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Bra Fit Check

Start from the bra you are wearing. Pick its size, tick everything that is wrong with it, and you get the size to try next - with the reason for each change.

The size you are wearing
Band
Cups
Straps

Tick what is wrong

34C

That is the size you entered. Tick anything that describes the fit and this becomes the size to try next.

    One step at a time: a checklist cannot tell whether a cup is one letter out or three. Try the next size, then check again.

    What a good fit looks like

    A bra is a band with two cups hung on it, and nearly all the support comes from the band. That one fact explains most fit problems: when the band is not doing its job, something else - the straps, usually - tries to, and fails in a way you can feel by the evening.

    So check in this order, band first:

    1. The band is level all the way round and does not move when you raise your arms.
    2. The centre panel lies flat against your breastbone.
    3. The wires sit on your ribs, behind all the breast tissue, not on it.
    4. The cups lie smooth - nothing spilling over, nothing standing away.
    5. The straps stay up without digging in. They hold the cup against you; they are not what holds you up.

    Before judging any of it, settle into the cups: lean forward and bring the tissue from under your arms into the cup, then stand. A cup can look too small only because some of you is sitting outside it.

    The band rides up

    If the back of the band sits higher than the front, the band is too loose. It is the most common fault there is, and it is what the old habit of adding four inches to the ribcage measurement produces: a band two sizes too big, anchoring nothing.

    The fix is one band down - and one cup letter up, so the cup keeps the same volume. A 36C whose band rides up becomes a 34D, not a 34C. That pair is a sister size: same cup, firmer band.

    A band that rides up often comes with straps that dig in, for the same reason. Tightening the straps to compensate pulls the back up further and makes it worse.

    The band is too tight

    Firm is correct; a band should feel snug enough that it stays where you put it. Painful is not. If it hurts on the loosest hook, or leaves marks that are still there an hour after you take it off, go one band up and one cup letter down - a 32D becomes a 34C.

    Check the cup before you blame the band, though. A cup that is too small pushes the whole bra away from your body, and that pressure lands on the band. If you are spilling as well, fix the cup first: the band may turn out to be fine.

    Spilling out of the cups

    Tissue coming over the top edge, bulging at the sides, or dividing into two curves under a t-shirt all mean the cup is too small. So do two quieter signs: a centre panel that will not lie flat on your breastbone, and wires that rest on breast tissue at the side instead of on your ribs.

    Go up one cup letter on the same band. If the band is also riding up, do both at once - one band down is already one letter up, and the spilling adds another, so a 36C becomes a 34DD. That jump looks alarming and is very often right.

    The cups gape

    A cup that wrinkles, or stands away from you at the top edge, has room you are not filling. One letter down on the same band is the first thing to try.

    Gaping is also the symptom most often caused by something other than size. A cup that is taller than your breast will gape at the top however well the volume matches, and a loose band lets the whole cup tip forward and open up. If going down a letter makes you spill, the size was right and the shape was wrong.

    Straps that dig or slip

    Straps that leave grooves in your shoulders are carrying weight the band should be carrying. Slip them off your shoulders for a moment: if everything drops, the band is too loose, and the fix is the band, not the straps.

    Straps that slip off are different, and usually not a size problem at all. Shorten them first. If they still slide, the straps are set too wide for your shoulders - look for a style with straps closer together, or one that fastens in a racerback.

    When it is the shape, not the size

    Two people with the same measurements can need different bras, because a size describes how much and says nothing about where. If you tick both gaping and spilling above, the check does not move the cup - those two together mean the cup is the wrong shape for you, and a different letter will only trade one problem for the other.

    Try a different cut in the same size: a lower, more open cup if the top edge gapes, a deeper one if you spill at the centre. It is also the reason a size that fits in one brand can be wrong in the next.

    Questions people actually ask

    How should a bra fit?
    Five things, in the order worth checking them. The band sits level all the way round and stays put when you raise your arms. The centre panel between the cups lies flat on your breastbone. The wires sit on your ribs, behind all the breast tissue. The cups lie smooth with nothing spilling and nothing gaping. The straps stay up without digging in - they should be doing very little work.
    Which hook should a new bra fasten on?
    The loosest. A band stretches as it is worn and washed, and the tighter hooks are there to take that up over the life of the bra. If a new bra only feels firm on the tightest hook, the band is already too big for you.
    Why does the cup letter change when I change the band?
    Because a cup letter is not a fixed amount - it is the difference between your bust and the band. Go down a band and the same breast needs the next letter up to get the same cup. A 34C and a 32D hold the same volume. The fit check does this for you, which is why its answer can move both numbers when you ticked only a band problem.
    How do I tell whether it is the band or the cup that is wrong?
    Settle yourself into the cups first: lean forward and bring the tissue from under your arms into the cup, then stand up. Now check the band on its own - can you pull it more than a couple of inches away from your back? Then look at the cups. Doing it in that order matters, because a cup can look too small simply because tissue is sitting outside it.
    I get a different result in every brand. Is the check wrong?
    No - brands cut differently, and the same label can fit a size up or down between two of them. Treat any size, from this check or from a measurement, as the place to start trying things on, and use the same five checks on every bra.