Gudang Starlounge

Three years ago, the most popular size bra at Wacoal, one of the country's biggest purveyors of support systems, was a 36C. Today, it's a 36D and it's looking like 36DD will soon sweep into first place. So what gives? Are women getting bustier by the minute? Nope. According to an article in today's New York Times, we're just finally being fitted for the right size (mostly thanks to an initiative by Oprah in 2005, urging girls across the country to get measured).

A bra is an incredibly personal thing, and it turns out that for a long time, most women would rather have permanently suffered in the wrong size than submit to a fitting that could have dashed their hopes of being bigger or smaller or anything in between. In fact, the article estimates that eight in ten women are wearing the wrong size. I'll confess, I believed myself to be a 34C for many years (and still own plenty of 34C bras), but after a little visit with the lingerie experts from Calvin Klein, it was decreed that I was, in fact, a 32D. I was devastated. It just seemed so...big! Especially for a girl like me, who is rather...small. And while I've already gotten used to plenty of unwanted male attention (the building across the street from my apartment has been under construction for about two years, which means I've gotten to know the guys on site much better than I'd ever care to...) and certain dudes forgetting to look at my face for minutes at a time, the prospect of being a 32D just made me want to cry. In fact, while my new bras are much more comfortable, supportive, and flattering, I can't bring myself to throw out those old 34Cs, because I'm still really married to the idea that that's my size.

The article quotes a lingerie shop owner here in New York who really spells it out: "'Most women are in bra denial,' said Rebecca Apsan, the owner of La Petite Coquette in Manhattan whose biggest sellers last year were 32D and 32DD. 'They think there is some mistake. That’s why I never tell them what size I am putting them in. They don’t want to believe it.'"

Let's hear it ladies...have you recently discovered that you're a different size than you always believed? Are you bigger or smaller than you originally thought? And are you like me, disappointed to discover your breasts are bigger than you believed? Or are you still avoiding a proper fitting because you want to believe your size is right? Time to get personal and share those bra stories!

Check out your fellow STF readers' bra issues here, and find out about the new bra I recently fell in love with!

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