Bras... [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

WarKitty

2014-03-20, 10:35 PM

Would sports bras work better possibly? I know they are usually stretchier so they might work better than a traditional bra.

Then it's an issue of what tops you can wear without showing your bra.

Buy a cheap one and you will instantly learn why good ones are so expensive. They are hard to make right.

The general idea for making them that I've found is to find something with the appropriate cup size and fit the rest around that.

Have you looked online? If you're very sure of your size (and I'm lead to believe that most women are mistaken about their size), you could order something on-line. Almost everything is enormously cheaper on the interwebz.

Not necessarily. The trouble with bras is anything outside of a certain fairly narrow range is considered a "specialty" size and thus fairly expensive. There's also the problem that size isn't actually everything. A lot of people like to blame wrong size when the real problem is that the bra is the wrong shape. So, for example, I have narrower shoulders than is expected for my size. That means straps may be falling off, and the gore is often too wide and cuts in. I've had a lot of bra salespeople who try to fix problems just by changing size, when the problem is the bra isn't the appropriate shape.

I was thinking the same thing... :smallwink:

Well, as an actual female person with similar issues (DDD :smallannoyed: ) I... don't have a good answer. I wait for sales and buy them online. And I only own about 3-4 of the ones I like. They rinse out in the sink and dry pretty effectively so you can get away with a lot of re-wearing between laundry days. And they last a pretty long time, especially if you don't put them in the dryer. I think the heat kills the elastic.

Yeah. I'm "only" a D-cup, but the problem is I'm so overall tiny that my band size only exists in the teenage girl section. The rack of 28AA bras is cute, but not helpful. And I don't want to have to deal with pink-and-purple polka dots in any case.

Serpentine

2014-03-20, 11:34 PM

Why are the things so expensive?? And what do you do if you can't afford your size? The cheapest thing in my size I've found is $50, which is like a third of my monthly grocery budget for one bra.Really, that much? There's heaps of bras around here that are $20 or cheaper, though I'm sure you do get what you pay for. Edge-of-bellcurve sizes are always a pain, though.

Have you looked online? If you're very sure of your size (and I'm lead to believe that most women are mistaken about their size), you could order something on-line. Almost everything is enormously cheaper on the interwebz.I could never buy bras online. I have to try on dozens of bras to find 3 that don't make me want to rip my face off, and I'm not totally sure what size I'm meant to be in what brand - the last time I went bra shopping I got three different sizes, and the smallest cup was 2 or 3 more than the last time I'd bought any (and I'd *lost weight* since then).

DarkLightDragon

2014-03-20, 11:50 PM

WarKitty

2014-03-21, 12:00 AM

You definitely get what you pay for with bras. Finding good ones in the correct size can be such a pain, though. Fortunately I've been lucky and managed to find one or two each time I've gone shopping for them.

Yeah. It's always the balance between "you get what you pay for" and "one bra costs more than my weekly grocery budget."

Ravens_cry

2014-03-21, 12:28 AM

What's a good filler for fabric breast forms?

Astrella

2014-03-21, 12:29 AM

I've heard dried rice can work okay? Haven't tried it out though so it's only from hearing.

Vaynor

2014-03-21, 12:33 AM

I've heard good things about the ladies over at /r/abrathatfits (http://www.reddit.com/r/abrathatfits) if you wanted to check that out, they might be able to help you find something.

SaintRidley

2014-03-21, 12:48 AM

I was thinking the same thing... :smallwink:

Well, as an actual female person with similar issues (DDD :smallannoyed: ) I... don't have a good answer. I wait for sales and buy them online. And I only own about 3-4 of the ones I like. They rinse out in the sink and dry pretty effectively so you can get away with a lot of re-wearing between laundry days. And they last a pretty long time, especially if you don't put them in the dryer. I think the heat kills the elastic.

Worst part is it's damned difficult to find one that's actually cute if you're a larger size. Guess less well-endowed women need to have all the cute bras for some reason.

Zrak

2014-03-21, 12:51 AM

Much like every sport is an inferior version of boxing, every undergarment is an inferior version of boxing tape. Tape 'em down, beat a dude unconscious, and live Glory.

WarKitty

2014-03-21, 12:56 AM

I've heard good things about the ladies over at /r/abrathatfits (http://www.reddit.com/r/abrathatfits) if you wanted to check that out, they might be able to help you find something.

Will do. Hadn't thought of all those measurements. *goes to take pics of boobs in swimwear*

Worst part is it's damned difficult to find one that's actually cute if you're a larger size. Guess less well-endowed women need to have all the cute bras for some reason.

See the problem on my end is because they assume you're a teenage girl, the bras are too cutsey. I'm the sort of gal who would prefer solid black, or maybe at best a small amount of decoration. I do NOT want pink leopard print or whatever other pink monstrosity they've got this time.

Ravens_cry

2014-03-21, 12:57 AM

Worst part is it's damned difficult to find one that's actually cute if you're a larger size. Guess less well-endowed women need to have all the cute bras for some reason.
Well, smaller bosomed ladies don't have the engineering problems that more chesty ladies do.

Astrella

2014-03-21, 01:06 AM

Well, smaller bosomed ladies don't have the engineering problems that more chesty ladies do.

Maybe not engineering problems, but at least I have problems finding bras because I have a fairly big bandsize, but my bust isn't very big, so still pretty hard to find them if you have a non-standard size. :/

WarKitty

2014-03-21, 01:22 AM

Maybe not engineering problems, but at least I have problems finding bras because I have a fairly big bandsize, but my bust isn't very big, so still pretty hard to find them if you have a non-standard size. :/

Want to average them? It would be easier to find a B-cup with the "add two cup sizes!!!" deal than ones that actually fit my D-cups.

Coidzor

2014-03-21, 01:36 AM

Franken-bra? I'm actually surprised I haven't run into the idea of recombining existing components like that.

SiuiS

2014-03-21, 01:54 AM

This is why I advocate everyone going without bras. That’s right, let those puppies free!

Run a hundred meters filt tilt with nothing on below the navel, then we'll talk. When you deal with being scissored (:smallamused:) then you'll be in a position to discuss weights attached to your bosom that move painfully and asychronously :smallwink:

I find it hilarious that most of the posters on this thread are male. :smalltongue:

Yeah~

Although, "able to fit a bra" is exactly the kind of niche skill that many Gus think they should learn to increase their market value.

Worst part is it's damned difficult to find one that's actually cute if you're a larger size. Guess less well-endowed women need to have all the cute bras for some reason.

Well-endowed women have well-endowments. Try don't need decoration. :smalltongue:

If the reddit thing doesn't work, you'll probably have to considere custom tailoring or making your own or kludging your own (sufficient anime exposure as a youth has left me with like, thirty ways to tie 'em down with an appropriately long scarf, for example).

You should be able to take a small hit over a three month span, cut back on groceries a touch, and use the saved change to make buying one less painful? Shop around too, though. Victoria's Secret should have the right band size for you, although I can't speak to price and quality.

WarKitty

2014-03-21, 02:09 AM

Victoria's secret actually doesn't carry smaller than a 30.

And as far as cost -suffice to say an $80 bra would be half of the grocery budget for the month. There just isn't much ease when you're going through school and trying to handle medical stuff on what works out to less than 40h a week minimum wage.

Aedilred

2014-03-21, 02:35 AM

Run a hundred meters filt tilt with nothing on below the navel,
I fear it would lead to arrest before I made a hundred feet, sadly. Maybe one day if I have a private estate sufficiently large to accomplish it while hidden from public view, then we'll talk.

Although, "able to fit a bra" is exactly the kind of niche skill that many Gus think they should learn to increase their market value.
Well, being able to remove a bra is something approaching an essential life skill for many (I'd venture most) men. Let's face it, you're probably going to need it more often than fixing a carburettor or the like. And once a skill's been added to your repertoire, it's really just a question of being fully informed...

SiuiS

2014-03-21, 03:13 AM

Brother Oni

2014-03-21, 03:29 AM

I fear it would lead to arrest before I made a hundred feet, sadly. Maybe one day if I have a private estate sufficiently large to accomplish it while hidden from public view, then we'll talk.

There are a number of naturalist and nudist campsites where you could try this out, some in your neck of the woods (well Essex). :smalltongue:

{SCRUBBED}

FinnLassie

2014-03-21, 03:42 AM

I was about to recommend a bra shop for you... Then I remembered it only operates in Nordic countries and perhaps Canada. :smallfurious: (I can't get their stuff even here in the UK, have to wait all year to get a new set when I visit back home).

*googles*
Oh, they've expanded a little bit. North America is still only Canada though.

Damn it, if I was in Finland I would've probably just bought you a pair and sent it over, as they do a lot of bras for the non-conventionally (i.e. not the sizes you get everywhere) sized ladies at an affordable price. I have bought most of my stuff ranging from 10 to 20 €.

As some other people have recommended, sports bra might be a good, although maybe temporary solution, and perhaps look at online stores.

WarKitty

2014-03-21, 03:53 AM

Eh. I am against any stereotype that requires a woman to be present but not sapient. If she can't take off her own underwear or direct you to do so, it should stay where it is
And I mean really, they're the most basic of frogs, it's not hard except when scapular movement alters the elastic tension.

Eh, as someone whose preferred partners presumably already know how to take off bras - I could see that being really sexy.

$80 is a lot for a bra. D:
It sounds like you'll be better off sucking it up and going for the sports bra. They're cheapish, they workish, and they will take the pressure off your existing armory so you can stretch out your current non sports bras for when you want to wear nice things / not look like a weird stereotype.

The trouble is almost all of my clothing falls into the category of things that don't go with a sports bra. They really only work with t-shirts, and I wear those maybe once a week. My clothing tends more towards

My current ones are cheap enough, maybe $10 a pair. They just don't work that well - they're a generic s/m/l deal that doesn't really fit.

And part of it is I'm trying to fight the "teenager" looks. And I figured a proper shape might help with that.

JustSomeGuy

2014-03-21, 05:06 AM

SMEE

2014-03-21, 05:12 AM

I have come to the conclusion that good, nicely fitting, comfortable bras are things from fairy tales.

I have been going braless for 4 years now, since the only decent bra I had snapped in half from over usage.
But I am AAs, so I can just afford to go braless. With Ds, that is not exactly an option. :smallfrown:

Mauve Shirt

2014-03-21, 05:13 AM

Man, Warkitty, you've totally got the same problem as me. I spend like $60 on bras, as low as $40 for sports bras (that can be a little too tight.) And after a year or two of wear, it's about time for a new bra, because they stretch.
They're expensive because we need them, I bet. There are specialty stores that have cheaper than department stores, but I envy those who can fit into the bras at Target or even Victoria's Secret.

SiuiS

2014-03-21, 05:32 AM

Yes, because it's totally never an issue at all for anyone to have to fumble with a clasp and get advise on how to undo it and reveal that one is so unskilled as to require direction in a basic foreplay skill of being able to undress one's partner rather than being able to undo it nigh-instantaneously. :smalltongue:

Sure it's an issue. But you're still fixated on Man-primary, with your "fumbles" or "Dos-Equis guy" binary. Honestly, if she wants to have sex with you she can take it off herself.

Besides, hands are over rated. Go for the teeth! It's more interesting and has the benefit of eyesight.

Eh, as someone whose preferred partners presumably already know how to take off bras - I could see that being really sexy.

Sure it can be. I just dislike the undercurrent of man finds girl, man seduces girl, man undresses girl, man sexes at girl, man gives girl proper cues for making pretty noises, man falls asleep on girl, girl – now no longer in immediate use – can clean up or do her nails or make a sandwich.

It's not like speed-disassembling a rifle. If it takes a while, distract her! I'm sure she would appreciate it ;)

And part of it is I'm trying to fight the "teenager" looks. And I figured a proper shape might help with that.

Yeah. The last time I bought an undershirt I went to the children's section >__>
People look at you funny when you're shopping there but don't have kids with you <__<

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 05:50 AM

Or you could crochet your own. (https://www.blastr.com/2013-4-30/jayne-hat-bra-makes-us-forget-all-about-fireflys-legal-shenanigans)

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 05:54 AM

I believe Siuis mentioned scissors. Surely that would make for a quick-and-easy bra removal procedure?

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 05:57 AM

That's why I only date billion dollar babies.

Brother Oni

2014-03-21, 06:01 AM

On a more useful note from me, have you thought about maternity bras? They come in a larger variety of cup sizes for the band size, at least that's what my wife found.

Left handed - pinch the flappy end of the outer bit, pull the whole lot over slightly. Pin the inner bit with your little and ring fingers, and use the slackened tensility of the outer with your pinch on the end to deftly unhook that little blighter. Bask in glory. Get married and time your skill fade until it withers to naught but a husk of your former abilities. Reflect on this by posting on annonymous internet forums. [/COLOUR=SARCASM]

The lament of married men everywhere. :smallsigh:

JustSomeGuy

2014-03-21, 06:49 AM

They had this on radio 4 the other day, seems relevent

The Emergency Bra (EBbra) is a protective garment that can be easily and quickly transformed into two respiratory face masks in case of emergency to reduce inhalation of harmful airborne particles when specialized protective devices are not available to the public (such as natural disasters or accidents).

The EBbra is like any other conventional bra in terms of its main function to support the breasts, as well as its aesthetics, sizes, colors and styles. EBbra can be worn regular, strapless, or criss-cross. The bra can also be used as a nursing bra.

Comes with instructional brochure.

Lokiare

2014-03-21, 07:08 AM

{SCRUBBED}

SiuiS

2014-03-21, 07:12 AM

Or you could crotchet your own. (https://www.blastr.com/2013-4-30/jayne-hat-bra-makes-us-forget-all-about-fireflys-legal-shenanigans)

I totally misread crochet XD

No, I was focused on presenting a clear dichotomy to underscore how ridiculous your position was through the use of snark. :smalltongue: And it isn't even all that much in the way of hyperbole, aside from interpretations of nigh-instantaneous. Being able to unclasp a bra when one knows how to do it and has experience with them is trivial. When one doesn't actually know how bras clasp together, it's generally an exercise in frustration, at least initially. As you should be aware.

The issue isn't how hard it is to in clasp a bra, it is the necessity of you being the only one responsible. I'm getting a definite Railroad DM thig here, where if you don't beat the Escape Artist DC the adventure doesn't continue, but the helpful and let's face it, smitten with you NPC is right there. Get her to help! Or buy time to take ten by doing other things.

Throwing the D20 for escape artist over and over to get through an optional obstacle is self-frustrating.

I also always had a deft hand at that stuff because I visualize spatial manipulations in my head. The hardest part is having the tactile feedback to tell the direction of the hook and accounting for elastic tension. And then I broke my hand and can't even do push-ups most days, let alone unhook a bra...

...That's just liable to bend some prongs if the person doing it doesn't know what they're on about, really. I don't even know why you have eyes inside of your mouth, but at this point I'm just going to file it away under anatomical oddities I'm going to repress.

You left the elastic away from the skin with lips and tongue, slacken the hook, and use your teeth manipulate the surrounding fabric. But if the tiny metal bits not advised unless that's what she sees in you :small wink:

You're reading things that aren't there into it, then, at least *here*. :smalltongue:

Yeah, a little.

I believe Siuis mentioned scissors. Surely that would make for a quick-and-easy bra removal procedure?

I was referring to what happens when you run while letting your danglies dangle.

And then we go back to the OP and the hypothetical ur-woman is really irate and no longer in any kind of positive mood because we've just destroyed her favorite hundred dollar article of clothing. :smallconfused:

Plus there are scissors at hand! Unless they're emergency shears that sounds like the start of a game of CLUE; warkitty in the friendly banter section with the scissors.

They had this on radio 4 the other day, seems relevent

I'm not sure if tacky or fantastic

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 07:20 AM

What DC Escape Artist is it to unlasp a bra?

Brother Oni

2014-03-21, 07:24 AM

I'm not sure if tacky or fantastic

Surprisingly, the inventor appears to be Ukranian so probably veering towards the immensely practical.

If the invention was Japanese, it would have the intention of being practical, only to be immensely tacky.

Actually thinking about it, it may well be tacky since you need to achieve a good seal to the skin around the mouth and nose. :smalltongue:

What DC Escape Artist is it to unlasp a bra?

If you have to ask, you can only get it on a natural 20. :smalltongue:

Iruka

2014-03-21, 07:27 AM

I hoped this thread would be about someone discovering the awesomness of brass bands. Can't add anything helpful. :smallfrown:

Sure it can be. I just dislike the undercurrent of man finds girl, man seduces girl, man undresses girl, man sexes at girl, man gives girl proper cues for making pretty noises, man falls asleep on girl, girl – now no longer in immediate use – can clean up or do her nails or make a sandwich.

But is it worse than woman dresses up for man, woman undresses for man, woman makes pretty noises for man, woman reassures man that it could happen to anyone and is not a problem at all, woman makes sandwich for man to cheer him up.

Purely anecdotal, I just found it funny:

Why should I do all the work? If he fumbles around opening the bra, you can expect him to fumble around later on.

JustSomeGuy

2014-03-21, 07:41 AM

woman dresses up for man, woman undresses for man, woman makes pretty noises for man, woman makes sandwich for man

Take note, ladies!

Also, forget "fumble" rolls, it's the "go for it's" that can devastate your carefully planned tactics and wreck your game plan

Cuthalion

2014-03-21, 08:36 AM

Or you could crotchet your own. (https://www.blastr.com/2013-4-30/jayne-hat-bra-makes-us-forget-all-about-fireflys-legal-shenanigans)

Crotchet? O.o

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 08:38 AM

It's my second language.

Cuthalion

2014-03-21, 08:41 AM

It's my second language.

Fair enough, but it was an amusing misspelling for this particular thread.

EmeraldRose

2014-03-21, 08:42 AM

I find it hilarious that most of the posters on this thread are male. :smalltongue:
Indeed. :smallamused:

First of all, it is a good idea to go and get sized pretty regularly. It's amazing how much your bra size will change based on just minor weight changes. Then once you know your size it can be a little easier to start shopping.

Right now, I have one bra that FITS and two others that mostly fit. I rarely have more bras than this, and I only ever really buy a new one when the old ones have a wire coming out. Because let's face it. That HURTS!

I've had great success with Bare Essentials as a retailer. I won't link the site, but feel free to google. They literally have all bra sizes. They are a little pricey, but frequently have very nice sales. I have gotten three bras from them over the years, and never been disappointed with the fit and quality.

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 08:44 AM

I can't imagine why heterosexual men would be interesting in boob containers.

Morph Bark

2014-03-21, 08:50 AM

Castaras

2014-03-21, 09:12 AM

I've given up on bras. Then again, I'm a size A so I'm able to.

They're irritating, extra things to deal with, and I hate tight things - and wearing a bra loose kinda destroys the point of having one to begin with.

EmeraldRose

2014-03-21, 09:33 AM

How often do you shop for bras? While I have no experience with people requiring bras on the smaller end, I wouldn't call 50 dollars expensive (but I think in euros, so there's that). If you need a new one every month though, I can see your point. It's not just the stores you shop at, is it?

Well made bras will last months, if not years. So while I don't really like having to spend the money, it is very worth it to me to spend $50-$80 on one. Cheaper, less well made bras will NOT last this long, and don't fit nearly as comfortably.

And since I am not able to get away with not wearing one (DDD or F depending on the bra maker), I'd rather wear one that fits, supports, and is comfortable.

Aedilred

2014-03-21, 10:49 AM

The issue isn't how hard it is to in clasp a bra, it is the necessity of you being the only one responsible. I'm getting a definite Railroad DM thig here, where if you don't beat the Escape Artist DC the adventure doesn't continue, but the helpful and let's face it, smitten with you NPC is right there. Get her to help! Or buy time to take ten by doing other things.

I think the Craft (Mountain) skill is being applied here to a raw material of molehills. Obviously, that's (probably) not going to happen. Nor am I suggesting that men possessed of this rare and exclusive ability should run riot removing bras wherever they may find them. But in the event that removing a bra yourself becomes necessary - or desirable - it's better to be able to do it than to go "uh... how?" and/or spend ten minutes fumbling with the wretched thing while the mood goes to die in a corner somewhere.

Just as when your carburettor goes, it's better, or at least quicker, cheaper and more satisfying, to be able to fix it yourself, rather than have to take it to a garage and get them to take a look at it. (Whereupon they'll in all likelihood say "what are you on about mate, this has fuel injection").

Morph Bark

2014-03-21, 12:00 PM

Yeah. I'm "only" a D-cup, but the problem is I'm so overall tiny that my band size only exists in the teenage girl section. The rack of 28AA bras is cute, but not helpful. And I don't want to have to deal with pink-and-purple polka dots in any case.

Just to check: you're American, right? If you're European, depending on the country, I might know a good store where finding a good size to accommodate the combination of small band size with D-sized cups is less of a problem.

TheThan

2014-03-21, 03:19 PM

Run a hundred meters filt tilt with nothing on below the navel, then we'll talk. When you deal with being scissored (:smallamused:) then you'll be in a position to discuss weights attached to your bosom that move painfully and asychronously :smallwink:

if my knee premited it, I'd take you on and run commando. But you'd probably beat me in a race even if I could run.

I can't imagine why heterosexual men would be interesting in boob containers.

You know, it’s not just the containers themselves, its what goes in them.

Knaight

2014-03-21, 04:14 PM

How often do you shop for bras? While I have no experience with people requiring bras on the smaller end, I wouldn't call 50 dollars expensive (but I think in euros, so there's that). If you need a new one every month though, I can see your point. It's not just the stores you shop at, is it?

Student finances tend not to stretch far, and as I'm guessing Warkitty is American (based on the choice of dollars), there's also the matter of women's clothing in general being completely unreasonably expensive over here, with a tendency to be built flimsy. Also missing pockets.

huttj509

2014-03-21, 04:14 PM

You know, it’s not just the containers themselves, its what goes in them.

See, for me it's knowing someone I care about is wearing a garment that fits properly, and is not causing her discomfort and pain.

EmeraldRose

2014-03-21, 06:02 PM

And have a tendency of stabbing women who are well endowed in worst case scenarios when they fail. It's quite surreal to know that one's friends' breasts have been stabbed more than the rest of the entire friend-group combined, even the one with the psycho older siblings who tortured them for fun.

Oh indeed. It will literally draw blood when a wire wears through. It is not a pleasant experience... :smalleek::smallannoyed:

The Giant

2014-03-21, 06:30 PM

Hey guys? How about we drop the off-topic tangent about whether men should know how to unclasp a bra, since it has nothing to do with the original topic.

Also, let's all avoid making salacious comments about another poster's bodily dimensions should they happen to be discussing those dimensions in the course of a completely non-sexual conversation. OK? That'd be great.

russdm

2014-03-21, 06:55 PM

I think that should be put on the list of important things, after global warming of course, for NASA and people like. Producing some kind of clothing that can instantly provide support for a woman no matter how sized or how she is in physical terms. Also have it be capable of changing color, and it could be like an undershirt or maybe even a bra. Maybe using some nifty form of nano-tech? Get it to the point that it is economically feasible and half the human race at-least will buy it.

Given that it seems a long way off for this, I think getting a woman the proper bra she needs is just as important as fixing global warming or kids being overweight in the US. Its simply that important, but only the poor suffering women seem to care, as most clothing shops don't seem to have a problem according to the women posters here based on their experiences. In other countries, more effort is actually being made for this; why is the US not doing the same? And it would be one of the best uses of Tax-payer money since it would make them happy.

AtomicKitKat

2014-03-21, 08:28 PM

I was gonna suggest cutting the cups from one and mounting them to the straps of another, but that might not work with elastic involved(unless one has like 5 ranks in Craft: Embroidery or something).

Then I considered suggesting buying bigger, and filling it, but reading closer suggests that the problem is the smaller circumferences not having the same upper limits.

I'm also given to understand that hormonal shifts can alter the dimensions, sometimes due to simple fluid retention(ie, water). Darned nature.

Crazy idea: Why hasn't someone come up with some kind of bra where the clasp is adjustable like on baseball caps(but maybe without the stud-and-hole combination because it would be rather painful). Or alternatively, some kind of strap extender that would allow one to clasp a bra that has gotten too small(it would essentially consist of a short band with the 2 clips on opposite sides), in case of emergencies.

Take the above with a pinch of your favourite Natrium Chloride substitute, since the last time I had any experience with a bra, it was on myself, and the first Bush was in power. Don't ask. Or PM me if you do.:smalltongue: The Crazy Idea section does bear looking into, IMO. Just credit me or something if you make money from it.

EmeraldRose

2014-03-21, 08:31 PM

Bra extenders do exist. The issue the OP is having is, in fact, the opposite.

AtomicKitKat

2014-03-21, 08:57 PM

Bra extenders do exist. The issue the OP is having is, in fact, the opposite.

Yeah, I was trying to figure out how one could make a "scruncher", which would sort of loop the strap back upon itself, but ideally without leaving an unsightly lump sticking out the back of one's shirt.

SarahV

2014-03-21, 09:25 PM

Yeah, I was trying to figure out how one could make a "scruncher", which would sort of loop the strap back upon itself, but ideally without leaving an unsightly lump sticking out the back of one's shirt.

You could probably adjust it a little bit by adding some new rows of the little loops, depending on the design of the bra (sort of like punching an extra hole in a belt). I'm not sure how well it would fit, though - not only do cup sizes alter in tandem with the band size (i.e., a 30D has bigger cups than a 28D even though they are both "D" cups) but you might end up with something weird like the cups being a little too far apart, which at best would make them look a bit walleyed, and at worst could be extremely uncomfortable. I'm not sure if that would be a problem with just one band size, though...

Mauve Shirt

2014-03-21, 09:28 PM

They do make bras that are adjustable to many waist sizes. It's getting them in DDD that's difficult.

WarKitty

2014-03-21, 10:19 PM

You could probably adjust it a little bit by adding some new rows of the little loops, depending on the design of the bra (sort of like punching an extra hole in a belt). I'm not sure how well it would fit, though - not only do cup sizes alter in tandem with the band size (i.e., a 30D has bigger cups than a 28D even though they are both "D" cups) but you might end up with something weird like the cups being a little too far apart, which at best would make them look a bit walleyed, and at worst could be extremely uncomfortable. I'm not sure if that would be a problem with just one band size, though...

The bigger problem would be the strap positioning. You'd have to make sure the shoulder straps didn't go in too far. Though to be fair those are fairly easy to detach and reattach.

Asta Kask

2014-03-21, 10:25 PM

SiuiS

2014-03-22, 02:25 AM

if my knee premited it, I'd take you on and run commando. But you'd probably beat me in a race even if I could run.

That's alright, I sympathize with bad knees and I was teasing you back anyway. Your willingness alone after hearing the word 'scissor' is commendable.

Hey guys? How about we drop the off-topic tangent about whether men should know how to unclasp a bra, since it has nothing to do with the original topic.

Sounds like a plan, mate!

The bigger problem would be the strap positioning. You'd have to make sure the shoulder straps didn't go in too far. Though to be fair those are fairly easy to detach and reattach.

I'm not sure how it would help – in fact I have only the opposite experience. But my filly crosses the straps, making an X across her back. It helps the band hold up, and more importantly it keeps the straps neatly in place.

She has the opposite problem though. DD, but not a narrow torso. I think she falls into the "expected bra size" range.

Morph Bark

2014-03-22, 04:50 AM

You could probably adjust it a little bit by adding some new rows of the little loops, depending on the design of the bra (sort of like punching an extra hole in a belt). I'm not sure how well it would fit, though - not only do cup sizes alter in tandem with the band size (i.e., a 30D has bigger cups than a 28D even though they are both "D" cups) but you might end up with something weird like the cups being a little too far apart, which at best would make them look a bit walleyed, and at worst could be extremely uncomfortable. I'm not sure if that would be a problem with just one band size, though...

Well, the solution to them being too far apart would be to do something similar in the front, but unfortunately I haven't come across any bras that have clips on both front and back (that'd feel awkward, plus the bra would basically be made of two loose halves, which is impractical), and there is only so much adjusting you could do in the front.

AtomicKitKat

2014-03-31, 10:01 AM

Weird(I think) thought. Drawstrings? Though then the lack of rigidity could be a problem. Or the friction could wear out the grooves they're in. This is tougher than any other architectural problem in the world(and I'm not even an architect!)

Perficio

2014-04-03, 10:54 AM

One post going around on Tumblr is a large infodump on how to measure bra sizes for one self, over here. (http://sameatschildren.tumblr.com/post/45962915522/do-it-now-guide-to-proper-bra-fit-and-measuring) Toward the bottom they've got a list of websites that sell bras in a wide variety of sizes. I know I prefer to try them on before buying them, but since very few stores carry my size... sometimes I just have to gamble.

TheThan

2014-04-03, 05:33 PM

sometimes I just have to gamble.

That’s the ridiculous thing about women’s clothing. It’s always a gamble. Considering the arcane way women’s clothing are sized. What exactly does a 16 mean?

Men’s clothing is pretty simple, in fact, it’s REALLY simple. Look at a pair of jeans that are say 34/30. 34/30 means 34 inches around the waist, 30 inches long at the inseam. While there’s always going to be a little wiggle room as clothier’s measurements vary a bit; chances are if a guy wears a 34/30, he’ll be able to buy those jeans with confidence that they'll fit without even having to try them on.

You can look at it and know immediately if you can wear them, no guess work, no spending hours trying on a rack of clothing just to get that one that fits. Collared shirts are the same way (measuring the neck and sleeve length). Casual clothing such as T-shirts tend to be a bit more arcane (large, small, medium etc) but then those are more one size fits all clothing anyway.

Women’s clothing simply doesn’t work like that, (granted that’s just from my experience shopping with various women throughout the years, not that I buy women’s clothing).

FinnLassie

2014-04-03, 05:37 PM

I wouldn't be surprised if women's clothing was manufactured by Satan.

Astrella

2014-04-03, 06:04 PM

I wonder if there's like a difference with regards to sizing between Europe and the US? Iunno, just, here in Belgium sizes seem to be pretty consistent.

Knaight

2014-04-03, 06:20 PM

Men’s clothing is pretty simple, in fact, it’s REALLY simple. Look at a pair of jeans that are say 34/30. 34/30 means 34 inches around the waist, 30 inches long at the inseam. While there’s always going to be a little wiggle room as clothier’s measurements vary a bit; chances are if a guy wears a 34/30, he’ll be able to buy those jeans with confidence that they'll fit without even having to try them on.

Usually. With some higher sizes there's a trend to deliberately under report waistband sizes - a 42 might be reported as a 38, for example. It's minor for now, but it's growing.

SlayerofNazguls

2014-04-03, 06:31 PM

I'm size AA and I have trouble finding bras that don't curve out wards at the edge. The bras I have now show threw some of my shirts, which is kind of annoying. Can anyone help me?

SaintRidley

2014-04-03, 06:32 PM

Women’s clothing simply doesn’t work like that, (granted that’s just from my experience shopping with various women throughout the years, not that I buy women’s clothing).

Part of it must be because of things like variable hip and bust sizes. Men are, by and large, a bit more... flattened? I mean, it's all well and good to find pants or skirts that go around one's waist, but it becomes a problem if you can't put them on because you have hips which make it impossible. Which also means that if you find ones that can go around your hips, you may then need a belt to hold it at your waist. And lets not start with how breasts of various sizes impact the way a simple shirt fits.

Whoever's making women's clothing sure isn't doing it with a variety of body shapes in mind.

FinnLassie

2014-04-03, 06:41 PM

In the matter of women's clothing sizes, the brands sort of create the sizing rules themselves. I noticed that in general US brands do larger sizes, but if you compare an American L with say a Swedish and French L, all of those three give you completely different sizes. I mean heck I wear tops from M to XL, I can't even be bothered with what the "true" size is anymore, all of these are the same size to my eye but not by the label. :smallsigh:

Whoever's making women's clothing sure isn't doing it with a variety of body shapes in mind.

This exactly. It takes me weeks to find a fitting pair of jeans. All hail the pear shape, tops can be found anywhere but bottoms are only found in the deepest darkest holes. :smallannoyed:

TheThan

2014-04-03, 07:03 PM

Part of it must be because of things like variable hip and bust sizes. Men are, by and large, a bit more... flattened? I mean, it's all well and good to find pants or skirts that go around one's waist, but it becomes a problem if you can't put them on because you have hips which make it impossible. Which also means that if you find ones that can go around your hips, you may then need a belt to hold it at your waist. And lets not start with how breasts of various sizes impact the way a simple shirt fits.

Whoever's making women's clothing sure isn't doing it with a variety of body shapes in mind.

I imagine for a pair of woman’s pants it would be measured waist/hip/inseam maybe? I dunno thoughts anyone? Shirts/blouses would be a bit more troublesome. Skirts shouldn’t be too hard. Dresses might also be difficult.

I could be wrong, but I think a lot of the women’s clothing out there is cut to fit paper thin supermodels (I don’t find being able to see someone’s sternum or count their ribs all that attractive. I mean there’s skinny, and then there’s malnourished.) So they don’t fit the "average" woman; you know women with curves and general dimension to their bodies.

Usually. With some higher sizes there's a trend to deliberately under report waistband sizes - a 42 might be reported as a 38, for example. It's minor for now, but it's growing.

Vanity sizing; which is a mystery to me as I don’t have any delusions as to just how fat I actually am. Nobody wants, most people don’t want to see that morbidly obese woman try to strut around in a mini-skirt.

Coidzor

2014-04-03, 07:44 PM

I wouldn't be surprised if women's clothing was manufactured by Satan.

Hell is other people. It is manufactured and designed primarily by other women unless I'm very much mistaken.

I wonder if there's like a difference with regards to sizing between Europe and the US? Iunno, just, here in Belgium sizes seem to be pretty consistent.

Yes, yes it is. There are completely different sizing charts for starters.

WarKitty

2014-04-03, 07:48 PM

I'm size AA and I have trouble finding bras that don't curve out wards at the edge. The bras I have now show threw some of my shirts, which is kind of annoying. Can anyone help me?

If you're smaller (and cup size doesn't always correlate with that - there's how things sit as well), you might not need underwire bras. A soft bra would probably bend to your shape better.

SMEE

2014-04-03, 08:37 PM

I'm size AA and I have trouble finding bras that don't curve out wards at the edge. The bras I have now show threw some of my shirts, which is kind of annoying. Can anyone help me?

AA here as well... I have decided to not bother with bras any more.
You could try sports bras if you really think you need to go with it. They are easier to fit.

Astrella

2014-04-03, 08:38 PM

If you're smaller (and cup size doesn't always correlate with that - there's how things sit as well), you might not need underwire bras. A soft bra would probably bend to your shape better.

Mhm, I've recently gotten a few bras without underwire and those don't mess with shirts.

lio45

2014-04-03, 08:51 PM

Just as when your carburettor goes, it's better, or at least quicker, cheaper and more satisfying, to be able to fix it yourself, rather than have to take it to a garage and get them to take a look at it. (Whereupon they'll in all likelihood say "what are you on about mate, this has fuel injection").

When you used the carburetor example the first time, I was about to point out that unless you're driving an antique, your car/truck won't have one...

Unless you're in Russia or Brazil, maybe. (My friend's last Lada was the only non-injected model available here for that model year.) And even then.

lio45

2014-04-03, 08:59 PM

And, on topic, my first ex did have that exact problem too (was a student back then, with an atypical cup size requiring expensive bras).

The solution to her complaint that bras were expensive (which they were indeed) was that I bought her a couple ones.

Everybody was very happy with how the solution worked out; problem fixed.

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-04, 06:20 AM

Part of it must be because of things like variable hip and bust sizes. Men are, by and large, a bit more... flattened? I mean, it's all well and good to find pants or skirts that go around one's waist, but it becomes a problem if you can't put them on because you have hips which make it impossible. Which also means that if you find ones that can go around your hips, you may then need a belt to hold it at your waist. And lets not start with how breasts of various sizes impact the way a simple shirt fits.

Whoever's making women's clothing sure isn't doing it with a variety of body shapes in mind.

It's a problem even if you're a guy, if like myself, you're built with solid thighs that can kick a door down, having a 30 inch waist is all well and good, but then I wind up buying pants that 1) have to be belted to stay up, and 2) need to have the legs rolled a little to avoid sweeping the floor.

On the topic of women's clothing, I get the feeling it's part of the grand conspiracy to keep women in the store long enough that eventually they'll settle for the one item that fits closest, due to the sunk cost fallacy/syndrome/mentality.

Dallas-Dakota

2014-04-04, 06:41 AM

As a guy who's 1,60 Meters or about 5'2 tall and actually wide but not really fat.....I can say: Shopping for clothes can be a terror for men too.

Even when we're not just being dragged around by SO'.s:smallwink:

FinnLassie

2014-04-04, 06:44 AM

Hell is other people. It is manufactured and designed primarily by other women unless I'm very much mistaken.

Yes, yes it is. There are completely different sizing charts for starters.

I don't think I quite get this.

US, UK and rest of Europe generally have different ways of doing this thing. I think a UK 10 is a US 6, and EU that's 38 (and what I've heard, France and Italy that's 40). However it totally depends on the brand how they interpret the sizes, the comparisons between systems are always in the same line though. :smallsigh:

t209

2014-04-04, 12:50 PM

When the OP said D cup, I kinda imagined about many stories about disadvantage of having a large cup.

WolfLordBran

2014-04-04, 01:58 PM

It's a problem even if you're a guy, if like myself, you're built with solid thighs that can kick a door down, having a 30 inch waist is all well and good, but then I wind up buying pants that 1) have to be belted to stay up, and 2) need to have the legs rolled a little to avoid sweeping the floor.

This. A thousand times this. Well, okay maybe size 40 waist but I've had pants that would fit fine at the waist that if I wore for more than twenty minutes I'm sure would cut off blood to my lower legs cuz of how tight the thigh was.

Hence my commonly uttered and emphatic "DAMN MY THIGHS!" when buying jeans.

:smallfurious:

Coidzor

2014-04-04, 02:44 PM

I don't think I quite get this.

People are terrible, once you've boiled everything else away from the observation. Or it's just a meaningless pile of Jean-Paul Satre references.

EmeraldRose

2014-04-04, 08:31 PM

Ok, so I have my one bra that fits perfectly, two that "fit" one that is too big around and not quite big enough in the cup, two sports bras, and various tanktop bras, generally used for sleeping.

It is sort of like the having the perfect little black dress, the couple of nice work outfits that are not all that comfortable for wearing long periods of time, the jeans and t-shirt you wear out to most stuff that doesn't have to be dressy, the stuff you wear to the grocery store or just out with friends, and the sweats you wear when everything else is dirty and you haven't done laundry.

Anyone else have a similar bra wardrobe?

Krazzman

2014-04-07, 03:30 AM

Asta Kask

2014-04-07, 03:55 AM

That was forthright, open and courageous. Maybe not entirely prudent and certainly not tactful, but still.

WarKitty

2014-04-07, 04:22 AM

Unfortunately I actually cannot donate. The minimum weight to donate blood plasma is 110 lbs, which I do not meet. Past that, I'm already pretty much working as much as I can (which is limited right now because of chronic ill health), given that I'm also staying in school at the moment.

Bras are the hardest one. Other stuff I get by pretty well, in part because I'm actually not a bad tailor, in part because I have an eye for finding things at their cheapest. Bras unfortunately are one of those things that rarely go on sale and are difficult to alter.

As an aside, I'm also one of those lucky people who is completely comfortable sleeping on an extremely hard surface. Toss a mattress pad and a sleeping bed on a cot and I'm perfectly happy.

Eldan

2014-04-07, 04:33 AM

This. A thousand times this. Well, okay maybe size 40 waist but I've had pants that would fit fine at the waist that if I wore for more than twenty minutes I'm sure would cut off blood to my lower legs cuz of how tight the thigh was.

Hence my commonly uttered and emphatic "DAMN MY THIGHS!" when buying jeans.

:smallfurious:

God yes. I'm maybe 10-15 kg overweight. I have a bit of a belly, sure, but it's almost all in my thighs. And I'm short, too. So my trouser choices are: Fits around my thighs, but continues slipping off my waist and is about two hands wide too long in the legs, or one hand too long in the legs, perfect around the waist and painful around the thighs. So I usually have to pay another 20$ or so per pair of pants to have my legs cut off and wear a belt.

Shirts are almost as much of a problem. I have to get a slightly wide fit, but that's not the problem. The problem is that I can't find shirts with sleeves short enough. And since the cuffs are quite complicated, you can't just have them shortened, either. So I tend to look like a pirate from the 18th century when I'm at the office, with loose sleeves hanging everywhere. Any jacket I buy just completely covers my hands. I got used to it by now, never had any that fit, since childhood.

Nevermind the often painful terror that is underpants.

Krazzman

2014-04-07, 08:13 AM

That was forthright, open and courageous. Maybe not entirely prudent and certainly not tactful, but still.

Hmmm care to elaborate how I can be more prudent (which way? carfulness? or wisdom?) and/or tactful? I have problems with it.

Ok back to the point. Affording Bra's. Donating blood and such can be good if you actually can do it. Donating bloodplasma on the other hand is afaik possible with around 50kg. I know such advice is frowned upon or maybe something that you heard multiple times but: work out. If you have problems with your health and stress (work and school) it helps... also makes you weigh more due to muscle being heavier than fat. Relief stress and build up your immune system (was the recommendation my wife got, since doing sports she has less headache/migraine and less flu/other sicknesses).

About trousers... I'll try to be tactful this time. I am overweight. I was around 115 kg (now 109kg) when I bought trousers the last time. I know how hard it is to get good fitting Trousers. How the trouser is cut has many many different outcomes. For example:
Instead of buying a full suit (just needed a "suit-trouser") I went into the normal stores and looked around. From 20 trousers I tried out... not even one fit. So fed up we went to a suit specialist and after telling the vendor/tailor what I need/want I waited for 20 seconds and had a good fitting trouser. BUT the price was around 20 to 30 € for the ones in the normal store and 60€ at the tailor. In aachen we also have a shop that sells only Jeans. In every variation and form. And if they don't have it there they can order it. To conclude if you can't find something at [Enter big discounter/big general clothing store here] then go to a specialist. Pay extra and have fitting clothing.

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-08, 02:45 AM

Aedilred

2014-04-08, 04:20 AM

Also men should always wear a belt... it just looks better.
Unless you're wearing a waistcoat. Which you should be, really.

Brother Oni

2014-04-08, 06:23 AM

Just realised, Krazzman may be on to something. If you work out the pectoral/latissimus muscles(chest and armpit, respectively), that would increase the overall diameter of your chest measurement, thereby allowing you to buy them one (length)size up while keeping the same cup. No idea if that will get you out of the "cutesy teens" range though.

I can attest to the size gain from working out those specific muscles (over the past couple of years, I've gone from a 40" chest to a 46"), although I suspect that I may be somewhat of an extreme case.

Taking Warkitty's earlier info, gaining half the amount I did would put her in the 31" range, which is still a little short for commonly available bras (32D is the smallest I can find commonly available in her cup size). I'm unsure whether she wants to change her build by that much though.

EmeraldRose

2014-04-08, 10:14 AM

You also have to consider that she might work those areas just as hard as you did and not come anywhere near as close a gain. Different body types, etc.

You may have to look into having bras tailored specifically for you. I know it'll probably cost huge, but having the comfort of a well-fitting bra may be worth the expense....

Socratov

2014-04-09, 05:49 AM

Unless you're wearing a waistcoat. Which you should be, really.

or suspenders. Or when your pants just fit. I hate belts and wear them rarely. Only when my pants don't really fit I wear a belt and if I'm wearing formalwear I wear suspenders if I need them. Quite comfortable. Oh, and if you can spare the money yes, waistcoats are great, just like spencers.

Coidzor

2014-04-09, 01:52 PM

Unless you're wearing a waistcoat. Which you should be, really.

I suppose if you only wear suspenders with waistcoats, yes. Otherwise I'm not seeing your basis in the etiquette RAW or RAI for that assertion. :smallconfused:

Aedilred

2014-04-09, 04:30 PM

I suppose if you only wear suspenders with waistcoats, yes. Otherwise I'm not seeing your basis in the etiquette RAW or RAI for that assertion. :smallconfused:
Well, I'm starting from the presumption that everyone should wear a waistcoat, at least when wearing a jacket/trousers combination, because it's just better.

Wearing a belt with a waistcoat is traditionally a faux pas. I'm not entirely sure why, but it is. I suspect it's because belts started to appear as part of formal wear around the time that waistcoats started to become optional - previously if you wanted to hold your trousers up, you wore braces ("suspenders", if you're a Yank). Traditional tailoring also has a much higher trouser-band than is commonly seen now, so if you wore a belt the buckle would cause an unsightly bulge under the waistcoat, and in black or white tie ensembles the trouser-band should also be invisible.

These days it's a bit trickier because almost all off-the-shelf trousers come with belt loops and are cut lower (and worse), so the trouser-band is visible and looks slightly unfinished if you don't have a belt with it. (Trousers also don't commonly come designed to be worn with braces, so if you want to hold them up you're dependent on a belt). But even then, what tends to happen is that the waistcoat - if properly-fitting - hangs down over the trouser-band obscuring everything except the belt buckle, which is itself only partially visible, and spoils the overall effect. Since you can't see the rest of the trouser-band anyway, it doesn't matter about the loose belt loops and you're better off without the buckle.

I would still wear a belt if not wearing a waistcoat, which I have to do annoyingly often and that state of affairs will continue until I expand my waistcoat and suit collection sufficiently. But with a waistcoat it should really be braces or nada.

SiuiS

2014-04-10, 05:10 AM

I wonder if there's like a difference with regards to sizing between Europe and the US? Iunno, just, here in Belgium sizes seem to be pretty consistent.

We have vanity sizing. Today's 10 is yesteryear's 14. He number on the tag does not correlate to anything anymore, just like an hour on a clock no longer correlates even roughly to a time of day and zodiacal signs no longer correlate to months.

The solution to her complaint that bras were expensive (which they were indeed) was that I bought her a couple ones.

Everybody was very happy with how the solution worked out; problem fixed.

Great! Just email us your bank info, we'll have you buy us some bras, and everyone will be happy. :smalltongue:

Hmmm care to elaborate how I can be more prudent (which way? carfulness? or wisdom?) and/or tactful? I have problems with it.

The "if you can't afford it you aren't working hard enough" bit. While it's true that some folks aren't working hard enough or optimally, it's also true some folks can't. The implicit insult to the lazy people also gets thrown needlessly at the hard workers who are actually just down on their luck.

Just realised, Krazzman may be on to something. If you work out the pectoral/latissimus muscles(chest and armpit, respectively), that would increase the overall diameter of your chest measurement, thereby allowing you to buy them one (length)size up while keeping the same cup. No idea if that will get you out of the "cutesy teens" range though.

Apparently women see far less growth in general from muscular exertion, so that won't help as much as we'd like, and not as universally in women as we see in men.

Asta Kask

2014-04-10, 05:16 AM

We have vanity sizing. Today's 10 is yesteryear's 14. He number on the tag does not correlate to anything anymore, just like an hour on a clock no longer correlates even roughly to a time of day and zodiacal signs no longer correlate to months.

My great grandmother ran a store selling corsets, bras, underwear, etc. and apparently she used to cut out the old size markings on the clothes and sew in new, more flattering size markings... vanity, vanity, all is vanity.

EmeraldRose

2014-04-10, 08:31 AM

My great grandmother ran a store selling corsets, bras, underwear, etc. and apparently she used to cut out the old size markings on the clothes and sew in new, more flattering size markings... vanity, vanity, all is vanity.

Indeed. This is a very large part of why it is difficult for women to buy clothes from online retailers. I recently purchased a couple of Dr Who t-shirts, both the exact same size, but from different vendors.

The shirts arrived and I was ecstatic! Except that one of the fit perfectly, and one was clearly two sizes smaller. Even though the tags read the same size. :smallfurious:

Asta Kask

2014-04-10, 10:22 AM

Btw, shouldn't this thread be marked "support"?

EmeraldRose

2014-04-10, 10:47 AM

Btw, shouldn't this thread be marked "support"?

Probably more appropriate than many other threads in the same coverage style. :smallamused:

Brother Oni

2014-04-10, 01:06 PM

Probably more appropriate than many other threads in the same coverage style. :smallamused:

I would like to comment, but I've already been told off once. :smalltongue:

Socratov

2014-04-10, 05:42 PM

I would like to comment, but I've already been told off once. :smalltongue:

Shhh! You're gonna get us all suspended:smallbiggrin:

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-11, 04:40 AM

Apparently women see far less growth in general from muscular exertion, so that won't help as much as we'd like, and not as universally in women as we see in men.

I did factor that in. Still, anything that could help. Because the only other way to increase girth that I know of...I don't think she wants(or might be able) to fit Michael Phelps levels of calories into her diet.

Asta Kask

2014-04-11, 05:43 AM

Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

Of course, that will grow her boobs as well, so she'll need an entirely new set of bras.

Serpentine

2014-04-11, 09:31 AM

The main message I get here is: "We can't buy proper clothing for ourselves!"

Now my recommendation would be bite in the sour thing you like and pay for it. I really have problems myself but it is easy to seek stuff that fits well if you happen to know the right people. A good clothing manufacturer/vendor has a tailoring service automatically anyway. Because suits should always slightly be customized. Also men should always wear a belt... it just looks better.

About the topic of the Bra in and of itself. If money is short do something to make it not that short anymore. You have freetime still available? Sacrifice a bit of it to go donating blood/bloodplasma for money use the bonus you get from doing something good to let your bra's be custom made for you. My wife has similar problems and basically orders around 5 Bras and keeps maybe 1 or 2 in the last few batches. The cost per bra for her were ~60 to 80 €. In exactly 4 things you want the best quality available:
Clothing
Footwear
Bed/Mattress
Couch (or other thing you spend most of your day).

@Warkitty:
I don't know if you already donate stuff and thus can only say do something(except illegal stuff of course) to get more money for sacrificing a bit of free time and then pay a lot of cash to get yourself some damned comfy bra.1. In Australia, for one, you don't get paid for donating blood. You do get delicious snacks, though, so there's that.
2. Having enough money you could reasonably expect to pay for a decent bra doesn't help one bit if you can't actually find one that fits properly, is comfortable, and you like - and I've spent hours looking for that and finding nothing before I've even touched the price tag.
3. Your advice pretty much boils down to "can't afford it? You should have more money, that'll solve your problem!" No, really? :smallannoyed: You seriously think we should have to sell parts of our bodies just to be able to afford underwear?

As for your very first line: When you have to find a garment that fits you three different ways, each way often measured in a completely different way from brand to brand and country to country, when a bad fit isn't always immediately obvious and can lead to full-blown back and neck problems, and you can do so within a half an hour squiz around one shop, then you can have a go at us for not being able to "buy proper clothing for ourselves". We're not talking a pair of boxer shorts or a t-shirt here (although several people have already explained why even that is ridiculously complicated for women). Condescending, much?

Brother Oni

2014-04-11, 10:55 AM

When you have to find a garment that fits you three different ways...

Not to detract from the rest of your post, but I can't think of the third measurement you mention here. Only one that leaps out at me is the shoulder strap, but they tend to be adjustable.

Serpentine

2014-04-11, 11:03 AM

They're adjustable, but they're also finite and sometimes an issue. Alternatively, there's the width of the back strap and the width of the shoulder straps, where exactly the shoulder straps sit and whether you can adjust them in different ways, where the very front centre of the bra sits - flush against your chest, or sticking out a bit? - where the underwire sits (I just improved one old bra of mine slightly by stitching up the sides to pull the underwire back a bit, so I'd stop bruising the undersides of my upper arms), full cup or half cup or contoured cup, whether the cup can be seen over the tops you want to wear, the support value of the bra, whether the cups enhance or reduce your apparent size... Take your pick.

edit: I made this a while ago:

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/3172602368/hE3F0EC73/

Asta Kask

2014-04-11, 04:25 PM

Can it really be comfortable if it's not the right size? :smallconfused:

Aedilred

2014-04-11, 04:50 PM

Can it really be comfortable if it's not the right size? :smallconfused:
I have plenty of clothes that, while undoubtedly the right size, are really quite uncomfortable. Well, I say "plenty"; I've phased most of them out of my wardrobe for obvious reasons. But I have had plenty, especially shoes. And I'm a relatively straightforwardly-shaped and -sized guy (except apparently when it comes to feet).

Asta Kask

2014-04-11, 05:06 PM

I have plenty of clothes that, while undoubtedly the right size, are really quite uncomfortable. Well, I say "plenty"; I've phased most of them out of my wardrobe for obvious reasons. But I have had plenty, especially shoes. And I'm a relatively straightforwardly-shaped and -sized guy (except apparently when it comes to feet).

Yes, but that's the opposite of what I asked. There's a difference between "comfortable and not the right size" and "not comfortable and the right size".

Aedilred

2014-04-11, 05:39 PM

Yes, but that's the opposite of what I asked. There's a difference between "comfortable and not the right size" and "not comfortable and the right size".
That's also perfectly possible; some of the most comfortable clothes are really far too big to be practical. I don't know how exactly it goes with bras, of course, but I imagine it's possible to have one that appears comfortable (again, possibly through being a couple of sizes too big) but isn't actually offering enough support.

EmeraldRose

2014-04-11, 07:40 PM

WarKitty

2014-04-11, 09:32 PM

Definitely. So for example, one issue I tend to have with bras is that I'm apparently just narrower than they expect. Straps slide off, and the gore of the bra digs in or otherwise sits funny.

Some of the softer bras can be comfortable even if not the right size, although they tend to make you look bad.

lio45

2014-04-11, 09:48 PM

Great! Just email us your bank info, we'll have you buy us some bras, and everyone will be happy. :smalltongue:

You know, it wasn't actually my intention at all initially, but I could easily come up with poorer ways of spending charity money than to help a fellow reader of a webcomic I've been following for over a decade! :P

(All I was saying was, we actually faced the exact same student-on-a-very-tight-budget-needing-unusual-bras-to-be-comfortable problem that the OP is bringing up (well, I considered "we" were in this together, like everything else, but technically, it was her problem, not mine), and that's the solution that worked for us. A variant of it can be "mom/dad, can you help me buy that bra?" We've all been broke students at some point, there's no shame in that.)

Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins

2014-04-11, 10:22 PM

Y'know, this may be dumb and rude of me, but every time I go past or through this thread, I compare this problem to one of my own: shoes. I'm a pretty big guy, I have minor problems with finding clothes anyway, but shoes really screw me over.

See, since my feet stopped growing, I've been wearing size 13 or 14 shoes. They're the only thing that I can get my feet into. Those are expensive and hard to find enough, but about October of 2012 my feet got sore. Had a lot of trouble getting up, staggered around the house, felt every miniscule pebble and slope of ground through a thick sole. Turned out I had gotten really bad inflammation in both my heels. Really bad. So I was on fairly heavy inflammation and arthritis medication for a couple months and honestly I'm still dealing with the fallout; the pain in my feet had me keeping my back and shoulders tense all the time, until things came to a head and broke me down royally. Anyway, it really showed us how important having your arches in the correct place can make a difference (it weren't the only reason, but it was certainly one of them). See, lengthwise, my feet are size 12 at most. But they're so wide (and so tall) that I can't get them into size 12 shoes, so I need shoes that the dealer's catalogue list as size 12 6e. And, of course, no one stocks shoes further up than 2e width. So if I want shoes that work, I need to get them ordered, wait for them to arrive, and then find out if they're comfortable. And only a few brands actually bother manufacturing such monster-shoes, so my choices are limited.

Um, sorry if it seems a bit insensitive to bring it up. It felt good to type it all up, though. And, well, with my hideous shoe costs, I'd just like to say I know a little bit of how you feel.

Asta Kask

2014-04-12, 06:08 AM

Yes. You can have bras that are not the proper size that are super comfortable. You can also have them the proper size, but depending on the fabric or if they are underwire or whatever, they may not be very comfortable. Might itch, might poke whatever. It might be a type of fabric that doesn't breathe well and even though it fits great, you are sweaty.

They might fit properly, but the thingy on the straps is worn so it slides loose and by the end of the day the shoulder straps are sliding down your arms (not comfortable) even though it is the correct size.

Many, many variables.

Definitely. So for example, one issue I tend to have with bras is that I'm apparently just narrower than they expect. Straps slide off, and the gore of the bra digs in or otherwise sits funny.

Some of the softer bras can be comfortable even if not the right size, although they tend to make you look bad.

I bow to your expertise.

Serpentine

2014-04-12, 10:47 AM

Mauve Shirt

2014-04-12, 11:12 AM

Woo, got fitted today and am a size smaller!
The bad news is it's in waist size not cup size, so I have the unobtainable 32 to go with the DDD. A 34DD is the closest most non-specialty stores can manage.

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-12, 11:12 AM

To be slightly more specific: I have one old bra that is pretty comfortable (well, it was, before the underwire snapped and started stabbing me in the ribs), but it's a cup or two too small and so tends to produce the doubleboob effect. Not a good look.

Wait, is that where it's a half-cup that seems to support enough, but then the above-nipple section overhangs it, making it look like you have abs on your chest(or I guess more like other mammals' mammaries)?:smallconfused:

I'm not certain how much this applies to WarKitty, but one disturbing trend among the youths of today is a marked tendency to slouch, with a commensurate narrowing of the shoulders. It's incredibly rude, but I can just barely keep from reminding every other person I see to pull their shoulders back like my mom kept reminding me during my puberty(thanks, Mom!), to avoid giving themselves future backaches. It may seem like something that's more important to guys(presence/intimidation), but if you're already a small lady and you're hunching your shoulders, you wind up looking even smaller. And I can't even begin to say how bad that is going to be for your back with mass on the chest.

Serpentine

2014-04-12, 11:19 AM

Uh... Kind of? It's when the cup is too small and squeezes, so the top of the boob bulges out over the bra, to a greater or lesser degree.

Coidzor

2014-04-12, 12:44 PM

To be slightly more specific: I have one old bra that is pretty comfortable (well, it was, before the underwire snapped and started stabbing me in the ribs), but it's a cup or two too small and so tends to produce the doubleboob effect. Not a good look.

Yikes. That's scary stuff. I didn't even know those things could snap, and I still haven't been able to figure out why and how, but thinking about underwires still squicks me out slightly from when one of my former roommates ended up getting partially impaled from the side by hers when it broke forth. :smalleek: I can still remember seeing the bloodstained bra in the sink and wondering if someone had gone Halloween Axe Murderer on us before I found that my housemates were all still alive...

Uh... Kind of? It's when the cup is too small and squeezes, so the top of the boob bulges out over the bra, to a greater or lesser degree.

When you say out over the bra, are you meaning primarily up or a forward spilling component as well? :smallconfused:

Mauve Shirt

2014-04-12, 01:12 PM

Yes, underwires break after a bit, and they do poke. I've lost many a bra to that affliction.
To understand doubleboob, imagine wearing a too-tight pair of pants, constricting around your bulging belly producing what looks like two bellies underneath your shirt. Except twice, on your chest.

Asta Kask

2014-04-12, 02:02 PM

None of you women feel like burning your bras then? It's a symbol of the patriarchy, you know.

WarKitty

2014-04-12, 02:16 PM

None of you women feel like burning your bras then? It's a symbol of the patriarchy, you know.

That actually never really happened in the first place. The closest that things came was one time when a bunch of people did a burning of symbols of femininity, which may have included a bra. But it was the era of draft card burning and the media kind of pounced on the "bra-burning" idea...

Asta Kask

2014-04-12, 02:19 PM

That actually never really happened in the first place. The closest that things came was one time when a bunch of people did a burning of symbols of femininity, which may have included a bra. But it was the era of draft card burning and the media kind of pounced on the "bra-burning" idea...

Okay, maybe not burn, but there was a symbolic throwing away of feminine products, including bras. So, are you going to throw away your bras?

Mauve Shirt

2014-04-12, 10:18 PM

The only time I burned a bra was at a viking funeral for one of my favorite pieces of underwear.

Also gals, Bare Necessities is having a sale and you can get boob halters in large sizes for like $35.

Themrys

2014-04-13, 06:31 PM

None of you women feel like burning your bras then? It's a symbol of the patriarchy, you know.

I have been a feminist ever since I went to primary school. Which means, I never bought a bra, so don't own one I could burn or throw away. (Not that bras are inherently unfeminist, but I don't need one, so unnecessarily subjecting myself to the torture that is trying to find a bra that fits would be unfeminist.)

Krazzman

2014-04-15, 07:01 AM

1. In Australia, for one, you don't get paid for donating blood. You do get delicious snacks, though, so there's that.
2. Having enough money you could reasonably expect to pay for a decent bra doesn't help one bit if you can't actually find one that fits properly, is comfortable, and you like - and I've spent hours looking for that and finding nothing before I've even touched the price tag.
3. Your advice pretty much boils down to "can't afford it? You should have more money, that'll solve your problem!" No, really? :smallannoyed: You seriously think we should have to sell parts of our bodies just to be able to afford underwear?

As for your very first line: When you have to find a garment that fits you three different ways, each way often measured in a completely different way from brand to brand and country to country, when a bad fit isn't always immediately obvious and can lead to full-blown back and neck problems, and you can do so within a half an hour squiz around one shop, then you can have a go at us for not being able to "buy proper clothing for ourselves". We're not talking a pair of boxer shorts or a t-shirt here (although several people have already explained why even that is ridiculously complicated for women). Condescending, much?

At 1:
So there is NO way a broke student can do anything in australia to get a bit of extra money? Not even donating Plasma?

2:
One word. Tailoring. Or if you can't do it yourself seek out the professional: Tailor.

3:
As this is INHERENTLY a problem to throw money at. Yes my advice will focus on use more money. Can't afford it - do something against it. That was the main point of my advice. Albeit bruntly and maybe not in the right tone (which I did not intend).
About selling parts of your body. Donating Blood or Plasma was a way I had contact with which brings stupid amounts of money here in germany. Dunno about the blood part. But additionally it is something that is both good on another scale altogether. Donating Blood Plasma gives you free checkups up to twice a week + Money and is needed for scientific research and saving lives. And seriously spoken... working costs time and if you are a student you might not have the time to work x hours or can't make more hours due to tax laws or whatever. But you could get around 1.5 hours of time where you read stuff while donating plasma.

Also I don't get it. If you know you have a problem with the normal sizes that are displayed in shops why don't you custom order stuff? I mean the internet is awesome like that. Or support your local Tailor/whatever. Why stress yourself if you can solve it with paying extra for better quality?
I'll say it again: for 3 things you need to pay good money: Clothing, Bed and Footwear. Some poster said "ask parents". I think most mothers would understand it if you would ask them (depending on how good you are with your parents).

Serpentine

2014-04-15, 08:12 AM

At 1:
So there is NO way a broke student can do anything in australia to get a bit of extra money?Probably. But if someone's poor enough that they have to buy cheap bras, you know what they're probably gonna do with that extra money first? Almost literally anything.

Not even donating Plasma?Was "you do not get paid for donating blood in Australia" unclear? No, not even donating plasma. Blood donation in Australia is a charity, not a business.

2:
One word. Tailoring. Or if you can't do it yourself seek out the professional: Tailor.First of all, I have done that to an extent. Secondly, I don't think you're getting just how complicated bras are. Yeah, tailoring might help, and that could well be something people should be having a go at more often, but I was almost terrified at the prospect just of stitching in the sides a bit to try and stop the underwire sticking out so much on an old bra I don't particularly care about. You tuck here, and this other bit might suddenly be all out of whack. And there's not a lot a tailor is likely to do about a poorly-shaped underwire.

3:
As this is INHERENTLY a problem to throw money at. Yes my advice will focus on use more money. Can't afford it - do something against it. That was the main point of my advice. Albeit bruntly and maybe not in the right tone (which I did not intend)."If you don't have money, you should just get more money". Are you aware how that sounds? Yeah, frankly, telling people "you should just have more money!" is pretty much the opposite of helpful.

About selling parts of your body. Donating Blood or Plasma was a way I had contact with which brings stupid amounts of money here in germany. Dunno about the blood part. But additionally it is something that is both good on another scale altogether. Donating Blood Plasma gives you free checkups up to twice a week + Money and is needed for scientific research and saving lives. And seriously spoken... working costs time and if you are a student you might not have the time to work x hours or can't make more hours due to tax laws or whatever. But you could get around 1.5 hours of time where you read stuff while donating plasma.Again: This is not a universal solution. There are countries such as mine where it's not available at all, and there are a number of people who can't or shouldn't donate for a variety of reasons.

Also I don't get it. If you know you have a problem with the normal sizes that are displayed in shops why don't you custom order stuff? I mean the internet is awesome like that. Or support your local Tailor/whatever. Why stress yourself if you can solve it with paying extra for better quality?As I believe I said before here (but may not have): I regularly go to a shop and try on a dozen or more bras that I think should be acceptable and might, MIGHT, if I'm lucky, leave that shop with one or two adequate options. And most of the time I end up finding out that I was wrong about that one or two, because there's a difference between putting it on without a shirt for a minute or two after you've already tried on 14 horrible alternatives, and actually wearing it for hours on end under a variety of tops. Moreover, the last time I went bra shopping I thought I was a D-cup and then went home with E and F cups. There is no way in Hell I'm going to spend a bunch of money on something I can't even look at in person, much less try it on first. Maybe other people can look at a bra and know how it'll fit on them. I can't.
And I have never, never seen a tailor that makes their own bras from scratch. If they exist, they don't advertise.

FinnLassie

2014-04-15, 08:23 AM

Honestly, ordering a custom tailored bra online is probably one of the worst ideas I can think of when buying a bra. Ridiculously expensive and well, it just might not fit your breasts at all. You.... You just don't put the cup on your breast, you have to set and wiggle it to fit it. You don't know your preferred fit unless you have a very well/perfectly fitting bra to compare to.

Coidzor

2014-04-15, 10:52 AM

Asta Kask

2014-04-15, 11:01 AM

Germany hails "bulletproof bra". (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7541675.stm)

Sadly, it is not bulletproof - I imagine a kevlar bra wouldn't be very comfortable.

Crucially, though, the bras do not have any under-wire or fastener made out of metal or plastic.

Because the impact of a bullet can push metal and plastic bits into your body.

Krazzman

2014-04-15, 11:20 AM

Probably. But if someone's poor enough that they have to buy cheap bras, you know what they're probably gonna do with that extra money first? Almost literally anything.
Was "you do not get paid for donating blood in Australia" unclear? No, not even donating plasma. Blood donation in Australia is a charity, not a business.
First of all, I have done that to an extent. Secondly, I don't think you're getting just how complicated bras are. Yeah, tailoring might help, and that could well be something people should be having a go at more often, but I was almost terrified at the prospect just of stitching in the sides a bit to try and stop the underwire sticking out so much on an old bra I don't particularly care about. You tuck here, and this other bit might suddenly be all out of whack. And there's not a lot a tailor is likely to do about a poorly-shaped underwire.
"If you don't have money, you should just get more money". Are you aware how that sounds? Yeah, frankly, telling people "you should just have more money!" is pretty much the opposite of helpful.
Again: This is not a universal solution. There are countries such as mine where it's not available at all, and there are a number of people who can't or shouldn't donate for a variety of reasons.
As I believe I said before here (but may not have): I regularly go to a shop and try on a dozen or more bras that I think should be acceptable and might, MIGHT, if I'm lucky, leave that shop with one or two adequate options. And most of the time I end up finding out that I was wrong about that one or two, because there's a difference between putting it on without a shirt for a minute or two after you've already tried on 14 horrible alternatives, and actually wearing it for hours on end under a variety of tops. Moreover, the last time I went bra shopping I thought I was a D-cup and then went home with E and F cups. There is no way in Hell I'm going to spend a bunch of money on something I can't even look at in person, much less try it on first. Maybe other people can look at a bra and know how it'll fit on them. I can't.
And I have never, never seen a tailor that makes their own bras from scratch. If they exist, they don't advertise.

A person needing money spending it on other things first... I get that. But seriously spoken... again. If you want fitting trousers do you go into a discounter and take what fits/fits after a little bit of tailoring or go to an expert directly? I didn't want to go to a tailor for my trousers at first but now I would seriously consider going to another place first. Clothing/Underwear has to be the most comfy stuff you have after your bed. You spend a long time in them. So IF you can afford it then go do it. Throw more money at it.

About not seeing the bra... what difference does it make seeing it and then buying it after it fits or sending it back after receiving it. The last time my wife ordered bras she ordered 5 and only kept 2. Maybe it needs a bit of hunting. Maybe there is no one in the city/next city or whatever. But if you have problems then go to a tailor and ask them if they can tailor this bra to fit you better or whatever. This should be possible. I never meant from scratch directly.

And to go back YES donating blood was unclear. As Plasma is another deal.

About the Money thing. Getting more money as a Student is something that can be done. Anywhere. In germany we have non-tax jobs. With one of those you can make around 450 € per month as a maximum. Or you can ask family if they could lend you a bit for a new one or or or.

Honestly, ordering a custom tailored bra online is probably one of the worst ideas I can think of when buying a bra. Ridiculously expensive and well, it just might not fit your breasts at all. You.... You just don't put the cup on your breast, you have to set and wiggle it to fit it. You don't know your preferred fit unless you have a very well/perfectly fitting bra to compare to.

Custom with a tailor in town. Online you give in your stats and hope to get the right one and send the wrong ones back. Due to being custom sizes most of the time you probably pay more than 50$ per Bra but wouldn't that be worth it?

Serpentine

2014-04-15, 11:51 AM

Yes yes, keep on telling all the silly women how to dress themselves in the very complicated and specific garments I find it very hard to believe you have ever had to buy for yourself, and keep on telling all the poor people that they should just have more money and solve all their problems. Very helpful. I'm sure you know best, regardless of our actual personal experiences.

Aedilred

2014-04-15, 11:55 AM

Definitely seems more like one of those things where one would want a personal touch where one can give feedback, yeah.
Heehee </twelveyearsold>

About the Money thing. Getting more money as a Student is something that can be done. Anywhere. In germany we have non-tax jobs. With one of those you can make around 450 € per month as a maximum. Or you can ask family if they could lend you a bit for a new one or or or.

The thing is, "if you don't have enough money, go get more money" (which is what this boils down to) is not particularly helpful advice. The issue is how to go about doing that (and, no, "get a job/better-paying job" is not really any more helpful). If someone hasn't worked that out for themselves, then they've probably got bigger problems than ill-fitting bras, so it just comes across as condescending, if not judgmental. If someone's asking how they can do something within the budget they have, it's fairly safe to assume that getting a bigger budget is not an immediately viable solution, and advising along those lines doesn't do anything to resolve the problem or answer the question.

FinnLassie

2014-04-15, 11:58 AM

I really, sincerely doubt a tailor would ask only fifty bucks for constructing a bra. I would also imagine that finding a tailor/dressmaker actually willing to make one will be difficult as well, and I don't think any woman wants someone's first attempt.

And Krazzman, you're basically saying that in order to get better money as a student, you should move to a country with good student benefits. Or better, already live there. Doesn't quite work that way. And some people simply don't have a family to support them financially as well to help with living costs.

Serpentine

2014-04-15, 12:07 PM

Asta Kask

2014-04-15, 12:15 PM

FinnLassie

2014-04-15, 12:16 PM

Incidentally, my mother is sometimes okay with paying for me to get a new bra. But if I used her money to get a multi-hundred-dollar custom-made bra, she would murder the death out of me. So instead every couple of years I keep on trying on dozens of affordable bras at a time in the hope that I might be able to find 2 or 3 (each a different size) that will be bearably wearable.
I probably ought to get a proper fitting sometime, that could help - but even then not completely; I've tried on different bras by different companies that were supposedly the same size but fit completely differently, and I'm not kidding when I said I've gone home with multiple bras all different sizes.

My mother stopped buying me bras the day I turned 18... :smallfrown: :smalltongue:

Yeah, I usually have bras that last me 1-2 years, and I did go 1,5 years without buying a single new pair. It was horrible to realise I only had one good pair left. Right now kinda having the same situation, so I know that when I go to Finland for the summer I'm going to the only shop I know that has the perfect fit for me and use my club card to get as much discount as I can. They usually do 241 offers too, and most of the bras are not over 30 euros.

Now that I think of it, it'd be a stupid idea to get a custom bra anyways. Why waste double, even triple the money on something that probably changes its size a dozen times in your adult life, even if you don't gain a speck of weight.

Serpentine

2014-04-15, 12:25 PM

Custom bras (http://thehairpin.com/2011/02/bust-mounds-and-breast-molding-lets-order-custom-made-bras-online)

Looks like you could spend as little as $40 up $1000. Looks like most will cost $120 and up, though. That's pricey.Interesting, but I, at least, would still be extremely uncomfortable with spending money on a bra I didn't try on. Moreover... How do I explain this? I don't want a bra that has my boobs hanging the way they do when I'm not wearing a bra. Sometimes I want them pushed up and together, sometimes I'm fine with them lower and separated, sometimes I even want them pulled back and restrained or reduced. And all of these change the shape, style, cup shape, shoulder strap type, band width, and maybe even sizes of a bra. Maybe I'm being unfair to the custom bra companies, but I find it unlikely that they will be much reliable use in getting that sort of variety of uses, as opposed to the default braless position. How would they even measure for each different type? Wearing another bra that does what I want is no good - half the problem is that those ones don't fit right!
Even if they can, again, I am extremely, extremely reluctant to buy something like that I didn't try on first - buying 5 and sending back 3 is okay, I guess, but in my experience I would have to buy 20 and send back more than 15. I have neither the time nor the money for that. And no, "go get more money" is NOT a viable option, nor helpful advice :smallannoyed:

lio45

2014-04-15, 07:39 PM

A variant of it can be "mom/dad, can you help me buy that bra?" We've all been broke students at some point, there's no shame in that.

Actually, another suggestion that's again a variant of this...

The OP complained that a good bra would set her back the equivalent of two weeks of groceries... how about you get the bra, then either "mom/dad, I'm going to be starving for the next two weeks! Help!" or you start going to food banks for a while, which are there precisely for cases like you -- people whose pockets are too empty to buy food, be it because of expensive special bras, or any other good reason -- and generally readily available (or at least here they are).

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-15, 08:47 PM

HalfTangible

2014-04-16, 12:10 AM

You know, the year is 2014. If the world hadn't been so busy doing *other things*:smallmad:, we could have had those auto-fit clothes from Back To The Future 2, including bras that could be tightened/uplifting/restraining with the push of a button.

Also, Hover Ambulances so we wouldn't have to care about idiots who block them.

We're still working on jetpacks, the Alcubierre drive and sending people to mars with a safety rate high enough for a third-rate airline. I doubt autofitting clothes are higher on the priority list for scientists than flight, the hyperdrive or safe space travel.

No offense.

Krazzman

2014-04-16, 02:13 AM

Aedilred

2014-04-16, 02:43 AM

We're still working on jetpacks, the Alcubierre drive and sending people to mars with a safety rate high enough for a third-rate airline. I doubt autofitting clothes are higher on the priority list for scientists than flight, the hyperdrive or safe space travel.

No offense.
Given the number of people to whom each of these things is immediately relevant, though, one could argue that the clothes should be higher on the list.

JustSomeGuy

2014-04-16, 05:47 AM

Seems to me the current argument would be that they should just have more money until the other stuff does become relevent to them?

FinnLassie

2014-04-16, 05:56 AM

Construcing and tailoring a fitting pair of trousers is honestly a poor comparison to constructing and tailoring a bra. The work is totally different. I appreciate all the men trying to help and give advice, but really, let's drop the tailoring option. It's expensive and hard to find, and doing it online is... not a very good idea.

Waiting a year to save money to purchase a bra is the absolute last option, and I think there would be setbacks on that plan, especially if the person is tight on money.

Serpentine

2014-04-16, 06:06 AM

First off. yes, bras are complicated. And there are tailoring studios where you can let stuff be changed or are they already closing due to low demand at your town?

The message from the other male posters here was that they have problems with trousers from a discounter or sometimes even brands. Hence the recommendation Tailor. For me it is logical that you can find someone who retailors/refits or tailors bras. Or that there are special shops (internet or town) where you pay more than 5$ and be done with it.

The main problem is more or less not finding a fitting bra it's finding a fitting bra that has "extra optional requirements depending on my whim!". A bra needs only 2 things: comfy and looks. Not squeeze here, make smaller except when you need to do sports as there you need it to fit rather tight without compressing your lungs.

About the redaction of my point to "if you don't have money just go make more money". If you are at the low income zone then it's your move. If your education sucks because it will drive you into debt move somewhere else. The problem is many people can't change. But most people can do something and can save up some money. And students are not really not able to not spend a bit of time in a job, be it retail or somewhere else.
Make a bra jar where every week you put 2 €/$ into it and buy yourself a bra in a year (would be 104 €/$). Even a student should be able to do this. Which, from the message I got here, is exactly what the OP is.

Also remember I said it in my last posts with a big IF. Because IF you can afford it you should do it.
And here you are, with all your vast, personal experience with possessing breasts and needing to buy bras, telling us silly women what we should do, what we REALLY "need" in a bra, because clearly we are incapable of knowing such a thing ourselves. Here you are telling us that if we need more money it's merely a matter of uprooting your entire life and moving somewhere completely different. Here you are explaining that if you want a job, it's merely a matter of wanting it. Here you are, explaining to us, in great detail, that you don't need to know anything about our specific circumstances, our situations, employment, location, body shapes, requirements, preferences or anything like that, because you know what is best for us, and we're all just the silly little ladies who need to be taught how to dress ourselves.

OR. You could assume that maybe, just maybe, we have at least some idea of our own needs, capabilities and restraints, and the costs, limitations and absurdities of the bra industry, and stop trying to explain everything to us like we don't have to constantly live with this.
I wonder if you'd try to tell us how to buy tampons as well...

Asta Kask

2014-04-16, 06:54 AM

Build a better boobtrap and the world will beat a way to your door.

Ralph Waldo Emerboob

Serpentine

2014-04-16, 07:34 AM

https://31.media.tumblr.com/72c162f399427f8a265b5b467b382a9b/tumblr_inline_n3hrclXLVb1s4672p.gif

Krazzman

2014-04-16, 08:55 AM

And here you are, with all your vast, personal experience with possessing breasts and needing to buy bras, telling us silly women what we should do, what we REALLY "need" in a bra, because clearly we are incapable of knowing such a thing ourselves. Here you are telling us that if we need more money it's merely a matter of uprooting your entire life and moving somewhere completely different. Here you are explaining that if you want a job, it's merely a matter of wanting it. Here you are, explaining to us, in great detail, that you don't need to know anything about our specific circumstances, our situations, employment, location, body shapes, requirements, preferences or anything like that, because you know what is best for us, and we're all just the silly little ladies who need to be taught how to dress ourselves.

OR. You could assume that maybe, just maybe, we have at least some idea of our own needs, capabilities and restraints, and the costs, limitations and absurdities of the bra industry, and stop trying to explain everything to us like we don't have to constantly live with this.
I wonder if you'd try to tell us how to buy tampons as well...

Then tell me what do you need in life? Bras are optional. Even for bigbreasted women. In EVERY clothing you only need 2 factors: Comfort and Looks. Depending on WHERE you go/what you do these two points are weighed differently.
I don't have personal experience with Bras outside from my wife and I don't need it to try to help someone with a problem.
If your life sucks and you are not happy then it is YOUR duty to change something. If you can't do it alone then ask for help. If you can't do it at all then... well I don't know.
I also gave advice about changing their body if they don't fit in that thing. Daily diet and working out to make yourself bigger in that one part where you can't find fitting bras. But that is overlooked because of my capitalistic way of saying that money can solve a problem.
I have enough experience with countless hours of sitting in a stupid store to try on 50 different trousers to leave with 0. If you don't want that stress do something about it. Either avoid it or do something against it.
If you don't make enough money to live properly but have a decent chance at doing exactly that through moving... then do it. There might be complicating factors but seriously spoken everything can be worked out. Yes even that. But sometimes more money will not bring this as the general living cost in the new area are higher or whatever.
I don't need to know your private stuff to give you advice about something where for me the point is clear. And maybe this time you will get my point:
"Clothing has to be something where YOU feel comfy in." I feel most comfortable in my Patchvest. I don't wear it except the circumstances allow it.
Generally spoken I don't like wearing Suits. For the ones I need to wear I chose the ones with the best looks:comfy ratio.
About you not knowing stuff... well someone asked for it and I provided an answer that was in my opinion good enough.
Also I never said something about jobs are mere "I want it! I get it!" cases. Is there enough demand in your field? No. Then maybe change your field.
For example: My boss studied to become a teacher. Due to the demand in teacher (which was near 0 at the time he finished studying) he relearned in the IT business and was my boss for the last 2 years. And he is not a single case where he heroicall fought against all odds.

Back to the point. I got the message that the OP was a student with a problem. I gave advice to something I don't have experience with but could assume that it was possible. Maybe not directly for her and only done in the future but maybe, just maybe she could work out and fit in the bras she want and get money due to donating blood, save it and buy nice looking comfy stuff for herself with it. Is it really that bad? No it is advice. You might not like this specific advice but that's the awesome thing about advice... you can choose to ignore it.

I am sure that you don't need to be taught how to dress but would it be this hard to listen to advice like "maybe look for special shops? or a maybe there is a tailor? Might be more expensive but maybe it is worth it?"
I wouldn't have answered or maybe not in that tone if I wouldn't have gotten the message of "we don't know where to shop". And yes for Trousers this is easy. I admitted that a Bra is more complicated. But who designed Bras? Designer do of course... but who manufactures them? Maybe not custom but there are enough ways to find good bras... you might just order via internet and send the ones you don't like back instead of stressing yourself through 12 different shops that have maybe 2 ill-fitting uncomfy bras.

Also did you do a google search about your town and bras? Or online shops? So please stop telling me how narrow minded I am for giving input in a topic "with all my vast, personal experience with possessing breasts and needing to buy bras".

Aedilred

2014-04-16, 11:38 AM

Then tell me what do you need in life? Bras are optional. Even for bigbreasted women. In EVERY clothing you only need 2 factors: ...
Also did you do a google search about your town and bras? Or online shops? So please stop telling me how narrow minded I am for giving input in a topic "with all my vast, personal experience with possessing breasts and needing to buy bras".
I think you're missing the point a bit. The message I've got from the thread (once we got past the "lol bewbs" phase at the start, for my part in starting which I apologise, albeit rather insincerely :smallwink:) is that bras, as a class of consumer objects, are generally not fit for purpose: it's too difficult to identify well-fitting items, whether a given item is actually adequate is not always apparent at the point of purchase, and there is no guarantee that a well-fitting item is even available. Yes, bras are (arguably) strictly speaking, optional items of clothing, like socks, underpants, etc. (albeit, in health terms, probably more important than either) but they are nevertheless a standard item of clothing and by no means a luxury item. It should not therefore be unreasonable to expect a half-decent selection of the item in question to be available at an affordable price, not something that people should have to overhaul their lives and go on mystical quests, literally involving selling parts of their body* to be able to attain and afford.

Your response to this has, in general terms, been "it's you that's wrong, not the bras", and then offered advice on how to fix that perceived problem. That has - somewhat understandably - annoyed people, especially since you have no personal experience of the specific problems in question. The suggestion to search for retailers who sell fitting bras is also relatively unhelpful, firstly because it's reasonable to assume that the people in question have already done that, and secondly because of the problems with actually fitting the things that make such retailers universally hard to identify anyway. The whole message you're giving off comes across as rather condescending, whether that was your intention or not.

***

*Edit: Point of Pedantry - If you're being paid for donating something, you're not donating it; you're selling it.

Serpentine

2014-04-16, 11:44 AM

Yes, that, thank you.

(an aside: as a big breasted woman, I scoff derisively at the claim that wearing a bra is "optional" for me)

HalfTangible

2014-04-16, 12:55 PM

Given the number of people to whom each of these things is immediately relevant, though, one could argue that the clothes should be higher on the list.

One could, yes. But it could also be argued that A) just because something should be more important doesn't mean it's treated as such, and/or B) that clothes are for personal comfort/modesty, and comfort/modesty shouldn't be very high.

Talya

2014-04-16, 02:20 PM

Not really...the big problem on my end is that I'm just too small for the breasts I have. Which, despite apparently being uber fashionable, does not actually have much sold for it. Apparently my body size is supposed to belong to teenage girls just entering puberty.

Welcome to my life.

WarKitty

2014-04-16, 03:15 PM

Ok, points:

(1) Part of my complaint was that bras that would fit someone like me would need to be ordered, which puts even more of an initial expense outlay that might not even be in the bank in the first place even if you're returning everything, because even with the right size you might only expect 1/4 or less to actually fit.

(2) My point was that even online orders can run up around $70 minimum for a bra in my size. And they basically have to be special-ordered new. That's a lot for those of us who are already scraping by (not to mention in my case paying extra medical bills on top of ordinary expenses, which contributes rather to the scraping by phenomenon). I buy regular clothes used or on sale. Bras? That can't be done.

(3) I don't know where you are, but even without being large-breasted they're not really considered optional. It would be like showing up to work in a tank top and cutoffs - you're technically clothed but it still wouldn't be considered appropriate.

(4) While the band on a bra can be tailored, cups are nearly impossible. Most girls need molded cups, which are foam set in a particular shape. Molded foam pretty much doesn't tailor. It *might* be possible for a professional tailor but professional tailoring is expensive even for easy modifications.

(5) It's an online forum. I think people are allowed to whine on an internet forum without whatever they're doing being a major all-consuming passion. Or even if it's something where you've decided on the best option but it's still not a good option. Judging from the responses here, I'm not the only girl who has settled for something less than ideal.

(6) Yes, some of us do choose lower-paying careers. Or like me are still in school and don't yet have the qualifications for the career we chose (my field requires a MA for the lowest-paid jobs and a PhD for anything else). Still, I don't think it's unreasonable to complain that something that's both a comfort requirement for a lot of women and generally socially expected is really expensive and hard to find beyond all reason.

Knaight

2014-04-16, 05:56 PM

(4) While the band on a bra can be tailored, cups are nearly impossible. Most girls need molded cups, which are foam set in a particular shape. Molded foam pretty much doesn't tailor. It *might* be possible for a professional tailor but professional tailoring is expensive even for easy modifications.

It's less a matter of professional tailors and more a matter of specialized equipment*. The thing about molded foam of any sort (including Styrofoam) is that you basically need to have a particular polymer, and pump it full of air where the individual air holes are quite small, after it has already been shaped. This is an industrial procedure, and I wouldn't expect even most professional tailors to have access to it.

*Sadly, my polymer-chem nerd phase was long enough ago that I don't remember the details of the equipment involved.

Coidzor

2014-04-16, 06:19 PM

It's less a matter of professional tailors and more a matter of specialized equipment*. The thing about molded foam of any sort (including Styrofoam) is that you basically need to have a particular polymer, and pump it full of air where the individual air holes are quite small, after it has already been shaped. This is an industrial procedure, and I wouldn't expect even most professional tailors to have access to it.

*Sadly, my polymer-chem nerd phase was long enough ago that I don't remember the details of the equipment involved.

Yeah, if custom-fit, custom-molded, shaped foam is the only option that fits the bill and it's not something that can be reshaped without the use of industrial processes, like those materials that come up in costuming, seems like a situation which would require some kind of massive structural change in manufacturing and distribution to address in order to remove a large portion of the population out of the SOL category.

I'm a little bit skeptical-to-flabbergasted though, surely there's some alternative in terms of materials. :smalleek: :smallconfused:

Eldan

2014-04-17, 06:46 AM

Then tell me what do you need in life? Bras are optional. Even for bigbreasted women. In EVERY clothing you only need 2 factors: Comfort and Looks. Depending on WHERE you go/what you do these two points are weighed differently.
I don't have personal experience with Bras outside from my wife and I don't need it to try to help someone with a problem.
If your life sucks and you are not happy then it is YOUR duty to change something. If you can't do it alone then ask for help. If you can't do it at all then... well I don't know.
I also gave advice about changing their body if they don't fit in that thing. Daily diet and working out to make yourself bigger in that one part where you can't find fitting bras. But that is overlooked because of my capitalistic way of saying that money can solve a problem.
I have enough experience with countless hours of sitting in a stupid store to try on 50 different trousers to leave with 0. If you don't want that stress do something about it. Either avoid it or do something against it.
If you don't make enough money to live properly but have a decent chance at doing exactly that through moving... then do it. There might be complicating factors but seriously spoken everything can be worked out. Yes even that. But sometimes more money will not bring this as the general living cost in the new area are higher or whatever.
I don't need to know your private stuff to give you advice about something where for me the point is clear. And maybe this time you will get my point:
"Clothing has to be something where YOU feel comfy in." I feel most comfortable in my Patchvest. I don't wear it except the circumstances allow it.
Generally spoken I don't like wearing Suits. For the ones I need to wear I chose the ones with the best looks:comfy ratio.
About you not knowing stuff... well someone asked for it and I provided an answer that was in my opinion good enough.
Also I never said something about jobs are mere "I want it! I get it!" cases. Is there enough demand in your field? No. Then maybe change your field.
For example: My boss studied to become a teacher. Due to the demand in teacher (which was near 0 at the time he finished studying) he relearned in the IT business and was my boss for the last 2 years. And he is not a single case where he heroicall fought against all odds.

Back to the point. I got the message that the OP was a student with a problem. I gave advice to something I don't have experience with but could assume that it was possible. Maybe not directly for her and only done in the future but maybe, just maybe she could work out and fit in the bras she want and get money due to donating blood, save it and buy nice looking comfy stuff for herself with it. Is it really that bad? No it is advice. You might not like this specific advice but that's the awesome thing about advice... you can choose to ignore it.

I am sure that you don't need to be taught how to dress but would it be this hard to listen to advice like "maybe look for special shops? or a maybe there is a tailor? Might be more expensive but maybe it is worth it?"
I wouldn't have answered or maybe not in that tone if I wouldn't have gotten the message of "we don't know where to shop". And yes for Trousers this is easy. I admitted that a Bra is more complicated. But who designed Bras? Designer do of course... but who manufactures them? Maybe not custom but there are enough ways to find good bras... you might just order via internet and send the ones you don't like back instead of stressing yourself through 12 different shops that have maybe 2 ill-fitting uncomfy bras.

Also did you do a google search about your town and bras? Or online shops? So please stop telling me how narrow minded I am for giving input in a topic "with all my vast, personal experience with possessing breasts and needing to buy bras".

Yes! You're so right! Poor people should just stop being poor, why don't they finally get that? It's exactly like with sick people. Why don't they get healthy already? Man. All those social parasites should clean up their act, they disgust me. There's really no excuse for being poor, hungry or sick.

Asta Kask

2014-04-17, 06:47 AM

What we really need is anti-gravity nipple patches.

Morph Bark

2014-04-17, 07:32 AM

What we really need is anti-gravity nipple patches.

I'm not sure how to respond to this, but yes.

Asta Kask

2014-04-17, 07:37 AM

Although now that I think about it, that might really, really hurt.

Krazzman

2014-04-17, 09:07 AM

Yes! You're so right! Poor people should just stop being poor, why don't they finally get that? It's exactly like with sick people. Why don't they get healthy already? Man. All those social parasites should clean up their act, they disgust me. There's really no excuse for being poor, hungry or sick.

Hmm... I'll try to be civil about this.
Yes there are social parasites. But there are cases that need it too. The social affair here in germany is good. It has it's flaws but I personally think it is good. I have seen it's shadows, albeit indirectly. Also my point wasn't about poor people being poor because they suck. Some are poor because they spend too much. Or because they did mistakes or are just sick/ill/beaten by life.
A few of those "sick" people wouldn't be it if they just lost weight and looked at what they eat instead of just buying chips and ice tea in tons. But some just can't do something against it. That is the reason pension excists. To be able to life even without working after no longer being able to. That is why I at least had implemented an IF in my sentence. But for your I will enlarge it... Here: IF. Now is that big enough for you? If you are able to change something about your situation then do it.

I think you're missing the point a bit. The message I've got from the thread (once we got past the "lol bewbs" phase at the start, for my part in starting which I apologise, albeit rather insincerely :smallwink:) is that bras, as a class of consumer objects, are generally not fit for purpose: it's too difficult to identify well-fitting items, whether a given item is actually adequate is not always apparent at the point of purchase, and there is no guarantee that a well-fitting item is even available. Yes, bras are (arguably) strictly speaking, optional items of clothing, like socks, underpants, etc. (albeit, in health terms, probably more important than either) but they are nevertheless a standard item of clothing and by no means a luxury item. It should not therefore be unreasonable to expect a half-decent selection of the item in question to be available at an affordable price, not something that people should have to overhaul their lives and go on mystical quests, literally involving selling parts of their body* to be able to attain and afford.

Your response to this has, in general terms, been "it's you that's wrong, not the bras", and then offered advice on how to fix that perceived problem. That has - somewhat understandably - annoyed people, especially since you have no personal experience of the specific problems in question. The suggestion to search for retailers who sell fitting bras is also relatively unhelpful, firstly because it's reasonable to assume that the people in question have already done that, and secondly because of the problems with actually fitting the things that make such retailers universally hard to identify anyway. The whole message you're giving off comes across as rather condescending, whether that was your intention or not.

***

*Edit: Point of Pedantry - If you're being paid for donating something, you're not donating it; you're selling it.

I am sure I made the point about selling it... but anyway. Yes, I'll have to thank you too. I'll retry to make my point clearer.
I just tried to give advice on how a possible solution might be "working out" (post 2 in this thread from me). In the first one I made the point of going to a Tailor/Specialist and "suck up" a higher price. OR ordering online, which my wife does, which could also mean higher price but not the agonizing dread of the possible stress of nothing fitting in a changing room.

I later made the point of saving up. But didn't precicely said that this is a possibility for WARKITTY and her alone. Instead of having the full 15$ for groceries, she tries to get around with 13 and has a bra or two in around a year. As bras normally live quite long. I don't know how accurate this is or if she can even do it but this might work.

The only things I know about this OP's problem so far is:
1Tight on money (due to school and minimum wage job)
2Medical Problem (where I won't say anything about except the working out advice)
3Problem finding bras where the shoulderstraps/waistband is right.

For 1 trying to save money for bras over time similar to how "write off's" work.
and 3 maybe just paying more for a retailoring (be it paying more in own time due to own tailor skills or money for paid work).

Yes, that, thank you.

(an aside: as a big breasted woman, I scoff derisively at the claim that wearing a bra is "optional" for me)

At your aside: I wrote about looks:comfy ratio, didn't I? My wife (Breastsize around I or G depending on where she needs to order) ran around bra-less on lazy weekends.

_______

I hope this time I have made my point clear. Man fears change but change is what drives him. If we can no longer decide where we want to go or if we should go to make our situation better then we are in a certain form of state/government that we should again try to change.

Serpentine

2014-04-17, 09:59 AM

At your aside: I wrote about looks:comfy ratio, didn't I? My wife (Breastsize around I or G depending on where she needs to order) ran around bra-less on lazy weekends.And you're the one who gets to tell me what that ratio is for me, huh? And "lazy weekends", right. That's hardly standard practice. Sure, technically bras are optional for me outside of my own home. Technically, pants are optional for you, too. Good luck putting that "optionality" into practice.

AtlanteanTroll

2014-04-17, 11:11 AM

I never expected Ayn Rand to comment on bras, but what do you know.

Asta Kask

2014-04-17, 11:15 AM

I am, however, sadly familiar with people using that name without understanding.

Coidzor

2014-04-17, 12:03 PM

I never expected Ayn Rand to comment on bras, but what do you know.

On the one hand, it'd probably tie in somehow to her... Ayn Randness. On the other hand, it seems like that would be admitting to too much human vulnerability, even in the implication. On the third hand, even Ayn Rand wasn't always Ayn Rand.

Asta Kask

2014-04-17, 12:07 PM

Ayn Rand may be too political for this board, though.

Knaight

2014-04-17, 01:39 PM

Yeah, if custom-fit, custom-molded, shaped foam is the only option that fits the bill and it's not something that can be reshaped without the use of industrial processes, like those materials that come up in costuming, seems like a situation which would require some kind of massive structural change in manufacturing and distribution to address in order to remove a large portion of the population out of the SOL category.

Even with industrial processes, reshaping is difficult. This obviously gets into the whole thermoplastic-thermoset thing, and a lot of foams (a lot of plastics in general) are the latter. You make them in whatever shape, and getting them to do anything else is either near impossible or vastly more difficult than just making another one.

Krazzman

2014-04-17, 02:18 PM

And you're the one who gets to tell me what that ratio is for me, huh? And "lazy weekends", right. That's hardly standard practice. Sure, technically bras are optional for me outside of my own home. Technically, pants are optional for you, too. Good luck putting that "optionality" into practice.

To put it again in a bruntly fashion: I have to answer your first question with a big ass ****ing NO. You know what lazy weekends are? They are gone. But they were the time where we basically just watched TV all day or played WoW or similar without doing anything else really.

I fear that I would mess up my trousers if I would not wear any pants. Also I am just too adjusted to my comfy pants that I can't even imagine wearing trousers (beside the ones as part of my sleeping attire) without pants. But IF you really want it we can make a bet about easter. I wont wear any pants and you leave your bra home. Then we share the experience and other posters can laugh what weird stuff other playgrounders do (in case this doesn't break any board rules...).

I never expected Ayn Rand to comment on bras, but what do you know.

I don't quite get what you are to say with this but I would assume that you mean that some core idea in my reasoning is faulty like in "The Objectivist Ethics" (8 of 12 according to Hümer)? If it is too political to post then... I don't know.

Serpentine

2014-04-17, 02:35 PM

To put it again in a bruntly fashion: I have to answer your first question with a big ass ****ing NO.Then I respectfully request that you reconsider acting like you do.

You know what lazy weekends are? They are gone. But they were the time where we basically just watched TV all day or played WoW or similar without doing anything else really.And so that makes it more than not at all relevant... how, exactly?

I fear that I would mess up my trousers if I would not wear any pants. Also I am just too adjusted to my comfy pants that I can't even imagine wearing trousers (beside the ones as part of my sleeping attire) without pants. But IF you really want it we can make a bet about easter. I wont wear any pants and you leave your bra home. Then we share the experience and other posters can laugh what weird stuff other playgrounders do (in case this doesn't break any board rules...).Ah, European. Pants = trousers here. And Hell no. I have absolutely no interest in going anywhere without my bra, because I am a very well-endowed woman who would be extremely physically and emotionally uncomfortable and only borderline socially acceptable without it. But your girlfriend can do without hanging around at home on "lazy weekends", so hey what do I know?

Coidzor

2014-04-17, 02:45 PM

Sort of an apples to bazookas comparison.

Krazzman

2014-04-17, 03:50 PM

Then I respectfully request that you reconsider acting like you do.

Never did. Again just telling that in MY opinion that ratio is important.

And so that makes it more than not at all relevant... how, exactly?

I just had the guess that due to your ""-in the phrase had not a clear idea what I was refering to. It is an example where your looks no longer matter as such you shred yourself from the thing making you "look socially acceptable" outside and turn into comfy-mode.

Ah, European. Pants = trousers here.

Context. I wrote quite often "trouser" or similar.

And Hell no. I have absolutely no interest in going anywhere without my bra, because I am a very well-endowed woman who would be extremely physically and emotionally uncomfortable and only borderline socially acceptable without it.

I get that you feel uncomfortable without a bra in the outside world. Most well "endowed" women would probably.

But your girlfriend can do without hanging around at home on "lazy weekends", so hey what do I know?
Wife actually. And yes, I said it multiple times.

About the things you know... again I can only have a vague guess... but what I so far got is: "Online shopping is not suited for you(in this single topic) and comfort seems not that important for you when you could relax at home."

warty goblin

2014-04-17, 04:02 PM

Secondly, I don't think you're getting just how complicated bras are. Yeah, tailoring might help, and that could well be something people should be having a go at more often, but I was almost terrified at the prospect just of stitching in the sides a bit to try and stop the underwire sticking out so much on an old bra I don't particularly care about. You tuck here, and this other bit might suddenly be all out of whack. And there's not a lot a tailor is likely to do about a poorly-shaped underwire.

I don't have any personal experience with underwires, but generally altering a wire isn't a particularly difficult task. Unless it's extremely high-tensile stuff, two pairs of pliers is usually sufficient in my experience. I'm probably missing something about this application though, since otherwise somebody would have thought of this.

We're still working on jetpacks, the Alcubierre drive and sending people to mars with a safety rate high enough for a third-rate airline. I doubt autofitting clothes are higher on the priority list for scientists than flight, the hyperdrive or safe space travel.

Yeah, clothing that works would be useful for improving the lives of actual people. Why bother with that when we can pretend really hard that science fiction is real?

Hiro Protagonest

2014-04-17, 04:04 PM

Coidzor

2014-04-17, 04:06 PM

I don't have any personal experience with underwires, but generally altering a wire isn't a particularly difficult task. Unless it's extremely high-tensile stuff, two pairs of pliers is usually sufficient in my experience. I'm probably missing something about this application though, since otherwise somebody would have thought of this.

Yeah, clothing that works would be useful for improving the lives of actual people. Why bother with that when we can pretend really hard that science fiction is real?

I might be misremembering it a bit, but one way it's summed up is that pulling such stuff off(or designing a good bra that looks good in the first place) is a combination of tailoring, engineering, mechanics, and aesthetics.

Quite.

About the things you know... again I can only have a vague guess... but what I so far got is: "Online shopping is not suited for you(in this single topic) and comfort seems not that important for you when you could relax at home."

Seem to be pulling that last part out of your butt. :smallconfused: You brought up "oh, you can relax without a bra at home" in a way that communicated that you seemed to believe this was somehow applicable to the situations where women mainly wear bras in the first place, that is to say, living their lives and going out and doing **** like working, playing, shopping, socializing, etc. Which smacked of presumption and arguing against direct experience as if you had some level of authority on the matter.

Krazzman

2014-04-17, 04:13 PM

You did pretty much say "bras aren't necessary even for big-breasted women", then you provided anecdotal evidence about someone who only didn't wear a bra when she was staying home and not moving around much. I think your argument is flawed.

I went back and reread my posts. Nope, not buying it. Generalized bras are optional. In one circumstance I even said that they are 100% needed (sports). But that you CAN under certain circumstances (e.g. lazy weekend) life without one. That was my point.

Seem to be pulling that last part out of your butt. :smallconfused: You brought up "oh, you can relax without a bra at home" in a way that communicated that you seemed to believe this was somehow applicable to the situations where women mainly wear bras in the first place, that is to say, living their lives and going out and doing **** like working, playing, shopping, socializing, etc. Which smacked of presumption and arguing against direct experience as if you had some level of authority on the matter.

Quote please.

Let's get clear what optional means:
" possible but not compulsory; left to personal choice"
Posters here already said they live without a bra. Making it Optional as a GENERAL statement. That it is a form of help for these people to ffel better in social situations/sports.
I have no authority in that matter and assuming it is weird as I try again and again to make clear that it is about my opinion/experience and thoughts.

warty goblin

2014-04-17, 04:17 PM

I went back and reread my posts. Nope, not buying it. Generalized bras are optional. In one circumstance I even said that they are 100% needed (sports). But that you CAN under certain circumstances (e.g. lazy weekend) life without one. That was my point.

By this logic, apparently I don't need my winter clothes anymore because I don't them it come July.

Krazzman

2014-04-17, 04:23 PM

By this logic, apparently I don't need my winter clothes anymore because I don't them it come July.

See edit. But yes. You can do that. You will probably feel cold (or not depending how toughened up you are in this regard) but else...
There are people that live like this.

FinnLassie

2014-04-17, 04:23 PM

Krazzman... Are you even aware of all the health issues women with larger breasts face, especially with a bad bra? And no, breast reduction isn't a solution that everyone wants or is able to get.

I don't have any personal experience with underwires, but generally altering a wire isn't a particularly difficult task. Unless it's extremely high-tensile stuff, two pairs of pliers is usually sufficient in my experience. I'm probably missing something about this application though, since otherwise somebody would have thought of this.

To my knowledge most underwires aren't really even wires, but plastic.

warty goblin

2014-04-17, 04:32 PM

See edit. But yes. You can do that. You will probably feel cold (or not depending how toughened up you are in this regard) but else...
There are people that live like this.
Where I live, not unless I feel like having Fun With Mr. Frostbite. Mr. Frostbite plays for fingers and plays for keeps, and I like being able to count in base 10. I'd imagine women with large breasts like being able to move around without back pain.

To my knowledge most underwires aren't really even wires, but plastic.
Ah, that pretty much puts the kibosh on that one then.

FinnLassie

2014-04-17, 04:36 PM

Ah, that pretty much puts the kibosh on that one then.

Yeah, I remember that my mother or grandmother had actual wires in, but they cause much more pain when poking out of the bra than plastic does. Although once my plastic wire broke, and the sharp edge caused a cut. Not nice.

warty goblin

2014-04-17, 04:45 PM

Yeah, I remember that my mother or grandmother had actual wires in, but they cause much more pain when poking out of the bra than plastic does. Although once my plastic wire broke, and the sharp edge caused a cut. Not nice.

I can sympathize. I once had a mattress spring work its way through my bed, right at groin height. I didn't insist on much in terms of creature comforts as a kid, but I drew the line at potentially castrating myself on my own bed every time I rolled over.

FinnLassie

2014-04-17, 05:00 PM

I can sympathize. I once had a mattress spring work its way through my bed, right at groin height. I didn't insist on much in terms of creature comforts as a kid, but I drew the line at potentially castrating myself on my own bed every time I rolled over.

:smalleek: :eek:

Wires and comfortable things shouldn't really go together.

Aedilred

2014-04-17, 08:13 PM

Yeah, I remember that my mother or grandmother had actual wires in
Your mother and grandmother were robots? :smalleek:

Asta Kask

2014-04-18, 01:46 AM

Your mother and grandmother were robots? :smalleek:

Cyborg. Part of a military experiment during the Winter War.

Krazzman

2014-04-18, 04:17 AM

I remembered reading about a certain study...

This one. (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/french-study-suggests-younger-women-should-stop-wearing-bras/)

Main points I found interesting:

There was also no evidence that the bras helped get rid of back pain.

And

However, not everyone should eschew bras.

There is however nothing about what cup-size they have. So take it with a grain of salt.

FinnLassie

2014-04-18, 05:00 AM

Please link us to the actual study rather than a news piece advertising it.

Asta Kask

2014-04-18, 05:07 AM

Rebecca Watson gets down to bras tacks. (http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/dont_burn_your_bra_for_science_just_yet/)

(Rebecca Watson is a member of the Skepchicks (http://skepchick.org/) and a panelist on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. (https://www.theskepticsguide.org/))

WarKitty

2014-04-18, 06:20 AM

Yeah, I'm not really *that* big a girl, and for me time of the month + no bra + stairs = PAIN. Just not going to happen. And sports bras do give me backaches after a while, at least if they're tight enough to do anything.

thubby

2014-04-18, 07:28 AM

Astrella

2014-04-18, 07:56 AM

women have been doing without them for millenia, I would assume there's some trick to be pulled with a strip or 2 of cloth.

maybe ask the FtM folks over in the lgbt thread? in all seriousness, one of them probably figured out something workable.

I know of at least Roman-era bras being found by archeologists.

And binding isn't very healthy if you do it for long times.

Themrys

2014-04-18, 08:49 AM

Posters here already said they live without a bra. Making it Optional as a GENERAL statement. That it is a form of help for these people to ffel better in social situations/sports.
I have no authority in that matter and assuming it is weird as I try again and again to make clear that it is about my opinion/experience and thoughts.

Yes, it is VERY weird that you, a MAN, think that your opinion on BRAS matters enough that you have to post it here. Even IF you have manboobs the size of melons, you have NO experience being a woman, in the US, where female nipples are considered obscene. (Although, even here in Germany, going braless is NOT really an option if you want a well-paid job.)

Stop mansplaining. You give men a bad name, you give Germany a bad name, and I pity everyone who lives the same city as you.

If you want to feel useful, support feminism. But keep your mouth shut. Women know about the pros and cons of wearing bras better than you do. Really. We do.

@thubby: Even those women who would be happy and comfortable without a bra, are expected to wear one, so that no man (or woman ... yes, I heard a woman complain about that, too) ever has to see a sagging bosom. So, the question whether, in theory, female humans as such need bras, is not really relevant.

Krazzman

2014-04-18, 12:17 PM

Please link us to the actual study rather than a news piece advertising it.
I said I remember reading about something like this. Did not find it with 2 minutes of google search, should I ask my wife to order it at work(if she can)?

Yes, it is VERY weird that you, a MAN, think that your opinion on BRAS matters enough that you have to post it here. Even IF you have manboobs the size of melons, you have NO experience being a woman, in the US, where female nipples are considered obscene. (Although, even here in Germany, going braless is NOT really an option if you want a well-paid job.)

Re-read my post. If you want I can even translate them for you.
I have multiple times tried to make my point clearer.
To sum them up:
Save up for them, if it is more expensive to get fitting ones then save up longer.
Work out. General advice. Maybe after that you will fit in more bras or not. Also when done right it is healthy.
Maybe go for custom made bra's or retailoring (latter was deduced because of how trousers can be retailored)
Look online for fitting ones. (Maybe in a sale <- this wasn't in the post because it would be redundant)

The others were reactions on other posts. And I firmly believe that someone can(in the maybe sense) indeed change. It is hard. It will never be easy but it is possible in certain circumstances. Sometimes the truth sucks. Also no I don't have Manboobs in that dimension. Also you didn't grasp the point I made with optional.

Additionally: Are you gonna say what I can have an opinion on and not? What I can post on and not? Will you now follow my posts and say at every topic that I shouldn't post there or do you greenlight the ones I ask for? Because I am thinking about asking in the 5th edition thread how certain aspects are so far but I have no experience so far. Should I now not have the opinion of hoping that they do the barbarian in an awesome fashion, if they implement him or do you allow me that?

Stop mansplaining. You give men a bad name, you give Germany a bad name, and I pity everyone who lives the same city as you.

Hmm I don't think that word is 100% correct in this context. Or is the explaining of an opinion of a man in a female topic mansplaining because I assumed that most have experience on these topic?
Yes I was getting angry at some responses here. Yes I had a brunt tone and even asked how to write it different. Yes some things were interpreted/phrased wrong on my side or on some other end. Also you don't know me. So stop pitying other people (which there are certainly worse ones too) it's not worth it. Or let me give you your point back: If you weren't in Aachen then maybe you shouldn't post about the people there? I know someone in Frankfurt that is a chovinistic idiot that gave me more enough reason to hate him. But I don't pity someone in Frankfurt except him.

Women know about the pros and cons of wearing bras better than you do. Really. We do.

Thanks Captain Obvious :smallannoyed:

@thubby: Even those women who would be happy and comfortable without a bra, are expected to wear one, so that no man (or woman ... yes, I heard a woman complain about that, too) ever has to see a sagging bosom. So, the question whether, in theory, female humans as such need bras, is not really relevant.

This is another matter entirely. Because it is something called DRESSCODE. Which is always, anytime, anywhere in place. Dresscode at my work is different as the one for my wife or the one for my best friend or someone who is not working.
After some bit of research I have found no indication that going braless in germany could invoke § 183a StGB.

But really, what do I know, I'm just a man and can't possibly know anything about this topic. And shouldn't even bring anecdotal evidence or similar.
Really this is now my last post in this thread. So I leave you the comment my wife made after reading:
"Silly people."

Asta Kask

2014-04-18, 12:26 PM

Krazzman... Are you even aware of all the health issues women with larger breasts face, especially with a bad bra? And no, breast reduction isn't a solution that everyone wants or is able to get.

But if you* have big breasts you get better tips. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/homo-consumericus/201004/big-breasts-larger-waitress-tips)

*plural you. I have no data on FL's breast size. And it would be impolite to ask.

HalfTangible

2014-04-18, 02:00 PM

Yeah, clothing that works would be useful for improving the lives of actual people. Why bother with that when we can pretend really hard that science fiction is real?1) Because Back to the Future's self-fitting clothes weren't scifi at all, right?

2) Why pretend when we can make science fiction real, as we have done and continued to do since we invented it? :smallannoyed:

3) I was trying to offer an explanation as to why self-fitting clothes don't exist yet. I never said it was right, fair or inarguably true.

Mauve Shirt

2014-04-18, 03:00 PM

basically anything he's said re: lazy weekends

You've mentioned solutions like having more money and working out to help your bra size. Great. Change can happen and all that, if you have time and resources for it.
But I can't get over the whole "in one situation you don't have to wear a bra, this means that bras are optional in general." Sure if you're unemployed and never have to leave your house bras are optional. But describing a single situation where they might be optional does not make them optional when a female is participating in society. That's like saying.... hm.... Sorry I'm going to be America-centric, "In some small towns in the midwestern United States being religious is all but compulsory, therefore in general religion is necessary everywhere all the time."
"In general" doesn't automatically make your broad statement legitimate or anywhere bordering on correct.

Themrys

2014-04-19, 06:36 AM

But if you* have big breasts you get better tips. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/homo-consumericus/201004/big-breasts-larger-waitress-tips)

*plural you. I have no data on FL's breast size. And it would be impolite to ask.

That is one very tiny upside, especially since lots of men seem to labour under the misapprehension that it is in any way appropriate to make rude comments on big breasts, regardless of whether the owner is a waitress or works in a library.

Surely you do not suggest that all women with big breasts should become waitresses?

Asta Kask

2014-04-19, 06:39 AM

'twas more in jest than a serious contribution.

Themrys

2014-04-19, 06:43 AM

'twas more in jest than a serious contribution.

Good to know. Problem is, there are people who would mean it seriously. (This is why irony is not always advisable on the internet)

Aedilred

2014-04-19, 08:24 AM

Good to know. Problem is, there are people who would mean it seriously. (This is why irony is not always advisable on the internet)
(To be honest, given that irony is more context-dependent than anything, I don't find people's reaction to it varies much whether in person or on the internet. People tend to react based on a combination of their existing predisposition to believe the statement or take offence, and how well they know the speaker. You can say things in an obviously sarcastic voice if you like, but notwithstanding that I've always believed a straight face is a key element of comedy, people inclined to take statements at face value or take offence are remarkably resilient to that anyway.)

lio45

2014-04-19, 12:47 PM

That is one very tiny upside, especially since lots of men seem to labour under the misapprehension that it is in any way appropriate to make rude comments on big breasts, regardless of whether the owner is a waitress or works in a library.

FWIW, I had never given it much thought until a conversation with my first ex when she pointed out she wished she'd had more normal breasts for her body type... my initial reaction was "what?!? you must be kidding!!!" but then she did point out that there are only disadvantages (they're an annoyance for sports, need atypical bras, etc.) while the only "advantage" is that it attracts guys for the wrong reasons.

(The tips-as-waitress angle is indeed one way to convert that into an actual advantage.)

warty goblin

2014-04-19, 01:15 PM

:smalleek: :eek:

Wires and comfortable things shouldn't really go together.

Like I said, that was the point at which I requested a new mattress. I didn't mind the occasional mouse running past my mattress, which was on the floor, or my feet coming off the edge of the bed if I stretched out all the way, but sharp bits of metal in the swimsuit zone was right on past my limits.

FinnLassie

2014-04-19, 03:33 PM

Like I said, that was the point at which I requested a new mattress. I didn't mind the occasional mouse running past my mattress, which was on the floor, or my feet coming off the edge of the bed if I stretched out all the way, but sharp bits of metal in the swimsuit zone was right on past my limits.

The flat I'm currently living in has 10+ yo mattresses (seriously, I've never seen a blue Ikea mattress. Has to be damn old.), and our landlord refuses to change them because no visible springs, heck, I don't know. Caused me a lot of back pains before I got a mattress topper. And the effect of that is coming to its end too. :smallsigh:

Aedilred

2014-04-19, 04:13 PM

The flat I'm currently living in has 10+ yo mattresses (seriously, I've never seen a blue Ikea mattress. Has to be damn old.), and our landlord refuses to change them because no visible springs, heck, I don't know. Caused me a lot of back pains before I got a mattress topper. And the effect of that is coming to its end too. :smallsigh:
Mattresses are one of those things that are much more important than they look, given how much time you spend on them. It's so tempting just to get a cheap one... and then you pay for that over the ensuing years. Rather like bras in that respect, I imagine, although at least with a bra you don't have the problem of being obliged to use the (cheap) one you're provided with in a rental property. I hope.

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-20, 01:21 AM

If no one's gonna invent a self-adjusting bra, I'm gonna start listing out the necessary features, in the hope that someone stumbles upon it via Google and invents one.

In no particular order:
1. It MUST be waterproof(or otherwise somehow dirt-proof)
2. It MUST be comfortable(this may conflict with 1, unless one can somehow make a nigh-impenetrable metamaterial that presses against the skin like silk).
3. Adjustable with either a button press(in a discreet location, or possibly on the underside of the front middle), or somehow controllable via one's phone or whatever personal device(presumably, it locks to your specific phone number so others cannot produce wardrobe malfunctions or otherwise cause you discomfort)
4. Anti-torniquet feature. Presumably, this might only be limited to the more expensive models, as it could require incorporating some kind of micro-electronics(pressure sensing and whatnot) that might not be cheap enough to mass-produce.

I can't really think of any other features not already covered under the above(all of the above also presumes it can be adjusted for "more support" vs "more jiggle" for certain situations). It is also probably reasonable to assume that they can also be applied to any other article of clothing that one might wish to manufacture with the ability to adjust itself to the wearer.

Hattish Thing

2014-04-20, 01:43 AM

Yes, it is VERY weird that you, a MAN, think that your opinion on BRAS matters enough that you have to post it here. Even IF you have manboobs the size of melons, you have NO experience being a woman, in the US, where female nipples are considered obscene. (Although, even here in Germany, going braless is NOT really an option if you want a well-paid job.)

Stop mansplaining. You give men a bad name, you give Germany a bad name, and I pity everyone who lives the same city as you.

If you want to feel useful, support feminism. But keep your mouth shut. Women know about the pros and cons of wearing bras better than you do. Really. We do.

@thubby: Even those women who would be happy and comfortable without a bra, are expected to wear one, so that no man (or woman ... yes, I heard a woman complain about that, too) ever has to see a sagging bosom. So, the question whether, in theory, female humans as such need bras, is not really relevant.

Uhhh. You go girl? :smallconfused:

I believe in equality and the idea of feminism, yeah. But... I think you're being a little bit too hardcore here. Or at least way too mean about it. :smallsigh: I'm not saying you don't have a point there with him, seeing as you as a female of course have more experience with bras, buuuuut you are being thoroughly unpleasant. (Unless he makes bras, or crossdresses, or is otherwise often around female undergarments, you never know. Generalizations that guys don't know anything about bras are kinda silly, like most generalizations.)

I also think that this whole statement here, "If you want to feel useful, support feminism. But keep your mouth shut." is completely against the entire point of equality. Which, last time I checked, is what feminism is all about. Man and woman are supposed to be equal. It's like a man saying to you, "If you want to feel useful, gimme food while I watch football. But keep your mouth shut." See? That's not okay. It's unpleasant and it's a generalization, and it's wrongly representing what I believe the point of feminism should be.

Equality.

(Kind of off the bra topic, sorry, guys. Just wanted to speak my mind here.) :smallsigh:

Asta Kask

2014-04-20, 05:24 AM

In no particular order:
1. It MUST be waterproof(or otherwise somehow dirt-proof)
2. It MUST be comfortable(this may conflict with 1, unless one can somehow make a nigh-impenetrable metamaterial that presses against the skin like silk).
3. Adjustable with either a button press(in a discreet location, or possibly on the underside of the front middle), or somehow controllable via one's phone or whatever personal device(presumably, it locks to your specific phone number so others cannot produce wardrobe malfunctions or otherwise cause you discomfort)
4. Anti-torniquet feature. Presumably, this might only be limited to the more expensive models, as it could require incorporating some kind of micro-electronics(pressure sensing and whatnot) that might not be cheap enough to mass-produce.

Nipple flamethrowers.
Universal Translator
Internal TARDIS to allow you to store a bazooka in your cleavage

(Yes, this is me jesting again)

JustSomeGuy

2014-04-20, 09:25 AM

I'm remembering the puma disc system (and others of it's ilk), and how crappy it was, and thinking that some self-tightening auto mechanism isn't perhaps the best way to have a bra fit correctly!

Since we're talking technological innovation (and not stuff from 20 years ago), how about some electromagnetic field generation device and a series of metal studs or thread or junk, that can be manipulated to several presets or a series of custom settings at the press of a button. Kinda like sound equalizers on a music player. Or not, given how much faffing about:beneficial results goes on.

HalfTangible

2014-04-20, 11:10 AM

Well, it's not exactly a self-adjusting bra, but apparently a potential application for 3d printers is to make clothes that perfectly fit you at the store. You'd walk in, select a clothing type, fabric, etc and then have your body scanned and something with a perfect fit will be printed out for ya.

That's kinda cool.

Nipple flamethrowers.
Universal Translator
Internal TARDIS to allow you to store a bazooka in your cleavage

(Yes, this is me jesting again)

Why the f$%# would you use a bra tardis to store a bazooka?! Use that bra to travel across time and space! Save some planets! Explore the galaxy! Have your totally for reelzies this time darkest hour occur every season or two!

Aedilred

2014-04-20, 11:58 AM

Why the f$%# would you use a bra tardis to store a bazooka?! Use that bra to travel across time and space! Save some planets! Explore the galaxy! Have your totally for reelzies this time darkest hour occur every season or two!
You don't want to travel on the outside of a TARDIS through time and space unless you're already immmortal, though. And I'm not sure I'd be confident of being able to get inside a bra, no matter how much bigger on the inside.

All the same, if bras came with flamethrowers, universal translators and TARDIS as standard, I think I'd start wearing one, necessity be damned.

HalfTangible

2014-04-20, 12:27 PM

You don't want to travel on the outside of a TARDIS through time and space unless you're already immmortal, though. And I'm not sure I'd be confident of being able to get inside a bra, no matter how much bigger on the inside.If a bazooka can go in and out, you can get a human in and out.

All the same, if bras came with flamethrowers, universal translators and TARDIS as standard, I think I'd start wearing one, necessity be damned.

TARDIS OR universal translater would be enough for me.

Aedilred

2014-04-20, 12:45 PM

TARDIS OR universal translater would be enough for me.
All or nothing! But then a TARDIS is a universal translator anyway.

Coidzor

2014-04-20, 06:40 PM

Well, it's not exactly a self-adjusting bra, but apparently a potential application for 3d printers is to make clothes that perfectly fit you at the store. You'd walk in, select a clothing type, fabric, etc and then have your body scanned and something with a perfect fit will be printed out for ya.

That's kinda cool.

Why the f$%# would you use a bra tardis to store a bazooka?! Use that bra to travel across time and space! Save some planets! Explore the galaxy! Have your totally for reelzies this time darkest hour occur every season or two!

Indeed.

Quite. You don't need a full blown TARDIS, all you'd really need would be a non-dimensional storage pocket. Or extra-dimensional. Or both.

Hiro Protagonest

2014-04-20, 06:42 PM

Indeed.

Quite. You don't need a full blown TARDIS, all you'd really need would be a non-dimensional storage pocket. Or extra-dimensional. Or both.

A bra made with non-Euclidean geometry.

Woodzyowl

2014-04-20, 07:16 PM

A bra made with non-Euclidean geometry.

Brathulhu?

HalfTangible

2014-04-20, 10:21 PM

A bra made with non-Euclidean geometry.

...Not that I would know, but... Wouldn't that be even MORE uncomfortable and painful, assuming you could look at it and handle it without going mad?

JustSomeGuy

2014-04-21, 03:07 AM

...Not that I would know, but... Wouldn't that be even MORE uncomfortable and painful, assuming you could look at it and handle it without going mad?

Only the later, decadent versions which were made on the cheap overseas instead of by the original artisans. Damn shoggoths, always trying to imitate the nightmare peaks of roerich instead of getting the cup/strap fittings on point...

Lentrax

2014-04-21, 04:19 AM

You don't want to travel on the outside of a TARDIS through time and space unless you're already immmortal, though. And I'm not sure I'd be confident of being able to get inside a bra, no matter how much bigger on the inside.

I am fairly certain that should we be able to create a bra TARDIS and are wearing one; you would, by literal usage of the word, be in it already.

Asta Kask

2014-04-21, 04:25 AM

It was a just a little quip; let's not derail the thread entirely.

Aedilred

2014-04-21, 08:35 AM

...Not that I would know, but... Wouldn't that be even MORE uncomfortable and painful, assuming you could look at it and handle it without going mad?
But then maybe that's where bra manufacturers have been going wrong all this time?

Sartharina

2014-04-22, 02:10 PM

... I think I like this derail.

I go without a bra, but that's because I'm pretty shameless. Also work out a lot. Pain is weakness leaving the body!

Joran

2014-04-22, 07:33 PM

I remember Jockey trying out a new sizing kit; it was a story for a bit.

http://www.jockey.com/brafitkit

I then looked at the prices. $60 per bra, ouch.

HalfTangible

2014-04-22, 07:39 PM

But then maybe that's where bra manufacturers have been going wrong all this time?

I wouldn't define creating euclideon geometric shapes as 'going wrong' :smalltongue:

Asta Kask

2014-04-23, 10:51 AM

The problem is that euclidean geometry is only valid for flat surfaces, meaning that such bras are only suitable for flat-chested people.

AtomicKitKat

2014-04-23, 11:41 AM

I gotta say, I was semi-serious about the requirements I listed, but you people have had me rolling on the couch with laughter for the past minute, reading posts about Euclidean and non-Euclidean Far Realm(Bra Realm?) Bras.

Asta Kask

2014-04-23, 11:46 AM

Aedilred

2014-04-23, 12:05 PM

HalfTangible

2014-04-23, 12:22 PM

Possibly you mean bra-vo?

Booooooooooooooooo :smalltongue:

Serpentine

2014-04-24, 12:10 AM

Uhhh. You go girl? :smallconfused:

I believe in equality and the idea of feminism, yeah. But... I think you're being a little bit too hardcore here. Or at least way too mean about it. :smallsigh: I'm not saying you don't have a point there with him, seeing as you as a female of course have more experience with bras, buuuuut you are being thoroughly unpleasant. (Unless he makes bras, or crossdresses, or is otherwise often around female undergarments, you never know. Generalizations that guys don't know anything about bras are kinda silly, like most generalizations.)

I also think that this whole statement here, "If you want to feel useful, support feminism. But keep your mouth shut." is completely against the entire point of equality. Which, last time I checked, is what feminism is all about. Man and woman are supposed to be equal. It's like a man saying to you, "If you want to feel useful, gimme food while I watch football. But keep your mouth shut." See? That's not okay. It's unpleasant and it's a generalization, and it's wrongly representing what I believe the point of feminism should be.

Equality.

(Kind of off the bra topic, sorry, guys. Just wanted to speak my mind here.) :smallsigh:
If all he did was offer advice, you'd be absolutely right. But what he actually did was offer his advice in an incredibly patronising way, completely dismiss all the actual, lived experiences of women, make gross generalisations about our circumstances, belittle our own opinions, derailed the entire thread to focus on his own repeatedly refuted views at the expense of the people this thread is actually for and about, and actively insulted us, our intelligence, and our ability to make our own decisions and know what we're doing. So yeah, no, I'm with her on this one.

Now for something actually useful: anyone have any good experience buying strapless bras? I have two that are fully adjustible, but they're not very physically comfortable, and I think for some reason I got two with slightly too-large cups (which is another example of the absurdity of bra sizing, since one is an 18D and the other 16D whereas the most recent bra I bought that fits me properly is a 16E). Is that (the comfort bit) just a fact of life?
I also have a stick-on bra, but I now realise it's way too small and I rarely feel psychologically comfortable in it. They pretty much just hold one's boobs together, really.

FinnLassie

2014-04-24, 10:06 AM

Now for something actually useful: anyone have any good experience buying strapless bras? I have two that are fully adjustible, but they're not very physically comfortable, and I think for some reason I got two with slightly too-large cups (which is another example of the absurdity of bra sizing, since one is an 18D and the other 16D whereas the most recent bra I bought that fits me properly is a 16E). Is that (the comfort bit) just a fact of life?
I also have a stick-on bra, but I now realise it's way too small and I rarely feel psychologically comfortable in it. They pretty much just hold one's boobs together, really.

I've given up with strapless. No proper support at all. :smallfrown: What however interests me is the Australian sizing. I mean, in Finland we use cm for circumference and UK & US use inches, but what is it that ye dear ol' upside down people in Aussie land use then? Or is it just a random number?

What's a stick-on bra? Is it the chicken fillets?

Coidzor

2014-04-24, 12:42 PM

I know I've never heard of any of my friends or lovers having success with strapless bras, regardless of size. The closest I've heard is that they usually had a friend or a friend of a friend who managed to find one that they didn't hate.

Stick-on... That's either an advanced form of pastie or it's a bra that's so far beyond strapless it doesn't even have a back and may or may not have the cups connected, right? They're basically only worn by performers of various types, girls going to prom, or members of the wedding party when the bride is a harsh mistress and selects a sadistic form of bridesmaid's dress, aren't they? Doesn't seem like many people would have reason to become comfortable with them, due to the associations with their use if nothing else.

Serpentine

2014-04-25, 11:46 AM

I've given up with strapless. No proper support at all. :smallfrown: What however interests me is the Australian sizing. I mean, in Finland we use cm for circumference and UK & US use inches, but what is it that ye dear ol' upside down people in Aussie land use then? Or is it just a random number?

What's a stick-on bra? Is it the chicken fillets?A question for the ages, that one. It seems to be basically based on shirt sizes (I.e. I'm also usually about a size 14 or 16 in shirts and dresses (more if I want my boobs to fit properly, but then the rest is too big). For reference, "plus size" usually starts around 14 or 16, depending on the shop. I think I might be on the upper end of 12 if I get to healthy weight.

The stick-ons I have are basically the two cups you get in a normal bra, with a sticky side you attach to the boob, and a clasp that holds them together. You sorta stick them on the outer underside of your boobs, then bring them up and together to fasten the latch. I haven't worn these ones in years, and it's actually fairly embarassing how too-small they are for me - I think D is the biggest I've seen them come in.

Coidz: Your perspective is fine, since you're not telling us what to do and don't seem to think your experience is a superior substitute for our own.