Welcome back to Having a B.R.A. (Before – Revelation – After) Fit, real stories of game-changing bra makeovers. Our Bra Fit Experts are here to help women who settled for “good enough” long ago to finally find the bras for them. Over the phone or via email or chat, they use their experience to triage your fit issues and narrow the field of available options. The results are nothing short of staggering, not to mention stunning.
As it turns out, one good makeover begets the next. After we shared Leann Dawes’ bra fit makeover on social media, we received one comment we couldn’t resist:
“Bet you can’t find a bra to fit me!”
Challenge accepted, Rebecca Mazzarella.
BEFORE
We quickly set up a call between Rebecca and Bra Fit Expert Mette. Rebecca, 38, a public relations account director, had never had a bra fitting before. When Rebecca told Mette what size she was wearing, the first words out of Mette’s mouth were: “That does not sound right to me at all.” Because the Bra Fit Experts handle upwards of 100,000 bra-related calls a year, she had already deduced that Rebecca, like most women, was in too big a band and too small a cup.
Rebecca told Mette she typically bought Lane Bryant bras, which, she learned, are sized very differently than most bra brands. All of Rebecca’s in-rotation 40B bras were fastening on the loosest hook, and her straps tended to fall. Rebecca, who wears a dress size 16/18, said her main concerns were underarm rolls and not very large, unevenly sized breasts. “They’re not that typical, round shape; they’re longer than they are full up top,” Rebecca said. (Newsflash: There is no such thing as “typical” breasts.) “I’ve always worn some sort of padding for shape,” she added, echoing another common comment.
Mette inquired about Rebecca’s shoulders: “Are they sloping?”
“I’ve never thought about that before—I didn’t know that was even a thing—but I just looked in the mirror and I think they are!” Rebecca answered in disbelief. “I guess that’s why my straps keep slipping off.”
Taking everything into consideration, Mette deemed Rebecca’s new size a 38DD and recommended contoured T-shirt bras and three-part cup bras. She advised her to stay away from balconettes and demi bras because of their wide-set straps—not ideal for narrow, sloped shoulders.
Rebecca, so used to thinking of herself as a B-cup, was convinced she wouldn’t be able to fill out DDs. “As your band size goes down, so does the size of the cups; they’re proportional,” Mette explained. And if Rebecca didn’t fill out the left cup—most women have one breast that’s smaller than the other—bra inserts were perfectly valid options. (As it turned out, she wouldn’t be needing those.)
While they talked, Mette was editing the barenecessities.com bra selection for her. “I know you need a great-fitting bra that’s going to lift you up and make you feel fabulous. When you’re in the right size, you look 10 pounds lighter because everything is where it belongs. This is going to be interesting—I can’t say it’s going to be perfect right out of the gate, but I guarantee we can do better. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” How refreshing to be in this boat with someone who knows what a properly-fitting bra should look like.
First, Mette recommended trying something very different than what Rebecca was used to, just to see how she fared. They started with the Panache Andorra and Clara, three-part-cup styles. The stretch lace in the cups conformed to Rebecca’s shallow breasts, nixing gaping and compensating for a lack of fullness, and the U-backs kept straps in place, but after she tried them at home, Rebecca wasn’t totally sold on the “pointy” new shape the bras gave her or that the lace might be visible under some of her shirts. She liked the bras and thought she would get used to the new look in time, but she wanted more options.
THE REVELATION
In the next round, Mette suggested the Fantasie Rebecca bra (oh so apropos!), the updated version of Spanx Bra-llelujah, a bra made almost entirely of smoothing hosiery fabric, and the Curvy Couture Tulip lace push-up bra.
Ding, ding, ding. Just like that, three winners had been delivered to her door.
Rebecca emailed Mette back, her excitement coming through the computer screen: “I absolutely love the Spanx bra. It’s so comfortable and gives me the perfect shape without any back or underarm rolls. I’m not sure how it could get better than this!!! I also like the Rebecca—what a funny coincidence. I really like that you couldn’t see it under my shirt, and the little bit of fabric on top of the cup hugged the top of my breast to eliminate gaping. Genius design. The Curvy Couture is beautiful, fits and feels good.” It also magically took care of her size discrepancy, thanks to built-in bump pads to even out the appearance of Rebecca’s breasts.
AFTER
“I was shocked, actually, by my new size,” Rebecca said. “When I look at my breasts in the mirror, I never imagined I could be a DD. I hated bra shopping. Nothing ever fit, and I thought it was me, not the bra. Now I get how important it is to try on a lot of different bras by different designers until you find what works for you.”
The right ones are out there somewhere; the toughest part is uniting with them. And connecting with an Bra Fit Expert is how you do that.
“I want the matching undies now. I’m feeling the need to upgrade my wardrobe!” Rebecca said with fresh enthusiasm not just for great-fitting bras, but for her whole look, for the extra dose of self-confidence she feels, head to toe.
“Thank you for entrusting me with your ladies,” Mette replied. Challenge: met.
REBECCA’S BEST BRAS
Fantasie Rebecca
Spanx Bra-llelujah
Curvy Couture Tulip
Let a Bra Fit Expert help you have your own bra fit revelation: 877-728-9272 (select option 4).
