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Expert Advice: Best Bras for Large-Chested Women

A reader asks: I need some serious help! I have huge breasts (size 44J) and I need help finding a good bra that fits.

I reached out to the expert of bras for large-chested women, Jenette Goldstein, founder and CEO of Jenette Bras. And she has a lot to say on this topic. Read on for Jenette’s advice on the best bras for large-chested women, and then visit her website and make an appointment for a virtual bra fitting.

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Best bras for large-chested women

Since this is the Budget Fashionista, I’ve got to make a caveat: There are really no shortcuts you can take in the manufacture of full-cup or plus-size bras. When the price is lower, you automatically give up on fit and performance.

From an engineering perspective, you are cantilevering several pounds of semi-liquid mass out in front of your torso with almost nothing but fabric — and making it look light and airy. This is a technological and design miracle, and not the place to skimp.

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The good news, of course, is that the $100+ bra will make the $15 dress look terrific! Moreover, when you calculate cost-per-wear of a longer-lasting, quality bra, it can end up being as cheap or cheaper than a series of uncomfortable bargain bras.

$75-100

Woman wearing Elomi Sachi bra.
Elomi Sachi

For an entry-level price point in the $75-100 range, I like Anita and Elomi. Anita is a venerable Austrian brand, well-built and offering comfortable fit and traditional styling. Elomi is of similar quality and has more options for the woman who is both full-cup and full-figure. The Sachi model, introduced a couple years back, is a gorgeous, fashion-forward option, long needed in this category. We sell a ton of it!

$100-200

PrimaDonna Deauville bra for large-chested women.
PrimaDonna Deauville

As good as those bras are, they cannot compare with the comfort, beauty, and longevity of certain bras in the $100-$200 range. Two of the stars in my store are PrimaDonna and Louisa Bracq. 

PrimaDonna is a full-cup mainstay from Van de Velde, the Belgian lingerie powerhouse. Established in 1919, they are still owned by the Van de Velde family. Their commitment to quality handwork is exceptional. After I visited their factory in Schellebelle, my thought was “how can they sell these bras for only $150!?”

Louisa Bracq, on the other hand, is a new player in the bra space. They were solely embroidery manufacturers for the couture houses until recently, and their embroidered fabrics are exquisite. They have also diligently emulated the best bra construction methods of the older European companies while bringing a fresh design approach.

$200+

It doesn’t get much better for the full-cup customer than those companies, but at the above $200 price point there is one company that excels at fit, perhaps above any other. Empreinte is a French company, also privately owned, and laser-focused on our category. Once they try it on, some women won’t wear anything else.

Empriente Cassiopee bra.
Empreinte Cassiopee

Some of you may be thinking, “Why have I never heard of these companies?” Here’s some inside knowledge for you. There are two ways to do a bra company. You can mass produce overseas and put most of your money into marketing. Those are the companies you mostly hear about. Or, you can focus your resources on careful manufacturing, and rely mainly on customer loyalty and word-of-mouth. The companies in this second category mainly sell through dedicated fit boutiques, because they understand the importance and complexity of proper fit.

What features make a good full-bust bra?

  • Everything starts with the band. You need it snug and level across the back. This provides 90% of your support.
  • Bra straps tend to widen automatically as band size goes up, so you don’t need to worry about that. They’re only meant to take 10-15% of the weight anyway. Look for a pretty one, in case you feel like showing it.
  • Feel the underwire. It should be cushioned. A quality bra will use a double or triple wrapped underwire (and yes, you do need underwire! And no, they don’t cause cancer!) The underwire must rest neatly under your breast, against your rib cage — not on your breast and not off your torso. You shouldn’t feel it at all during wear. You still might want to take it off at the end of a long day, just as you would a pair of shoes.
  • Seams! The most supportive bras are cut and sewn bras with well-placed, flat seams to hold and shape. Unstructured 1980s-style foam cup bras are not up to the full-bust standard.

Are there bra styles that are a no-no for the full woman?

A reputable bra-maker won’t make a demi or a plunge beyond a size that it works for, which means that if you’re bigger than a G-cup you likely won’t even have the option. If you do find one, the brand is probably being very optimistic in its claims. Try it on before you buy.

Now, you’re a grown woman, and you can wear what you want. But generally, those less-coverage styles are designed to enhance the beauty of our more lightly bosomed sisters. Those of us with an abundance of breast can easily attract the eye with quite a bit less exposure. I always think of the classic sexiness of Sophia Loren in a lacy, full-coverage bra (in a Roman villa, in a darkened room, with bars of sunlight coming through the blinds).

This does leave the issue of that low neckline dress that you really want to wear. One solution is to make the bra part of the look. A glimpse of fine embroidery in a matching–or contrasting!–color is increasingly seen as a stylish way to accessorize.

A lot of women struggle with inadequate molded-cup bras in pursuit of the idea that the bra needs to be invisible under a t-shirt. Is this to make your audience guess whether you are even wearing one? Sorry. If you’re a G-cup, or even a dainty little E-cup, I’m afraid the gig is up. You’re sporting a rack, it requires management. Own it, girls!

Jenette Goldstein

Don’t accept the normalizing of bad fit

The past few years have been absolutely revolutionary in the new visibility of diverse bodies. The abundance of catalog photography featuring full-figured models, older models, and ethnically diverse models has been a great boon to my business.

There is one thing that ticks me off though. I frequently see beautiful, full-bodied models confidently posed in an absolute garbage product that fits like a sack of rocks. This is a new way for unscrupulous manufacturers to normalize bad fit for the same women they’ve always been failing to serve. No sir, putting on your sub-par, ill-fitting bra does not celebrate my diversity or yours!

Learn more about Jenette and her services at JenetteBras.com.

FLA Stylee

Wednesday 7th of November 2007

my bra doesnt fit well at all.. Does your bra fit? this is awesome advice.. i also wanted to share with you ladies how i found some MORE great tips on how to get the right bra size on this website.. www.artfulwears.com.. it’s run my a professional fashion stylist.. a woman named Amy Gordon.. i’ve definitely seen her referenced as a “Style Expert” in Life&Style;Weekly Magazine.. so at least,it makes me feel better now to know, that she knows what she’s talking about, according to a reputable source!! here is what she had to say on her blog about this pain-in-the-rear of a topic:

For quite some time I made the assumption that women understood how their bras should fit. After spending several years working one on one clothing women of various ages and sizes, I have come to realize I was grossly mistaken. While the foolproof way to find your best fit is to get a bra fitting, I will provide you with a few basic fit tips: 1. Your bra should fasten on the first hook(s) so that it can accommodate stretching. 2. The band of your bra should go straight around your back, underneath your bust line. If the band is riding up in the back, your band is too big. Conversely, if you have skin hanging over the sides, your band is too small. 3. You should have no ripples on the cups of the bra. If it ripples, it’s too big. If your breasts are coming out of the cups, they are too small. 4. Last, keep in mind as you gain or lose weight your bra size WILL CHANGE. So get re-fitted anytime you have a fluctuation in your weight. The vast majority of women are wearing the rong size bra. Why does this matter you ask? The number one reason is you look THINNER when your bra fits your properly. Second, your clothes look better when your girls are up where they are supposed to be. In addition to bra fit, different clothing requires different types of bras. Just like you couldn’t have one pair or style of shoes, the same is true for bras,. Thankfully, bra technology has come a long way. So it’s easy to find anything that you need!

for more info i definitely recommend you check out what else Amy has to say at www.artfulwears.com

Kari

Wednesday 7th of November 2007

Could you re-post the links to those archived posts?  Both of the current URLS are dead-ending; it appears that the address of those posts has altered with some of the recent website changes.

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