I'm new. I know I'd be better off taking a photo of myself in the bra that I have and starting from there. Maybe tonight. For now, I'm hoping I can get some ideas/thoughts/suggestions on a place to start. I've been struggling with this for a long time, and I'm tired of shooting in the dark ... and ordering bras to try and not having them even be close to a good fit. I just finished typing this and it's book-length, so sorry about that.
I've been wearing Panache Andorra full-cups in 32HH. The wire is huge compared to my boob - the fit of the wire at the gore side is decent, but the wire extends a good inch and a half or so past the boob tissue under my arm. So that's problem #1. It's uncomfortable and I look broad.
Other problems that I have generally are that my breasts are extremely soft/jiggly and just long, narrow, and pendulous. It's like there's too much skin for what's inside. Bra on versus no bra on, it's like one of those cans where you pull off the lid and the snake flies out (but less dramatic, hehe). If I lift them up to where a boob should be, they look decent and round and close together, but if I let them dangle, they're just kind of splayed and flat. If I lift them up but don't pull them in, they're like long flat pancakes that stick out the front...I could lay them on a table. Lifted up/in a bra, there's more tissue, like, in the upper center. I get quadboob/cutting in from anything that even remotely pushes down from the top. I also get a crease at the top if everything's lifted, and often get gaping where the strap attaches to the cup - rather than a rounded puff of tissue that comes from my collarbone to my underneath crease, it's more like a shelf. If the bottom of a cup is too deep, though, I look saggy in a hot second. It's very strange...like the tissue's just puddling in the bottom. So I either get puddling in the bottom with space in the top of a bra if there's fabric on top (This is particularly bad in molded cups.), or jiggling/cutting in. I can minimize the cutting/jiggling if I kind of angle my boobs down into the cup, but to accomplish that, my nipples end up pointing way down and to the sides. It's more like I'm just stuffing everything in there and because the tissue is so loose, it will go wherever I tell it to to fit into the fabric. The stretch lace on the Andorra's been really awesome for the cutting in. The wire is just so, so wide. I tried sizing down and tried everything from the 32HHs I have down to 32F (except for 32G, which I neglected to add to my last order), and when I get down to a wire that fits well, I get the overflow in the middle/top. I also generally have trouble with straps slipping - my shoulders are pretty narrow for my frame.
I'm looking for a bra/bras that pull everything in to the center, lift everything up, and don't cut in to my softness. Other bras that I've tried: the Tango balconnette (in 32 F on up to 32HH - The cups wrinkled even if they were obviously too small and the shape was terrible.), Panache Idina (in 32FF up to 32H - Nice shape and lift, but the band at the top cut in until I got to a cup size that was clearly too large.), Cleo Juna (in 32FF and 32G - I can't remember the exact problem with this one. I'm trying to remember though...I think just cup spillage.), Elomi Caitlyn (in 34F and 34FF - The cups technically cover my entire breast in the 34FF, but the tissue is all creased/smushed in there because it's so floppy and the band is far, far too loose. The shape is also horrible.). I've tried a bunch of others as well, but those are the highlights. I, on a whim last night, tried on the three swimsuit styles I have and met with good success. But I'm not willing to wear a tankini under my clothes every day. All three are 32G. One is the Freya Pier tankini. This one fit pretty well and gave me a good shape, but I did have to do a bit of the rearranging/finagling to avoid the double boob on my larger side. One is the Fantastie Corsica Twist tankini - this one fit well, but the shape isn't great because the cups are seamed horizontally and just look slightly pointy. The third is the Fantasie plunge tankini top (It comes in a bunch of prints, but mine are older. I think one of the more current ones is the Adelaide.). My boobs looked banging in that one. I don't think there was any oozing toward the middle, though there might have been if it weren't a halter.
I was going to try the SizemApp, but the measurement standing with no bra on threw me - where do I measure it? Around my belly button where my nipples are? Around where the tissue starts at what I'd consider the top of my boob? Either way, that measurement is not unlike my underboob measurement because they're just so long and flat.
Thanks for any help anyone can give me. I've tried to read up on the profiles/successes of people I've found who describe similar problems, but most of them don't seem to be having any better luck than I am.
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Shared on Oct 29, 2013 Flag this
The Deco is pretty unique. If she's looking for similar styles, she can look at the Fantasie moulded bras (smoothing, Rebecca, Esme), but that's really it. Chantelle might make 38H (which is their version of 38FF because they use EU sizing) in their C Chic Plunge or something, but all of these are shallower than the Deco. Honestly, if she's near a Nordstrom and has the time, she should try every bra in her size that she can, because she might find something that she likes even better than the Deco which isn't similar to it style wise, but might give her the same kind of shape. With unpadded bras, you can get a similar rounded forward shape, but it really depends on your natural shape.
EDIT: I just looked on the Nordstrom site, there aren't any moulded plunges really except for the Deco. Some decent bras that are worth a shot in her size that are moulded include: Cleo Maddie Moulded T-shirt Bra (7091), Freya Deco Hatty Moulded Plunge Bra (1281), Freya Deco Flamingo (1431), Elomi Hermione (8120), Fantasie Rebecca (2024), and Fantasie Smoothing T-shirt (4510). Ones that are known to give a round shape include: Panache Andorra Full Cup (5675), Freya Patsy Padded Half Cup Bra (1223) , Cleo Ellis (7211), Cleo Marcie (6831), Cleo Lily Balconnet Bra (7531), and Freya Totally Tartan Padded Half Cup Bra (1423).
DarianaWheeland: I don't have bras in your friend's size, but wanted to ask if you are at the same address as before? I have some bras I want to send to you. If you can't use them, you always seem to be able to find someone who can.
:)
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