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cimoreneMy wife waxjism and I approach the bra spectrum from opposite ends and with opposite problems.
My problems are comparatively mild. I have a smaller than standard ribcage; I can wear 30(65)A or 28(60)B. In fact, I don't 'need' a bra for support at all... not even running or jumping, although it can be more comfortable; I just need it to restrain my nipples which are otherwise too visible, which was totally unacceptable in public where and when I grew up. (That can be uncomfortable too though, particularly when it's cold.) So until moving to Finland, my problem was that I needed padded bras for camoflage, and most of them couldn't be made to fit at all because they were all too big in the band AND the cups. When I learned about bra fitting I bought some custom-size underwired bras from Polish lingerie maker Ewa Michalak - not quite the only source in the EU for that size, but the only reliable one I ever found. I was never able to wear pull-on ones, either sports bras or bralettes, because they were never small enough to stay on, but technology progressed and the common availability of one-piece knitted microfiber bralettes meant that I could wear the smallest sizes (not always, but sometimes) because the materials are stretchier. Since then I've mostly relied on those for everyday wear (except when I increasingly often go without), but... the microfiber ones are 100% synthetic fiber, and that's a bit nasty: it doesn't feel good on the skin, it doesn't breathe well, it doesn't dry well and it retains odors. So because the sock yarn bralettes I was knitting came out so well (I've made three more since, so four definite successes), I think I may have solved this entire problem for good now, letting me throw out old microfiber ones and use the knitted ones for everyday and the underwire ones for rare special wardrobe requirements.
This success has understandably elated me and it caused my mind to return once more to my wife's problems, which were always about 100 times worse because her size is unusually large, around a 34(75)HH now. So that means the circumference of her ribcage is about four inches, or ten cm, greater than mine, but the circumference at the widest point of the cups is another 11 inches greater than that. (11 inches is the height of a Barbie doll. Not super relevant, it's just what I always think of when I read '11 inches'. More germanely, the height of a sheet of A4 paper.)
Anyway, it's obvious that her problem has always been worse than mine. This cup size is larger than most places carry by default, and the band size is smaller than most large-cup manufacterers make with that large a cup. Don't misunderstand, there are still quite a list of manufacturers to choose from in that size combination now, but even in specialty lingerie shops before she was able to order them internationally from the Internet, the odds were about 8:1 against her finding one that actually fit on a given trip, so like most people in that situation, she was often forced to wear ones that didn't fit. Even once they start to almost fit, there are all kinds of comfort issues because the weight of a cup size that large is a strain on the back and shoulders, and the straps have to match; plus the placement of the wires and the shape of the cups in the majority of bras in this correct size are usually wrong. Even ordering the right size over the internet - even with brands that have fit before - she has a fits-well-enough-to-keep rate of about 1 in 6. Over the years, Wax has gone from one SINGLE bra she actually likes out of about 4 at a time that she can wear to another, and every time one breaks or fails she usually only has enough stamina to search until she finds one more. Right now she has four identical ones in rotation because the last time she discovered a favorite, we ordered four more of it right away (something that wouldn't even be possible without a credit card because in her size they're so expensive), and since then one of them has exploded - the wire going through the fabric and popping out - because she dug too many holes when gardening.
She also hasn't ever found a sports bra that fits. This isn't that important because she doesn't do any real sports, or any exercise for the sake of exercise; but there are still lots of activities that would be more comfortable with one (moving furniture! construction! gardening! running up and down the stairs!) if she could get one that would be more comfortable than either (a) nothing or (b) an underwired bra, and she never has. Large cup-size sports bras are... vanishingly rare. Many of them still have underwires, which are pretty much inherently uncomfortable but possibly less uncomfortable than the alternative of the breasts squashing into each other and escaping the garment from both the top and the bottom. I read a bunch of reviews and blog posts on the subject a few years ago and tried to order some of the well-reviewed ones for her to try out, but it was failure on all counts again.
It just makes me so mad. I just can't believe that in the whole history of human garment-making in every culture nobody has invented a way of restraining large breasts that would at least be more comfortable for her when lounging around the house! The closest she's come is wearing a Japanese yukata (light cotton summer kimono), which can be folded and tied so that the cotton goes under and over them and separates them from each other; but the support is minimal there and it has to be tied with a sash... and you can't really shrink the yukata down to an undergarment. You can make a sort of jacket-like pyjama top I guess. The support of a corset or set of stays is supposed to be good, but that wouldn't be comfortable for carrying furniture or gardening. Maybe a linen chemise/smock with a custom-fitted, stretched woven gown or bodice such as could be found in parts of Europe more or less between the 13th-15th centuries before the introduction of leather and straw/boned stays? But aside from the fact that they're difficult to make and the whole custom fitting part is inaccessible to nearly everybody, I can't see modern women gardening or whatever in clothing they had to be laced into. What about the style of dress in ancient Greece and Rome? I think I've read, somewhere, hints that there were methods of binding a chiton up with cords in a pattern crossed around the torso that might have managed to be reasonably functional support...
It probably doesn't help that I'm, like, not an engineer or a seamstress. But again, I can't help thinking it shouldn't have to be an invention because women have been around, having large breasts, for, you know, possibly millions of years?
waxjism and I approach the bra spectrum from opposite ends and with opposite problems.My problems are comparatively mild. I have a smaller than standard ribcage; I can wear 30(65)A or 28(60)B. In fact, I don't 'need' a bra for support at all... not even running or jumping, although it can be more comfortable; I just need it to restrain my nipples which are otherwise too visible, which was totally unacceptable in public where and when I grew up. (That can be uncomfortable too though, particularly when it's cold.) So until moving to Finland, my problem was that I needed padded bras for camoflage, and most of them couldn't be made to fit at all because they were all too big in the band AND the cups. When I learned about bra fitting I bought some custom-size underwired bras from Polish lingerie maker Ewa Michalak - not quite the only source in the EU for that size, but the only reliable one I ever found. I was never able to wear pull-on ones, either sports bras or bralettes, because they were never small enough to stay on, but technology progressed and the common availability of one-piece knitted microfiber bralettes meant that I could wear the smallest sizes (not always, but sometimes) because the materials are stretchier. Since then I've mostly relied on those for everyday wear (except when I increasingly often go without), but... the microfiber ones are 100% synthetic fiber, and that's a bit nasty: it doesn't feel good on the skin, it doesn't breathe well, it doesn't dry well and it retains odors. So because the sock yarn bralettes I was knitting came out so well (I've made three more since, so four definite successes), I think I may have solved this entire problem for good now, letting me throw out old microfiber ones and use the knitted ones for everyday and the underwire ones for rare special wardrobe requirements.
This success has understandably elated me and it caused my mind to return once more to my wife's problems, which were always about 100 times worse because her size is unusually large, around a 34(75)HH now. So that means the circumference of her ribcage is about four inches, or ten cm, greater than mine, but the circumference at the widest point of the cups is another 11 inches greater than that. (11 inches is the height of a Barbie doll. Not super relevant, it's just what I always think of when I read '11 inches'. More germanely, the height of a sheet of A4 paper.)
Anyway, it's obvious that her problem has always been worse than mine. This cup size is larger than most places carry by default, and the band size is smaller than most large-cup manufacterers make with that large a cup. Don't misunderstand, there are still quite a list of manufacturers to choose from in that size combination now, but even in specialty lingerie shops before she was able to order them internationally from the Internet, the odds were about 8:1 against her finding one that actually fit on a given trip, so like most people in that situation, she was often forced to wear ones that didn't fit. Even once they start to almost fit, there are all kinds of comfort issues because the weight of a cup size that large is a strain on the back and shoulders, and the straps have to match; plus the placement of the wires and the shape of the cups in the majority of bras in this correct size are usually wrong. Even ordering the right size over the internet - even with brands that have fit before - she has a fits-well-enough-to-keep rate of about 1 in 6. Over the years, Wax has gone from one SINGLE bra she actually likes out of about 4 at a time that she can wear to another, and every time one breaks or fails she usually only has enough stamina to search until she finds one more. Right now she has four identical ones in rotation because the last time she discovered a favorite, we ordered four more of it right away (something that wouldn't even be possible without a credit card because in her size they're so expensive), and since then one of them has exploded - the wire going through the fabric and popping out - because she dug too many holes when gardening.
She also hasn't ever found a sports bra that fits. This isn't that important because she doesn't do any real sports, or any exercise for the sake of exercise; but there are still lots of activities that would be more comfortable with one (moving furniture! construction! gardening! running up and down the stairs!) if she could get one that would be more comfortable than either (a) nothing or (b) an underwired bra, and she never has. Large cup-size sports bras are... vanishingly rare. Many of them still have underwires, which are pretty much inherently uncomfortable but possibly less uncomfortable than the alternative of the breasts squashing into each other and escaping the garment from both the top and the bottom. I read a bunch of reviews and blog posts on the subject a few years ago and tried to order some of the well-reviewed ones for her to try out, but it was failure on all counts again.
It just makes me so mad. I just can't believe that in the whole history of human garment-making in every culture nobody has invented a way of restraining large breasts that would at least be more comfortable for her when lounging around the house! The closest she's come is wearing a Japanese yukata (light cotton summer kimono), which can be folded and tied so that the cotton goes under and over them and separates them from each other; but the support is minimal there and it has to be tied with a sash... and you can't really shrink the yukata down to an undergarment. You can make a sort of jacket-like pyjama top I guess. The support of a corset or set of stays is supposed to be good, but that wouldn't be comfortable for carrying furniture or gardening. Maybe a linen chemise/smock with a custom-fitted, stretched woven gown or bodice such as could be found in parts of Europe more or less between the 13th-15th centuries before the introduction of leather and straw/boned stays? But aside from the fact that they're difficult to make and the whole custom fitting part is inaccessible to nearly everybody, I can't see modern women gardening or whatever in clothing they had to be laced into. What about the style of dress in ancient Greece and Rome? I think I've read, somewhere, hints that there were methods of binding a chiton up with cords in a pattern crossed around the torso that might have managed to be reasonably functional support...
It probably doesn't help that I'm, like, not an engineer or a seamstress. But again, I can't help thinking it shouldn't have to be an invention because women have been around, having large breasts, for, you know, possibly millions of years?
(no subject)
Date: 27 Jun 2020 11:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 27 Jun 2020 02:15 pm (UTC)IG and Tiktok are constantly showing me new bra innovation ads, so the algorithm senses my frustration!
Pre-surgery, the Enell was the only bra that would let me run, but it definitely wasn’t comfy!
(no subject)
Date: 27 Jun 2020 02:24 pm (UTC)https://shefit.com/
(no subject)
Date: 28 Jun 2020 10:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jun 2020 05:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 28 Jun 2020 10:24 am (UTC)A lot of times in the summer when I'm going to a store, I do a mental debate between would I rather wear a bra under the tank or a button-down shirt over it (with the sleeves rolled up, not buttoned all the way), and I often go for the shirt instead because it's actually less hot unless there's no breeze whatsoever.
(no subject)
Date: 27 Jun 2020 04:25 pm (UTC)And to add insult to injury, for the last ~two years every sports bra on the market is now padded, what is that about!? I'm about to sweat like a pig, obviously what I want is insulation, right? And obviously I buy garments that compress my breasts in order to add bulk to them with padding! D:<
(no subject)
Date: 28 Jun 2020 10:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jun 2020 03:15 am (UTC)And for any cup size C and up, "low impact" is all there is. It makes me want to call manufacturers and yell: Walking down a staircase is higher impact than "low impact" with tits this size! What am I expected to do with this, wear it to lie on the floor and watch the ceiling fan?!
(no subject)
Date: 28 Jun 2020 05:25 am (UTC)Even worse than straight-up bras: swimwear, because all the stuff that I count on to give me actual support in a bra seems like super outré to the swimwear industry. I think most of them don't even understand that it's the strap around the ribcage that gives most of the support. I bought a bathing suit online a couple weeks ago (desperate times), and went for one of the like... high-waisted bikinis with retro styling, because they often have underwire or at least foam cups and often are heavy enough material to *sort of* do some good? Instead, they sent me a triangle top with two 1/4" strings to tie it on: one to go around my neck as a halter, and one to hold the back together. I laughed for about an hour. Like, sorry, but who is this person buying a DDD bikini top for whom that is going to work, like, at all? Physics calls BS on that one, I feel.
I mean, idk, I never took Boob Motion Dynamics, or whatever, but it often does seem like it might've been useful...
(no subject)
Date: 28 Jun 2020 10:17 am (UTC)Of course if you ever do find the magic sportsbra you could always just wear that in the water, I guess, if you care more about function than superficially looking like you're actually wearing swimwear.
I feel like even breast implants that size would not stay in a top constructed as you describe? Like, if the owner tried to actually... move around in them anyway...
(no subject)
Date: 28 Jun 2020 01:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jun 2020 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jun 2020 05:48 pm (UTC)