This past weekend i was taken on a romantic retreat, by my Ram, to the city of York. As well as spoiling me rotten with food, accommodation and copious amounts of champagne he also took me on a shopping spree. We happened upon a Leia Lingerie store and decided to browse. I asked the shop assistant if there were any bras in my assumed size and she immediately replied with "When was the last time you were measured? I can see from here you're not a 32 back." Having recently read this post over at InvestInYourChest, wherein a friend with assumed double AAs discovers she is actually a C cup, i jumped at the chance to be measured.
I was lead to a nicely, non fluorescent, lit room where i was asked to strip to my bra in my own time and instructed to press a button on the wall when i was ready for the shop assistant (who was lovely, chatty and polite at all times) to measure me. The assistant viewed how my current bra fit and then judged my size off of that and how well i fit into other sizes. I happened to be wearing my worst fitting bra that day, a black t-shirt bra with lots of inbuilt padding, to provide a seamless look underneath my clothes. I was informed of how the back of my bra was much too high, the cups were loose and the underwire stopped too low. The assistant then proceeded to bring me a selection of bras, after asking if i had any preference in style or colour, all in a 30 back (however she wanted to fit me into a 28 but had no bras in stock at the time), and allowed me to put them on in private before giving feedback which she would take onboard with the next selection she brought. Eventually after trying on a few different styles, some being very uncomfortable and some being too large, we found the perfect fit, in a 30C of all sizes (i was baffled).
This is the bra in question, a lovely black lace ensemble with a light pink base colour, scalloped edges and mesh bow centre piece. Pretty damn cute. The cups are lightly padded, mostly for shape and the bra is underwired.I can bend all the way over and not reveal even the slightest hint of breast. The cups meet, seamlessly, with my chest and i fill them out completely (even my smaller breast!) The band sits much lower than my other bras and is in the correct place. I honestly feel like i'm wearing no bra at all, which i never feel when i'm wearing underwire or padding.
The most important part of my fitting was that at no point did i feel awkward or uncomfortable. I never felt judged and i was not pressured in any way to buy any lingerie. I was told that different brands have variations in sizes so that my new size was a guideline but a much more accurate one than my self measurement.
Edit: In the time since this post, i've found a 30B to be a much better fit than a 30C, and B'temptd bras run a little small in the cups. Unfortunately, this method of fitting is never completely accurate.