Bra Bonanza: Tips for Avoiding Uniboob

Is your bra the right fit? Use the tips below to find out.

We’re all for taking care of our girls even in these tough economic times — and apparently we’re not alone! American women spent more than $8 billion on bras last year (a whopping $2 billion increase since 2004), according to the market research firm Mintel.

One reason for the bra bonanza is Oprah. Ever since her famous “bra intervention” shows in 2005, more women have been going for proper fittings and discovering that they’ve been wearing the wrong size bra: typically a band that’s too big and a cup that’s too small.

Jenette Goldstein, an actor who’s appeared in such films as Aliens and Titanic, is finding brisk business catering to the market of women who are, as she puts it, “overdeveloped and underserved.” The full name of her Hollywood lingerie shop is Jenette Bras: The Alphabet Starts at ‘D’ (and goes all the way up to K). “Women come into my shop and they have these gorgeous hourglass figures, but they’re depressed because they can’t find a pretty bra that fits,” she says. “Instead, they’re squeezed into too-small cups that leave them looking like they have quadri-boobs — four breasts — or uniboobs — a single breast loaf.”

Goldstein, a 30G herself, says she was in her 40s before she was properly fitted for a bra during a trip to London. She opened her boutique for the voluptuous just over a year ago, stocking the shop with luscious inventory from European lines like Chantelle, Elomi, Fantasie, Freya and Simone Pérèle. Even dependable department-store brands, such as Maidenform and Wacoal, are now offering styles that go way beyond beige — everything from fire-engine red to zebra prints — in sizes from DD to G and beyond.

We ourselves fall into the beginning of the alphabet, but there’s good news for us small-bosomed gals too, as we discovered when we went shopping at Nordstrom with Aletha Watanabe, a merchandiser and fitter for Maidenform and Donna Karan Intimates. “The technology has improved enormously in the last few years for women who need a little extra boost,” Watanabe says. “When the Miracle Bra was first introduced it gathered the girls from the ankles up and produced a cleavage that looked really fake. But today’s push-up and padded bras create a much more flattering and natural-looking silhouette.” We left Nordstrom with this lightly padded DKNY Sensual Curves Push-Up for everyday wear and a Felina Add-A-Cup number for those special occasions when we want to rock a little cleavage.

To get a proper fitting yourself, head to a lingerie boutique or department store. The fitter will measure right under your breasts and then around the fullest part of your bust (use this same method to measure yourself at home). The first measurement is your band size (if it’s an odd number, add 1 inch). To get your cup size, subtract your band measurement from your bust size; each inch represents a cup size. For example, if your band size is a 36 and your bust size is a 39, you’d wear a 36C.

Who makes your favorite bra? Tell us!

Tags: actor, Aletha Watanabe, Aliens, Brassiere, Brassiere designs, Brassiere measurement, Brassieres, Breast, Cleavage enhancement, Clothing, D, Donna Karan Intimates, Entertainment/Culture, Freya Pérèle, Hospitality/Recreation, Jenette Bras, Jenette Goldstein, Lingerie, London, Maidenform, Maidenform Intimates, MINTEL PUBLICATIONS LTD, Nordstrom Inc., Simone Pérèle, Titanic, USD, Wacoal