On being busty

I have big breasts.  We're talking 30J big breasts.  Yes, you did read that correctly.  30J.

Most people's reactions when they find that out is pretty standard:

'Wow!'

'Can I have some?'

'Niiiiiice.'

And even, on one delightful occasion (note the sarcasm) 'Look at the tits on that.'

Unsurprisingly, perhaps,  I've not always felt so confident about them.  Until I went to university I was painfully shy about them and was even encouraged to cover them up and wear clothes that minimized their impact.  At uni I went the other way, wearing tops that were pretty darn lowcut in an attempt to reclaim pride over how I looked.  And now?  Now I just wear clothes I like and that make me look half-decent - that usually means fitted, but I generally try for classy and classic over slutty.  (Note:  Pretty much any top that looks good on a size 12 30C makes me look like a porn star, so this can be quite difficult).

When I was about 22 I wet to Bravissimo for the first time.  I went in wearing a 34E, came out wearing a 30G.and in the three years since I've gone up four cup sizes.  Yet they've never made me feel like my only option is to wear frumpy cotton bras.

Having pretty much worn out all my current bras I popped into their Oxford Circus store after work the other day.  Bravissimo caters for busty women.  We're talking D to L cups, with 28 to 40 backs.  And their age range is pretty impressive:  One of the fitters I spoke to said that she's fitted 10 year olds up to 90 year olds!  All in all though, the average is about 20-50.

And the bras are gorgeous.  We're talking lace and satin and generally just pretty.

The majority of women who go there - especially for the first time - are pretty apprehensive.  My fitter for the session, Marika, highlighted a popular misconception.  'Most women are more self-conscious because there are female fitters.  Women seem to assume that other women are going to judge them.'  Indeed, when I first went I couldn't have been more nervous or embarrassed - I'd flinched at the sight of the mirrors, felt incredibly self-conscious standing there in jeans and a bra, and had to ask my fitter to stand outside the door every time I changed bras.

Not anymore.  One of the best things about Bravissimo is that it's less clinical than other places, it's more about teaching you how your bra should fit than whipping out a tape-measure and putting through that prolonged agony that makes you feel like a gawky teenager all over again.  Instead, they teach you things like how the wiring should lie flat against your breast bone, and how your straps should do up quite low on your back in order to support you properly.

Being larger than the average woman I have, as Marika pointed out, 'very powerful breasts'.  Some women who have a very large cup size, need a deeper cup due to the shape and weight of their breasts - limiting the kinds of bras they can wear.  I am one such woman.  The problem is that before being measured properly, and sometimes even after you have, being busty often means that even when wearing bras that are technically your size, you can spill over the top.  Now, this may be seen as seductive (though I'm personally not a fan of the double-boob), but it damages your breast tissue.

Plus, if you're wearing the wrong kind of bra, women with heavy breasts'll find that their weight and strength will cause the underwire to break out within a month, and that's just uncomfortable.

So it's in Bravissimo's favour to get you wearing the right kind of bras - there's no false flattery (we agreed that the gorgeous Paradise Fizz bra, despite fitting perfectly, kind of made me look translucent because of my colouring - my words, not hers).  And my aim to get two bras - one incredibly sexy (my bf is damn lucky) and one industrial strength (for support and to save me from back pain) - was met brilliantly.  Both ended up being sexy but strong.  Ladies, it's all about lace...

At the end of the day, it's important to feel confident in yourself and, through no-one's fault except perhaps the media's, women with big breasts are made to feel frumpy or slutty.  It's a polarising of perception that can hold women back.  I've a friend working in the city who, despite being one of the most intelligent people I know, got told at her induction by another trainee that she looked like a glamour model.  How is that ever appropriate?

I think Marika phrased it best, having worked as a costumer within theatre and in the vintage department at Liberties, when she decided to go part time she called up Bravissimo.  "I'm good at making women look and feel good about themselves, and I wanted to work somewhere where I could use my skills.  I've always got bras from Bravissimo, so I called up and here I am."


So, busty ladies of all shapes and sizes, feel confident because you are damn good no matter how big your breasts; know that you are not deined by anyone's perceptions of you; and above all, wear decent bras.