD/30D is in fact going to be a better size if you can get bras with the right shape.
Have you had a look at the ABTF resources on shallow breasts? Because of this shape factor, your breasts are considerably wider and taller than they are projected (this doesn't mean that they are necessarily 'wide' or 'tall', just wide and tall in comparison to the amount they project away from your frame). There's actually quite a bit of data on what works well with this shape. In general, you're looking for bras with vertical construction (sometimes called half cups or demi cups). I know that Cleo Juna is a popular starting style for shallow breasts but there's a more comprehensive list there of things which may work well.
Updated on March 12, 2014 Flag this
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3
helpful
Echoing the others: Curvy Kate is not a good match for small and shallow breasts. The wires actually aren't wide at all in these sizes, but the cups are just shaped completely wrong: too deep overall and too closed along the cup edge. In your case, though, part of the tightness along the cup edge might also spring from wearing the bra slightly angled down in the back, at least, that is what I think I see in your photos. Wearing the band too low in the back angles the wires and cups backwards as well, resulting in a distorted shape, slanting wires, and an even tighter cup edge. The centre gore discomfort you experience may also be related to this. For what it's worth, this might also mean you should not exclude 30 bands yet from your search. You might get a better shape and more comfort in a band size up from what you measure, something that is actually very common at the smaller end of the spectrum.
A good resource for bras for shallow breasts is this list by Libby : http://www.bratabase.com/profile/65y/adventures/2346/ and as Ereshiy mentioned, the Cleo Juna is a good place to start for figuring out your shape, although the bra itself definitely does not work for everybody. I myself have been having reasonably good luck with Change Lingerie lately -- if you happen to have access to this brand it might be worth checking out as it definitely runs shallower than most of the brands I have tried so far. Tutti Rouge is VERY shallow in the smaller sizes too (the Betty I tried surely was), although I don't really know where exactly their range starts ... 28DD, I think.
I disagree with Ereshiy that the measurements indicate that these cups are too small for you: MOST people require a cup depth that is smaller than their horizontal perimeter, although it varies greatly by how much.
Updated on March 14, 2014 Flag this
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Eek, apologies wendybien you're right. I must have been distracted while typing my original response, but I have corrected it now :)
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No prob MilkAndHoney ! Btw if you happen to know at which band/cup point the CK wires start to be wider than average, I would love to know as I am trying to help out a friend who is rather petite in the torso but with a proportionally wider shaped breast root.
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helpfulEreshiy is right about Curvy Kate being an unhelpful brand for you specifically to try to size yourself with--as she says, their strength is really in the range of medium to somewhat-large cup construction, and you have really different fit needs than, say, a 32H person. In addition, CK wires are on the wide side, which doesn't help unless you happen to fit that shape.
This being said, it's absolutely possible that the bra size calculator was off, and yes, you could be a 28C or 28D (30B strikes me as pretty unlikely although stranger things have happened). First of all, no calculator is perfect and the best they can do is offer a starting point. Most calculators are at least 1 or 2 band or cup sizes off for me and they usually err on the side of giving me a too-large cup. If you find that the band size it gave you (28) is comfortable yet firm, that's already quite a victory! Also, in smaller sizes (both back and cup) as little as a 1/4 inch difference in measurements can throw everything off, and it is almost impossible to measure oneself with enough precision to prevent that kind of error.
Don't despair though! There are many brands and models of bra with differing wire widths and cup depths, so your fit is most likely out there. Also, although the full bust brands have sort of pioneered the small back segment as well, women with small backs and smaller cups aren't limited to Curvy Kate, Panache and co. For C and under, The Little Bra Company (US) might be a resource, and there is a sprinkling of 28 models available in other brands, especially in soft/wireless bras (search amazon).
What country are you in? Posters in the same country/region may be able to point you to local brands or shops as well.
Updated on March 12, 2014 Flag this
Sorry to nitpick, but I just wanted to clarify it was Ereshiy, and not I, who suggested the cups were too small. I don't think this cup is too small at all! To me it looks too deep, and your sense that there is extra space on the sides suggests it's too wide; it may even be both (too deep and wide). Thanks MilkAndHoney for the info that CK wires are not overly wide in this size range as I did not know this :-)