Women have a problem with their breasts, and someone is getting rich with it

As so often happens, it took a more or less anonymous voice to denounce it for it to start talking about a problem that affects millions of people. It is about the difficulties that many women suffer to find a size that adapts to their chest size, especially if they are larger than average, and despite the help they supposedly receive in the shops of lingerie. Another manifestation of the pressure exerted by the prevailing aesthetic canons –with thinness as an essential quality– on the world of fashion.

It was the journalist Candace Bryan who, in the pages of 'Mic', discovered her bad experiences at Victoria's Secret, both as a buyer and from the point of view of view of the workers. According to the author, the popular assertion that 85% of women do not wear the correct bra size – a fact that reappears time and time again, as in this interview with lingerie expert June Kenton– is true, but only half.

My breasts would bulge out if I bent over, the rings would dig into my flesh, and I needed to put the straps on every five minutes

“This is what bra stores don't tell you,” the author explains. "If you're wearing the wrong bra size, getting measured won't necessarily solve all your problems." It is something common in chains like Victoria's Secret, where a saleswoman can measure the chest of the clients if they wish to get the supposedly ideal size. The problem is that, as the author recalls, there is not always a size that fits, no matter how much they make you believe that it does. At Victoria's Secret, for example, the stores only have one size 40DDD (105 F cup), as previously reported. It is quite a paradox, explains the author, that the great American underwear chain forgets all women of larger sizes.

It's not the bodies, it's the shops

The situation is best understood through the stories of those who suffer from these problems. Bryan explains that at the age of 15, a shop assistant told him that her breast size was 36DDD (95 F cup), so during the four years of high school she dressed in bras of that size. It was evident that they did not fit her well: they were very uncomfortable, since “my breasts spilled out if I leaned forward without grasping them, the rings constantly dug into my flesh and I needed to reposition the straps every five minutes".

“Why was my measurement experience so bad? Why couldn't I get a bra that fit me from the largest bra chain in America?” she wonders. When she went to another branch of the chain, this time in New York with a friend, she realized what was wrong. While her friend fit into a size 34C (90C) without much trouble, she experienced the old difficulties again. The clerk offered him a 34DD (90E), which Bryan already knew was too small. When she asked for an alternative, this was the one the client was already expecting, a 32DDD (85F). The problem, in this case, is that although the cup was very large, the narrowness of the size caused the ring not to rest on her sternum and the breasts to overflow.

Something similar happens to Elena, who explains to El Confidencial her problems, which are very similar to Candace's. Her size is 90E (34DD), something that causes her a lot of problems because "there are few stores with moderately affordable prices where you can find it". In her case, she spent many years wearing the wrong size: "What I did, until I found out what my real size and cup was, was to wear larger bra sizes (95 or 100 with the generic B cup)." Something that was uncomfortable. In her case, either the back is slack and the bra went up from behind, so it did not fulfill its function of holding, or "it doesn't fit you directly, or since the cup is small, the bra tightens, the underwire gets stuck and doesn't feel good either, without forgetting that this is not healthy for the chest".

Another testimony adds fuel to the fire. As former employee Andrea Park, who worked at the firm for five months, explains in Xo Jane, although most saleswomen know more about the measurements than customers, she does not recommend trusting them completely, since in many cases it is possible that the garment fits on one side but not on the other. The worst, however, is having to explain to a woman that her size does not exist. This is what happened to a 12-year-old girl whose size was around 42AA (110A). In response, he lied to her and offered her a 38B (100B). Her response: “Victoria's Secret needs to start making bras for real women!”

The size that doesn't really exist

What's going on? Candace explains that a store worker admitted that usually, before telling a potential buyer that the size she really needs doesn't exist, it's better to find the size that fits her needs the best, even if it doesn't quite fit. In many cases, even in the brand's advertising, it is clear that models have common problems such as squashing of the breasts under the armpits or the inability for the earring to rest on the chest.

For women with large breasts, bras are what allow us to run, cartwheel and generally exist

The reality is that measuring the chest size is still problematic due to its difficulty. As Maureen O' Connor explained in a report published in 'The New York Mag', the current system that is quickly taught to sales clerks “encourages consumption, but it seems to be difficult enough to Confusing a woman arming herself with a tape measure for the first time in her bedroom, but simple enough for a saleswoman to learn during her cigarette break." Although he acknowledges that the system “was not invented to confuse”, he adds that “its opacity contributes to sales”.

The problem, concludes Bryan, is the prevalence of the aesthetic over the practical. “For millions of people like me, a bra is a necessary tool to function comfortably today,” he points out. “For large-breasted women, bras are what allow us to run, cartwheel, and just exist without the dreaded nipple slippage.”