When Bra Straps Fail

Every so often, it's good to go and be "properly fitted" for a bra. Personally, I like the women who work at Nordstrom. In my experience, they're no-nonsense and they don't sugarcoat anything. As much as it hurts, it was important for me to hear that I'm an A cup, shattering my delusions of B-cup grandeur. This was proclaimed as a salesperson cocked her head to the side and said, "See that gap between the bra and your skin? That's because the CUPS ARE TOO BIG and that means you're not getting the right support." She proceeded to pack me into smaller and smaller bras till we settled on one with SUPPORT and PADDING. Meanwhile, in the dressing room next to me, another customer was whining, "But this feels really tight..." as she tried on a new bra, to which her salesperson replied, "That's because your old bra is all stretched out, so it feels really comfortable to you, but it's not really giving you the right support." Snap. I learned a lot of things in the Nordstrom lingerie dressing room: that if your straps fall down, you're not getting the right support and the band that goes around your back is doing all the work... that lace is pretty and all but ultimately you need some smooth bras or it will look like you have a rash when you wear tee shirts... that you have to try every bra on because one manufacturer's sizing is different from another's.

My current favorite everyday bra is the push up iBra by Wacoal. As much as I hate this name (at first I thought it was a bra with some kind of special pocket for your iPod), I love the bra. It's smooth, padded, tagless ("tagless" is another lingerie salesperson word that means there are no itchy tags inside the bra), comfortable and gives an awesome silhouette.