Some of us go our whole adult lives never really considering how the way our bras fit affects our self-confidence, our posture…even our mood.
If there ever was a time to check in on your bra fit, it would be every January. With renewed resolve plus the post-holiday lull, this month is ideal for taking two minutes for yourself. Reexamine your bras, and suddenly your wardrobe looks—and fits—so much better.
To make touching base with yourself and your bras as easy as can be, we picked the brain of Bare Necessities Bra Fit Expert Kristyn Polin to help you uncover what you didn’t know you didn’t know. By taking a quick, close look at how the bras you’re in now serve you—or don’t—you can finally unlock the angels-singing kind of support you’ve long been looking for.
See if you can find yourself in Kristyn’s common scenarios, then try her tiny tweaks that make a huge difference.
Weight fluctuations happen, especially in summer when we’re by turns our most physically active and our absolute laziest. Safe to say we’ve all been there, blinking in disbelief at the read-out on the scale or puzzling over our sudden inability to button a single pair of jeans. (Or is that just me?)
Luckily, through trial and error, we Bare Necessities staffers know there are some pieces that’ll never let us down—even when all the others won’t make it up past our thighs. No need to throw a fit over the perfect fit, or ditch your wardrobe and restock it with the next size: We found those magical everyday must haves that seem to be made with equal parts Spandex and tender-loving mercy.
Few places is the grass greener than on the topic of chest size. At some point in life, it seems almost every woman thinks she’s gotten a raw deal with the genetics she’s been dealt.
That’s why we had two Bare Necessities bra geniuses—one card-carrying member of the Itty Bitty Committee, one bodaciously busty—sit and compare notes. Turns out our design director Moira Nelson (who wears a US size 34H) and Bra Fit Expert Kristyn Polin (she being a 30C) are more alike than different in both their wants and their woes.
Find out what works for them, what doesn’t and what it means for you, wherever on the size spectrum you fall.
Sure, Bare Necessities carries 167 different bra sizes from more than 80 of the world’s best brands. But perhaps our greatest advantage: the ladies on our customer service team.
Meet the Bra Fit Experts.
These trained, talented bra fit ninjas are real women with real lives and body concerns of their own. They’re here to assess your bra situation, find you the best size through an at-home bra fitting over phone or chat, then help you choose the perfect style for your body type, budget, style and more. Call them at 877-728-9272, x4 (Monday through Saturday, 8:30 AM to 6 PM), or chat via Bare Necessities to get yours. All you’ll need is a tape measure, your best-fitting bra and ten idle minutes.
Meanwhile, get to know the team so that when you do yourself the favor of reaching out, you’ll already know who’s on the other end of the connection.
Jessica Weiss is a 38-year-old wife and mom of two little boys who loves to run marathons and box. Her passion is helping others love the skin they’re in, which she does though her skincare sales business. It was time for Jess to do the same herself. Why now? Two words: swim season.
“I recently completed a round of Whole30, and I’m feeling pretty great about myself. I’d love to see how a properly-fitting bathing suit looks on this ‘mom bod.’ I’m realizing my figure has changed post-kids,” Jess told Bra Fit Expert Mette in preparation for her fitting. “The girls aren’t as perky as they used to be, so finding a swimsuit that’s flattering, supportive and, dare I say, a little sexy, has been hard.” Typically a tankini fan, Jess was open to a high-waisted bikini or a one-piece, so long as it fit well: “I need to be able to wrangle my boys in the pool and at the beach.”
Her bra game could also use an update. “I love a supportive bra because it helps with my posture and my shirts fitting properly, but it’s tough to find ones that don’t look like old-lady bras!”
BEFORE “I’d love a new, great-fitting swimsuit for what I think are my 38DD boobs,” Jess told Bra Fit Expert Mette in their first phone conversation. “I’ve never found one I love. They either smoosh my girls into shapes they shouldn’t be, or they seem to be sagging to my knees.”
Jess had in rotation “one swimsuit from a year or two ago that’s supposedly bra-sized, but I can’t get it to support me enough—it keeps my boobs so low. Another mashes my chest into a weird shape.” She also needed a suit that could pass her Mom Tests: Can she put it on without help? Can she lift a kid up in a pool without inviting a wardrobe malfunction?
Jessica’s “before” bra didn’t do her any favors
To get the swim right, we had to start with Jessica’s bras. She had been wearing mostly Target finds (like the one at left), and a Panache sports bra for running. While on speakerphone, Mette had Jessica measure herself. Turns out Jess wasn’t far off, though she was halfway in between sizes, making her either a 36 or a 38 band and a DD or DDD cup depending on brand and style.
“Measurements are almost never the be-all, end-all. There’s so much else to take into consideration,” Mette told her. They talked not only size but shape and volume, too. Mette asked Jess to describe her breasts.
“That’s a really interesting question!” Jess said. Like a lot of women, she’d never given it much thought. “They don’t touch in the middle, but they’re not wide apart, and they’re still pretty full and dense. My right boob is bigger than my left.”
Mette reassured Jess of how typical that is and taught her the scoop-and-swoop method (“It makes a big difference”) of deliberately filling up each cup. As for preferences, Jess was in Mette’s hands. Like Stitchfix, which Jess had tried with success, she left the decision-making up to her personal bra fit stylist.
THEREVELATION In a coup, Mette’s first-round shipment already contained the winners within. Stylistically, Jess loved all the bras and suits Mette sent: “Everything I loved, I never would have picked out for myself!”
Chantelle’s Rive Gauche won out among the bras. The soft, stretchy 38F (since it’s a European-sized bra, that’s equal to a DDD in US-sizing) was equally pretty and supportive. The Elomi Matilda was the best out of that brand; the Amelia T-shirt bra didn’t do anything for Jess. Ditto Panache Envy.
The swim stunner was the Fantasie Ottawa Twist one-piece in a 38E. “I have seriously never felt so comfortable in a bathing suit and it supported my boobs without making them look huge. I love it so much! It was so pretty and flattering. I could adjust the little ties at the hips for more or less coverage so I can wear this same suit anywhere,” raved Jess. “When my husband saw me trying it on, he said, “Babe, that’s it, that’s what you’ve been looking for.’ Because I can do anything in it. I could go to a party with friends, I could play with the kids. It’s not a mom suit that makes it seem like I want to go hide in a corner, but I’m still a mom, so it covers everything. It’s really just a lovely suit. I was so excited to finally find The One.”
A close second: the Fantasie Malundi tankini, which scored points for a great fit and the pretty watercolor pattern. While cute, the balconette cups of the seashell-print Panache Milano offered too much definition for the kiddie pool, Jess felt.
As is often surprisingly the case, Jessica’s bra size didn’t automatically translate to her swim size. US and European bras tend to be more generously cut. In swim, she went with Fantasie, a UK-sized brand, which tends to be cut truer to size, and you don’t necessarily want your swimsuit to be as tight around as you do your bra, Mette explained.
AFTER “There is a 100 percent difference in where I started and where I ended up, and it was so easy,” Jess said with no small satisfaction.
“The Chantelle Rive Gauche is amazing, beautiful and fits great. This is my first three-part-cup bra, and I’m surprised by how much I like it. I always wore a full-coverage T-shirt bra, which wasn’t very sexy. This is sexy but not so much that I can’t wear every day. It’s supportive, and wearing it makes me feel good.”
In the Fantasie one-piece, she said, “It was so refreshing to not have my chest be the focal point. I don’t think it minimized me, but it somehow made me look like an average-size girl. Hands down, this is the most comfortable suit I have ever worn. It doesn’t pull my chest or bring attention to it, it just supports it so you can be yourself and do your thing.” Mette concurred: “When you’re in the right size and fit, you will look smaller. Just look at her waist!”
For someone like her, at wit’s end trying to get the best fit, Jess recommended “giving the Bare Necessities ladies a call. They know what they’re talking about and what they’re doing over the phone. At first I thought that was totally weird, and it goes against everything you think you know about having a bra fitting, but they ask all the right questions. It’s crazy, but it works. I am here to give the big-boobed hope!”
We’ll be the first to admit it: There are a lot of bras out there, and finding the ideal ones for you can be…how to put this…challenging.
We here at Bare Necessities have cracked the code that turns bra shopping from drag to delight. Enter our expert Bra Finder, a bra size and fit quiz we developed using both the data we’ve accumulated and the know-how we’ve honed in 20 years in the business.
We get that the best bra goes beyond a number and a letter; it’s the one that makes you feel unstoppable. Because we know the perfect fit is about more than proper support; it comes down to confidence. Here’s how it works….
Bare NecessitiesBra Fit Expert Jessica never considered herself a natural athlete, but she’s a fitness devotee because working out does wonders for her mood. That’s why she recently took it to the next level and made the leap from student to instructor at her local CrossFit gym.
Read on for how Jessica makes working out her number one priority each day, the accomplishments she’s proudest of and her motivating mantra for pushing through even the toughest workout.
After years and years of ups and downs with her weight, Kathy, our lead Bra Fit Expert here at Bare Necessities, summoned the courage to have weight loss surgery this past fall. While she could envision the healthy lifestyle she wanted to live, she never could have imagined the side effects that took her out of commission for six miserable, seemingly endless weeks and left her questioning what she had elected to do to herself.
Today, Kathy is in way better shape—better, in fact, than she’s been in ages. Read on for what she wishes she’d known then that she knows now….
This week, Bare Necessities certified Bra Fit Expert Mette opens up about her on-again, off-again relationship with the gym. Weight-wise, she’s not where she wants to be, but if something’s got to give, it’s for sure not going to be time spent with her family—or her nightly glass of wine—and, at this moment, she’s 100 percent okay with that.
THE BACKSTORY
“I’ve had a slow metabolism since I was 13. Apparently, I started a trend, because we have no history of hypothyroid issues. My whole family is thin and can eat whatever they want without gaining weight. Not me.
When I was younger, I was more active, plus I was on medications to manage my thyroid. I’m 5’6”, and the sweet spot for me is right around 150 pounds.
The weight gain started around the time I was trying to conceive. I gained 10 or 15 pounds on the expectation that I would be having a child and could eat whatever I wanted. I thought the weight would just drop off when the baby came. It took a year of trying before I got pregnant with my son. I gained 55 pounds and was at 203 when I gave birth. It took a while for the weight to come off. I got pregnant again five years later. I gained 23 pounds with my daughter and was only five pounds off my pre-pregnancy weight after she was born.”
Happy 2018! This month, as we dust off our gym memberships with renewed enthusiasm, we’re hearing from four of our Bare Necessities Bra Fit Experts about their very real, very different paths to health and wellness. First up is Melissa, who underwent weight loss surgery after a lifetime of struggling with food and body image. Since the procedure last June, she’s already lost over 80 pounds, but she’s just beginning to get to know her new self.
THE BACKSTORY “Even when I was 7 years old, I was overweight. We have a family history—we’re the short, chubby Italians, not the willowy, Mediterranean Italians. I didn’t make the best food choices 100 percent of the time, but I was an active kid: color guard, cheerleading, theater, softball. I don’t remember the last time I was under 200 pounds. I’m 5’3” and have lived most of my adult life between 230 and 250. At my heaviest, I was 315 pounds.
Hazel-Anne M. Johnson, Ph.D., 38, is a professor and the director of a university undergraduate program, a mom of two toddlers, deeply involved in community activism and a CrossFit devotee. She’s been going to the intense workout for the past 5 years and can do a headstand or deadlift 150 pounds like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “It’s the most inspiring workout I’ve ever done,” she says. “I actually enjoy burpees.”
In other words, Hazel-Anne is basically Superwoman, and finding time for herself is her Kryptonite. She tries to get to CrossFit three or four times a week—a lofty goal even with a less intimidating schedule: “My mission is to figure out how to carve out me-time despite an ever-busy agenda.”
So you can pretty much guess where bra shopping ranks on Hazel-Anne’s priority list. “I don’t like shopping, and I’ve been pregnant or nursing for over three years, so I’m at a loss when it comes to understanding what my bra size is at this point. When I saw some of your swimwear makeovers on Bare it All this past summer, I was intrigued by the women’s transformations.” That’s where the Bare Necessities Bra Fit Experts come into play. Hazel-Anne wanted to experience the same revelation with her bras, especially her sports bras.
“I’m 58 years old and have never been fitted for a bra before. That’s a long time not to know,” says Carole Walker, founder and president of Integrity Marketing and Media, where she works with major brands —“they don’t intimidate me”—to find solutions to problems.
We got the vibe that a bra intervention wouldn’t unnerve Carole in the slightest. “I’m an open book,” she told us. “I’m always up for an adventure and learning something new.” The same can be said for the Bare Necessities Bra Fit Experts, our in-house team of fit and fashion gurus.
