Hello there,
Is it me? Or have you, too, noticed that clothing lately seems to be made smaller across our chests? I’m not considered endowed, but I’m frequently seeing a horizontal pull-line between my two girls. I’ve shared with you in my past Talks that I’m mostly a t-shirt bra wearer; it gives me a great shape and I like the little added size it gives to my bustline. But thinking that little extra size could be my issue, I bought a seamless bra without any padding to see if it would solve my problem. I put it on, and instantly realized; I’m experiencing the next Tomima Talk topic.
I had forgotten how forgiving a t-shirt bra fits. I’ll put one on, adjust my breast tissue with my opposite hands, and I’m off for the day. Its pre-formed modesty foam guarantees a great breast shape, but it also masks where my breast tissue is truly resting in its cups. But this is NOT the case with foam-free bras.
If you don’t know all the steps needed to correctly get into your bra, you may very well conclude that your new bra is the wrong size, or a bad fit, when it really could be a perfect fit.
I’m going to walk you through my experience putting on my new seamless bra. I’ll be demonstrating this using two of our models that were brought into our Fit Lab recently. The first is a 32D and wearing the Wacoal 851334 I purchased. The second model is a 36H(D5) and wearing a fuller figure seamless style Wacoal 855192. With our two models and my photography team, we documented the steps needed for getting into a seamless bra.
Putting the bra on – I gave each model their bra straight out of its packaging and asked them to just put the bra on – no breast or strap adjusting. This is how they emerged from their dressing rooms.
• You can see both have excess empty space in the bottom of their cups. • The bras are sitting too low – underwires are below their breast creases. • Cup is wrinkled along the top for the 32D model. • The 36H(D5) model’s breasts are almost hanging over the underwires. • The 36H(D5) model has underarm bulges and the center panel is not tacking to her sternum.
How to adjust a bra so it fits properly:
Lift underwires into breast creases – I asked each model to now start adjusting their bra fit by moving their underwires up and into their breast creases. If you are a follower of my “Yikes & Yeahs” segment, you know this is the #1 bra fit mistake I see out in public.
Both models show an improved fit. Our 36H(D5) even looks thinner now that her underwires are positioned up where they should be. The 32D, too, looks better but still has upper cup wrinkling.
Manipulate breast tissue and tighten straps – The models were now told to manipulate their breast tissue into their cups. With their opposite hand, they pulled their side tissue into the cup, and in front of the underwire, they checked to make sure their breast apex was in the apex of the cups, and our full figure model did a final adjustment along the top of her cups by taking each index finger and running it along the edge to smooth out the top edge, “fluff”, and secure the center panel onto her sternum.
Finally, each adjusted their straps from where the manufacturer had placed them. Both models needed to tighten their straps – especially our 32D model. I must stress that the strap tightening was the one step that provided the biggest fit improvement. Manufacturers do their best to place their adjustment where they think it will fit most women. But let’s face it, we’re all unique. We all need to adjust our straps.
Here are the final fit results:
The 32D now has perfect fitting cups. Our 36H(D5), too, has lifted and well-fitting cups, a tacking center panel on her sternum, and her underarm bulges are gone – tucked inside her cups.
Here is the sequence so you can better compare:
Both bras are the correct size for each model. The difference was that they knew how to put their bras on and adjust to get the proper fit (bet you thought the 32D wasn’t going to make it!)
The Moral
Don’t give up on that new bra until you take the needed and simple steps to get into it properly. Breast tissue is malleable, so move it around and adjust it till all of it is in your cups. Underwires must be positioned into your breast crease – leaning forward helps to get them there. Tightening straps straightens out the cups and gives you the coverage the bra was meant to give you. Do all this and the reward is an uplifted bustline that gives you a little thinner and taller-looking silhouette.
Final Thought…
So, this is my last Tomima Talk for 2021. I have been writing these for two years now, and your response has been tremendous. Thank you for your encouragement. I plan to continue with them in 2022.
As a very small gift, I thought you might enjoy knowing the Top 5 Tomima Talks that received your greatest attention this year.
1. Front Closure vs. Back Closure Bras. 2. Solving Challenges with Uncommon Bra Sizes. 3. Do You Need a Posture Bra? 4. Do You Need a New Bra Size? 5. Right Bra Size but Doesn’t Fit. Here’s Why.
To you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very, very merry one. To you who do not, I wish you sparkle, joy, and laughter this holiday season. And to all, here’s to a bright New Year and a very fond farewell to the old; here’s to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories we hold…
YIKES! & YEAHS!
I want to finish off the year with some YIKES examples. Do you know what makes each bra below a YIKES? Click through to see the answers.
Fondly,
Tomima Founder & CEO HerRoom.com