Wearing a great fitting bra will help your clothes look and feel great. Unfortunately, more than 70% of women are wearing the wrong size and style of bra. Use this easy bra measuring guide to discover the correct bra and cup size for you.
Bra size (band measurement)
Without any clothes on your top half, including a bra, measure yourself in inches around the ribcage below your bust, making sure the tape measure is tight and doesn’t slide down at the back. This gives you your band measurement.
- The general rule of thumb for all measuring is: less than half an inch, round DOWN, more than half an inch, round UP. So if your initial measurement is 32.25 inches, call it 32.
- Calculate your bra size. If the band measurement is 33 or less, add 5 to that number. Over 33 inches add 3. Round odd numbers up to even.
Cup size
Measure yourself in inches around the fullest part of your breasts, usually over the nipples – the tape measure should be loose. To work out the cup size, subtract the band measurement from the breast measurement = difference.
Check the difference against the chart below:
| Difference | UK | USA | Europe |
| Less than one inch | AA | AA | AA |
| Same size | A | A | A |
| Up to one inch | B | B | B |
| Up to two inches | C | C | C |
| Up to three inches | D | D | D |
| Up to four inches | DD | DD | E |
| Up to five inches | E | DDD | F |
| Up to six inches | F | E | G |
| Up to seven inches | FF | F | H |
| Up to eight inches | G | FF | I |
Example 1:
- If the band measurement was 26 inches, then add 5 to find the bra size. This adds up to 31, so round this up to the next even number = 32
- The measurement around the fullest part of the breast was 35 inches, then 35 minus 32 = 3 giving a cup size of D (see the table above)
- Select from bras which are size 32D
Example 2:
- If the band measurement was 34.5 inches, then add 3 to find the bra size. This adds up to 37.5, so round this up to the next even number = 38
- The measurement around the fullest part of the breast was 39 inches, then 39 minus 38 = 1 giving a cup size of B (see the table above)
- Select from bras which are size 38B
This is a guideline only; as with tops, dresses, suits, etc. not all manufacturers produce the same shapes and sizes. You will have to try some different bras on and see which feel most comfortable and give you enough support.
The average bust size in the UK is now 36C – so the back size is 36 and the cup size is C.
If in doubt, have yourself measured properly at a specialist lingerie shop. In the UK, Marks and Spencer offer a bra-fitting service that certainly helped me to update my undies drawer! And I strongly suggest that you re-measure yourself regularly – your body changes with the seasons, with your moods, with your monthly cycle, with your diet, with exercise (or lack of it). Don’t take for granted that your bosom will always remain the same – because you certainly don’t.
Bra fitting tips
- The underband of your bra should fit comfortably in the middle of your back and not ride up or down
- The underwire should never dig into your breast tissue and should fit snugly under the arm
- The underwire should lay flat against the breastbone
- The bust should not spill over the top of the cup. If it does you are wearing too small a cup size; try the next cup size up
- If the cups are baggy, try going down a cup size
- If the bra straps are digging into your shoulder and feel uncomfortable it means the straps are taking the weight of your bust whereas the underband should be doing this job – go down a band size
- If the underband is riding up at the back, you need a smaller band size
- Your bra underband should feel firm and comfortable but with enough space to enable you to insert two fingers under at the back and one finger space at the front
Have you ever wondered why A, B, C, D, DD, E, F, G, and H are the letters used to define bra cup sizes?
It seems that none of us are satisfied with our chest measurement; perhaps the grass is always greener on the other side?
This is just a little bit of fun on bra cup sizes which will, hopefully, make you smile:
- {A} Almost boobs…
- {B} Barely there
- {C} Can’t complain!
- {D} Dang!
- {DD} Double dang!
- {E} Enormous
- {F} Fake
- {G} Get a reduction
- {H} Help me, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!
International conversion charts
A brief history of bras
- Women have been using breast supports since ancient Greece when they used to bind their chests
- The bra’s earliest relative, the corset, appeared in the 13th century and was worn by noblewomen
- In the 1850s came a hinged metal bra contraption
- Although American Marie Tucek patented the ‘breast supporter’ in 1893 with hooks and eyes, it wasn’t until the investion of elastic that the bra was born. In the early 1900s, the De Vovoise Company made a ‘brassiere’
- In the Thirties came the Sweater Girls and the first false breasts – made of rubber
- In the Fifties Marilyn Monroe led the pointed bra revolution, copied by Madonna decades later
- Innovation boomed in the Nineties with push-up and padded bras, sports bras and the Wonderbra phenomenon
A Friend Is Like A Good Bra…
- Hard to find
- Supportive
- Comfortable
- Always lifts you up
- Never lets you down or leaves you hanging
- And is always close to your heart!