Women's clothes sizes

harrys_nan

LavenderBee wrote: »

I have just booked myself a bra fitting for my week off next month - ladies there is an online booking system on the M&S website if anyone else is feeling as jolly confused as I am!

M&S still do the plus 4, have you a Bravissimo near you, you don't have to buy a bra from there but at least you will get measured properly, or even Debenhams fit you better than M&S.
Measure yourself using the booborbust method and try on bras in that size and perhaps get the fitter to check for the fitting

Pollycat

Can we just backtrack on the bra sizing topic, please.

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Your old 34 bras don't fit because they are 2" too small. They were labelled using the old system. If you bought them tomorrow, they would very likely have 30 on them and they still would still be 2" too small. You would need to go for the next size up... 32.

32 is the old 36. That is the size you are.

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Is it a brand that uses the old system or the new system?

Unless you used to wear 40" bras, it is unlikely to be the new system.

As I understand it - based on what the Boob or Bust website says - this is a new way of measuring your bust size.
Not a new way of labelling your bra size.
Thinking about it, to do the latter it would be nonsense.
You wouldn't know if a supplier was using the old system or the new.

So under the old system you may measure 36G and under the new system you measure 32HH.
The only way to find out what bra actually fits you is to take both sizes into the changing room and see which fits you best and adjust chest size and cup size as necessary.
So if the HH cup size is good but you can't fasten it around you, then try a 34H (same cup size, slightly larger back).

I'm happier with this than the notion that manufacturers are relabelling bras.

Nicki

Bravissimo and Rigby and Peller will explain when they first measure you that the band is supposed to feel tight across the back. Although it's a different sensation and may take a few days to get used to it isn't uncomfortable IMO at least. I went from a M&S measured 36C to a 32E and the 32 does fit across the back and my shape looks very different. Funnily enough I look smaller and perkier in the larger cup size. I wouldn't go back.

Pollycat

Nicki wrote: »

Bravissimo and Rigby and Peller will explain when they first measure you that the band is supposed to feel tight across the back. Although it's a different sensation and may take a few days to get used to it isn't uncomfortable IMO at least. I went from a M&S measured 36C to a 32E and the 32 does fit across the back and my shape looks very different. Funnily enough I look smaller and perkier in the larger cup size. I wouldn't go back.

So you weren't far out with your cup size.
32E = 34DD = 36D

A lot of women wear their bras far too high across their back - as a result of buying too large a chest size.

Pollycat

Gloomendoom wrote: »

This whole thread is a discussion and acknowledgement of the nonsense that is women's clothes sizes.

Both systems of labelling are in use.

My point is that a bra that says size 36D is the same size regardless of which measuring system you use.

Your posts alluded to labelling of bras using the old system and the new system.
There is not and never has been a change in the labelling of bras.

There are not 2 systems of labelling in use (specifically relating to bras).
There are 2 methods of measurement in use - which should lead you to buy the correct size bra.
A size 36D will be the same size regardless of which method you use.

Gloomendoom

Pollycat wrote: »

Can we just backtrack on the bra sizing topic, please.




As I understand it - based on what the Boob or Bust website says - this is a new way of measuring your bust size.
Not a new way of labelling your bra size.
Thinking about it, to do the latter it would be nonsense.
You wouldn't know if a supplier was using the old system or the new.

This whole thread is a discussion and acknowledgement of the nonsense that is women's clothes sizes.

I'm not exactly qualified to argue the toss here, however, generally speaking, my wife's bras are 28G. The band measurement is 28". She has a couple of bras, unworn because the cups are too small that have 32E on the label. The band measurement is also 28"

I actually got her to try the 32's on and they are just as tight across her back as the 28's. You can't get a finger under the band of either.

I think the 32's are Freya brand.

Pollycat

Gloomendoom wrote: »

This whole thread is a discussion and acknowledgement of the nonsense that is women's clothes sizes.

I'm not exactly qualified to argue the toss here, however, generally speaking, my wife's bras are 28G. The band measurement is 28". She has a couple of bras, unworn because the cups are too small that have 32E on the label. The band measurement is also 28"

I actually got her to try the 32's on and they are just as tight across her back as the 28's. You can't get a finger under the band of either.

I think the 32's are Freya brand.

As above in my post that quoted your later amended post, regardless of which method she uses to measure her size, the bras will have the same label on.
A 28G under the old measuring system will be a 28G under the new measuring system.
This doesn't mean to say that every brand of bra that is labelled 28G will fit your wife.
There are differences between manufacturers and of course styles - even in bras that are labelled the same size.
.
I find a lot of Debenhams styles don't appear to fit me because they are too low under the arm.

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I'm not exactly qualified to argue the toss here, however, generally speaking, my wife's bras are 28G. The band measurement is 28". She has a couple of bras, unworn because the cups are too small that have 32E on the label. The band measurement is also 28"

This is more likely to do with the difference in manufacturers - as has been discussed on this thread in relation to dress, tops, skirts and trousers.
It is not because the labelling system has changed.

Gloomendoom

I'm now past caring.

However, if you have a spare moment, Googling "bra vanity sizing" will keep you amused for a while.

One hit of many...

'They vanity sized it': Modern bra sizes are a scam intended to flatter the wearer, insists top lingerie expert

Describing the scale of the problem, she says that what was once a 36D is now labelled a 32G.

Source

fairy_lights

My understanding of the bra-measuring change was that it was brought about because the old "add four inches" method was devised back when modern bras we're first invented, and needed the extra 4 inches to allow for flexibility so the wearer could breath. Nowadays bras have such a high elastic content that they are flexible enough to not be constrictive and adding four inches on to their rib measurement results in a lot of women wearing very badly proportioned bras.

Pollycat

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I'm now past caring.

However, if you have a spare moment, Googling "bra vanity sizing" will keep you amused for a while.

One hit of many...

But not enough to post a 5 year old link. :whistle:

You are correct in that there are articles about 'bra vanity sizing' but these are US articles.
And some are by the same woman.
The 2 UK links I found (one on Mumsnet) poo-pooed the idea of vanity sizing.
What a couple of people in the US believe doesn't mean it's here in the UK.

Your link is what somebody in the USA said 5 years ago.
It doesn't make it true and it will have nothing to do with the new way of measuring your bra size (as opposed to an old or new system of labelling).