The Delicate Bra

Hi, I’m a thin, small-busted woman, and I wear a 28E or 30DD bra (depending on who makes it).

I see a lot of other bra blogs out there, articles on bras/boobs, and general buzz about large busted women getting properly fitted. If only they all were fitted correctly, then the size ceiling in the US might be broken, that ceiling which says nothing over DD exists. True, it would no doubt help in forcing stores to carry your size by taking your business elsewhere, namely to stores in the UK & Poland & some online retailers who DO carry your DD+ cupsize. This would be a positive development indeed.

However, a big segment of women are left out in what I’ll call the “bra size movement” urging larger busted women to demand support in their bras and wider ranges in sizes from retailers. These left out women are the small-busted, particularly thin ones. We, as a society, have been convinced that if your breasts are small, then you can’t possibly be larger than an A or B cup. So-called “flat-chested” women are walking around with loose bra bands floating about their torsos & tiny cups perched atop their nipples, the breasts holding the bra up & not vice versa, with everyone including them thinking there is “nothing there” to be supported. Busty women will make back-handed compliments along the lines of, “I wish I was small like you so I could go bra-less!”. And so these women continue to buy their 32As stuffed with 3 inches of padding and insinuations of not being womanly. The bra is more of a nod to social norms than a functional undergarment.

And since this is the general image of the thin, small-busted woman, one they have bought into also, few will readily believe they could be a higher cup size than an A or B, and that the real issue is their band size. But few bring this to light, because, you know, these women somehow don’t need the support or shaping other women need. While larger women are getting fitted into 32G or whatever, a woman with a much smaller body over all is wearing a 34A.  How in the world does this make sense?

28E bra from Marks & Spencer - rather dainty, isn’t it? Or should I say “delicate”?

Meeting the needs of the small-busted women is the next segment of this “bra size movement” that needs to get off the ground! No more dismissing their needs, glossing over their sizing, and outright ignoring them. If I, at 5’8 and a US size 2, need a 28 band, then what do the smaller women need? They need a band SMALLER than 28, that’s what, and they need to be paired with low cup sizes too.

There are some petite bra shops out there. Notably, The Little Bra Company starts with 28 bands and supposedly runs small (so that the might fit like a 26), and they pair that band size with cups A-C. However, many of these shops only carry as small as 32, probably because bras with small bands AND low cup sizes are actually made less than small bands + high cup sizes. Many companies that make 28 bands sizes don’t start with cup sizes lower than a D cup. True, a 28D is the “sister size” to a 32B, and while that is smallish, it’s far from THE smallest size possible. It’s also far from “flat”.

So what’s the solution? The same solution for the larger busted ladies - the small busted women need to get properly fitted. These women AND society will also need to throw out previous ideas about what a D cup looks like, because there’s a good chance some of these so-called “flat-chested” women will find that when they wear the correct band size, they are not an A or B cup after all. And if they are a 28A, or hey, maybe even a 26B, then a good-fitting bra will still give them the shaping & support they need, instead of just floating around their torsos & doing nothing more than providing “coverage”. Then - if they begin to demand their correct size, only buying from those who can fulfill it - then, maybe the band size ranges available will increase, in the direction it needs to (smaller!). Just as the higher cup sizes will become less strange to people’s ears & more commonly found in stores, so will these small band sizes.

Let’s band together then and bring out the best in our breasts, whether they’re AA or GG, and encourage women of any size bust to get a good fitting bra. And when your tiny, modestly endowed friend hesitatingly admits she wears a 28D, don’t mock her; it’s a small size, after all.

Above: Bra + panty from Mimi Holliday by Damaris, who carries small sizes like 28AA-30D - and larger sizes too!