Great news, inflation on the rise (America, fuck yeah!)

[Oban]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/fashion/09bra.html?_r=1

FIRST there was economic inflation. Then there was grade inflation. Now comes cup inflation.

While clothes designers have whittled down dress sizes so that even a musclebound woman can wiggle into a size 2, brassiere makers are defying fashion convention by selling bras with bigger cup sizes. These days, many women — to their shock or glee — are finding that DD is becoming the new C.

At Wacoal America, one of the largest bra makers in the country, 36DD is on track to replace 36D as its most popular size in 2009. (Three years ago it was 36C.) Bare Necessities, an online lingerie retailer, said 34DD was its No. 10 best-selling size last year, up from No. 17 in 2002. And this fall Elle Macpherson Intimates will introduce its first collection for fuller-busted women, offering cup sizes from D to G.

“It’s the ascendancy of the DDs,” said Noah Wrubel, the chief executive of Bare Necessities. “The bras that women are wearing these days are not their mothers’ bras.”

Theories abound as to why women’s cups seem to be (forgive the pun) spilling over. Some ascribe the difference to a confluence of health and beauty trends that have accelerated over time. A 2007 study of adult women by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the prevalence of obesity — someone having a body mass index of 30 or more — has increased 2.1 percent since 2004, to 35.3 percent. Breast augmentation, too, is still a popular procedure, despite the recession. And age and hormones play havoc with baby boomers’ bust sizes, as well. But most manufacturers and lingerie shop owners say the phenomenon is due to the fact that more women are being fitted correctly. They call it the Oprah effect. Since 2005, when Oprah Winfrey devoted a show to how to buy the right size bra, the number of women seeking bra fittings has soared.

“It was a turning point,” said Liz Smith, director of retail service at Wacoal America, which is considering adding an H cup to its line. “You just need her to say it once.”

About 8 in 10 women wear the wrong size, experts say. Most often the problem is that the stretchy fabric band around the rib cage is worn too loosely for smaller frames. A more snug band size — going from, say, a 34 to a 32 — increases the width and depth of the cup. Simply put, a woman who wears a 36A is also likely to fit into a 34B or a 32C.

But while some women find pride in their newly discovered abundance, others have mixed feelings. “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.”

Susie Essman, the actress who plays Susie Greene on the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” can relate. In 2005 HBO showed an episode in which Larry David goes shopping for a bra for his housekeeper and is shocked at the size of Ms. Greene’s bra. In a case of art imitating life, Ms. Essman was surprised last year when she was fitted for a 32DD bra after wearing a 34D for decades. She liked the fit, she said, but was forced to grapple with stereotypes she associated with women who filled a DD cup. Among them? Anna Nicole Smith was reported to have worn that size.

“I haven’t had surgery,” Ms. Essman said. “I don’t walk around with a lot of cleavage. I’m in a DD, and I’m a regular-sized person.”

Unlike with dress sizes, there is no standard among foreign or domestic brands, adding to the confusion. British brands can range from A to K. Most Americans can find bras with cup sizes ranging from A to G, although some brands go as high as L.

“It is extremely subjective,” said Steven Teitelbaum, a cosmetic surgeon based in Santa Monica, Calif., who specializes in breast augmentation. “I wish they would get their act together and get their sizes straight.”

Recently, Danny Koch, an owner of the Town Shop, a lingerie store in Manhattan, was examining bras by the bra maker Fayreform at its Midtown Manhattan showroom. Fayreform, which specializes in bras with cup sizes from D to G, also makes bras for Elle Macpherson Intimates. Mr. Koch was there to see their new full-busted offerings, some of which he hoped to sell in his store.

“See this?” he said, stretching the strap of one. “This is not going to hold someone up.” Of the more than 14 new bras he was shown, he was impressed with only one. He does not believe that the changes are due to vanity sizing — “You, too, can be bigger without surgery!” he joked — which is supposed to make a woman feel better. “There is a reason women are wearing these things,” he said. “It is an attempt to defy gravity as long as possible.”

Still, a larger cup can come with bragging rights particularly in figure-conscious Los Angeles. “Many girls say, ‘Wait until my husband finds out I’m not a 34B, I’m a 32X!’ ” said Lisa Frank, the owner of Footsie in Santa Monica.

Consider Lee Michel. She bought her 36A bras at a department store. She never cared about size. But recently she went for her first fitting at Footsie and walked out with a couple of La Perla 34C-size bras. She was more than pleased.

“I think it’s a little psychological,” she said, of the smaller band size. “It makes me feel a little thinner.” And did she tell her husband about her new bust size? “No,” she said, laughing. “He really doesn’t care what size my breasts are. He just likes them. He liked them before I got pregnant. He liked them after. What can I say? He just likes them.”

[Nebu]

Breasts get larger as our women get larger.  Having bigger breasts means that we're growing bigger women... which isn't a great thing unless you're into plus size ladies.

[Lantyssa]

That is what I tell myself to keep from crying myself to sleep at night.  *grumble*

[MrHat]

H cup?

[schild]

Still not better than the UK. Who had a special on big boobies and the harm they cause to women.

[Oban]

Still not better than the UK. Who had a special on big boobies and the harm they cause to women.

Always willing to lend a hand.

[Sky]

Who had a special on big boobies and the harm they cause to women.

They do.

[Cyrrex]

I gotta think that the cup size most sold jumping two sizes in only three years has nothing to do with lovely genetics and hawt ladies, and everything to do with runaway obesity.  Also, a thread about bras without lots of pics is pretty much worthless.

[Nevermore]

Or, as the article itself points out, more women now actually getting fitted with the right size.

[Merusk]

Breasts get larger as our women get larger.  Having bigger breasts means that we're growing bigger women... which isn't a great thing unless you're into plus size ladies.

Yeah that was my thought as I was reading the article.  Fat women + tons of breast implants = no shit.

[bhodi]

Do Not Want.

[WayAbvPar]

Big or small, as long as they see fit to share them with me I am all good.

[Sjofn]

I'm a damn double D and it isn't because I'm fat (not obese (yet) for sure). Sometimes ladies just have big boobs. Which is actually annoying when you're trying to find a dress when you're ALSO 5'11" and no one thinks tall ladies exist. ><

I actually sort of wonder if hormonal birth control being used by, like, everyone has anything to do with it, my sisters and I all went up a cup size when we started on our various methods.

[Nebu]

If I'm not mistaken, increased estrogen levels can lead to breast enlargement due to fluid retention. 

[Lantyssa]

I'm a damn double D and it isn't because I'm fat (not obese (yet) for sure). Sometimes ladies just have big boobs. Which is actually annoying when you're trying to find a dress when you're ALSO 5'11" and no one thinks tall ladies exist. ><

Height alone is enough to make finding clothes annoying.  "Ooooh!  This shirt is awesome!  Too bad I'm not a foot shorter so it doesn't look like a halter top."  So a Pyrrhic victory for me?  Yay.

[FatuousTwat]

What's so bad about halter tops? 

[Lantyssa]

They're not appropriate for work and I'm a mid-30s geek (with all that implies).  I'm reasonably thin, but my belly still isn't something people are going to want to see, nor do I want to show off.  Halter tops are for women in better shape.

[FatuousTwat]

So I should stop wearing mine?

[Righ]

You should at least wash your bellybutton more often.

[FatuousTwat]

I gotta store my change somewhere!

[NiX]

Or, as the article itself points out, more women now actually getting fitted with the right size.

I'm an odd one and any time a girl says something about bra discomfort I always pose the question of if they've been fitted. It's amazing to hear how many girls, at least my age, actually think getting fitted is a silly notion.

[apocrypha]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some marketing effect here too. In the UK women's dress sizes have long been manipulated by the clothes manufacturers. They know that women like to be smaller sizes so they label clothes with a smaller size than they actually are. The psychological power of a woman being pleased that she can get into that size 12 dress (when it's really a size 14) isn't to be underestimated.

If the fashion is becoming for women to have larger breasts then it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if bras that were really a C cup were being labelled as a DD for the same reasons.

I'll resist the urge to go on about how capitalism even alienates us from our own bodies 

[Sjofn]

I'm a damn double D and it isn't because I'm fat (not obese (yet) for sure). Sometimes ladies just have big boobs. Which is actually annoying when you're trying to find a dress when you're ALSO 5'11" and no one thinks tall ladies exist. ><

Height alone is enough to make finding clothes annoying.  "Ooooh!  This shirt is awesome!  Too bad I'm not a foot shorter so it doesn't look like a halter top."  So a Pyrrhic victory for me?  Yay.

I'm lucky-ish (I guess?) in that I have a relatively "normal" torso, so I don't uuuuusually have trouble with shirts being long enough to hit my waistline, although long sleeves are often not actually long enough (fancy coats are the worst offenders for this). I have a 34" inseam, though. I've given up on lady pants completely, it's all MAN PANTZ all the time. My sister, who is the same height as me, is the opposite. "Normal" inseam, so pants aren't an issue, but she has a long torso. So we couldn't even share clothes growing up. ><

[Hindenburg]

Since when are DD's normal?

[Lantyssa]

My inseam is around that.  Tall in jeans usually works for me.  Thankfully I don't buy a lot of dress slacks, so it's not much of a problem.  (Yay for being able to dress down at work!)  I hate sleeves though.  I have the same problem there.

[FatuousTwat]

Finding tall shirts is a pain in the ass. I've resorted to buying t-shirts online because I can never find them in person.

[slog]

anything more than a handful and you are risking a sprained thumb

[LK]

We need pictures in this thread.

Ones of Sjofn will do nicely.

[Sjofn]

They wouldn't be as exciting as you hope. 

[HaemishM]

You should probably let us be the judge of that. 

[Sky]

They wouldn't be as exciting as you hope. 

You do realize we're men, correct? 

DON'T LOOK AT MY AVATAR WHILE CONSIDERING THIS TOPIC

[Ingmar]

[Lantyssa]

Ingmar!  How can you feed these beasts a picture of your own wife like that?  For shame.  For.  Shame.

[Hindenburg]

More importantly, why is he using Fordel's account? I smell polygamy.

[Nevermore]

She looks lost there because there aren't any bags to pick up.

Also: this is why if you're a woman, you never ever ever talk about your breasts on teh internets.