One of the things we hear regularly in the fitting room is: "None of my bras fit anymore."
Sometimes there's an obvious reason. You've lost or gained weight, you've had a baby, or your bras have simply seen better days. But sometimes nothing obvious has changed. You're buying the same size you've always worn, perhaps even the same bra, and suddenly it gaps, digs in or just doesn't feel as comfortable as it used to.
You're not imagining it. Our breasts aren't static. They keep changing throughout our lives, and the bra that fitted you beautifully five or ten years ago may no longer be the right one for the body you have now.
Your Breasts Change as You Get Older
One of the biggest changes we see in the fitting room is a loss of fullness at the top of the breast. Younger breasts tend to have more volume through the upper part of the bust. As we get older they can become softer and shallower at the top, with more of the weight sitting towards the bottom.
It comes down to what breasts are made of: a mixture of glandular, connective and fatty tissue. With age there's generally less glandular tissue and the breasts become less dense, while changes to the connective tissue also affect their shape.
What matters in the fitting room is what that does to the fit. A bra that once sat beautifully against the top of your bust might suddenly start gaping, and the immediate reaction is often:
"My cup must be too big."
But it might not be.
A Gaping Cup Doesn't Always Mean You Need a Smaller Cup
If there's empty space at the top of the cup, it seems perfectly logical to go down a cup size. It's one of the easiest mistakes to make when you're fitting yourself. The cup might look better at the top, but now the wire is pinching. The original cup may well have had the right volume and wire width, but the shape of the cup no longer matched the shape of your breast, and going down a cup size also narrowed the wire.
This is where changing the style of bra can make much more difference than changing the size. It's something we also explain in our guide to why your bras don't fit right.
For example, we sometimes move someone from a plunge with a low centre to a balcony shape. It gives the bust more support and works better with the way the breast tissue now sits, without feeling as though you're suddenly wearing far more bra. If you're not sure what the difference looks like, have a look at our plunge bras and balcony bras side by side.
Getting older certainly doesn't mean you have to start wearing a huge full-cup bra. You may need more structure, but you can still wear beautiful lingerie.
You May Need More Support Than You Used To
As the breast becomes softer and more of its weight sits lower, the support from your bra matters more, and most of it shouldn't be coming from your shoulder straps. We occasionally see women shortening their straps more and more to lift the bust. You can create lift that way, but if you're practically hoisting your breasts up towards your shoulders, you won't be comfortable by lunchtime.
A well-fitting band is particularly important. If it's too loose, it can't provide the foundation the bra needs, and with a softer or heavier bust you may find breast tissue escaping underneath the bra rather than sitting comfortably in the cups. A good bra should do the lifting for you, without you having to tighten the straps until they dig in.
Weight Changes Can Affect More Than Your Bra Size
Gaining or losing weight can obviously change your measurements, but it can also change the way your breasts sit. After significant weight fluctuations you may have softer breast tissue or looser skin, and a bra with a little more structure or a higher centre can sometimes contain the breast more comfortably.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding can also alter the breasts. Breast tissue changes substantially during pregnancy in preparation for milk production, so it isn't surprising if a style that worked before having children isn't the one that works afterwards. Try not to become too fixated on the size written on the label. What you're looking for is the size and the shape that fit you now.
Perimenopause and Menopause Can Change Things Again
This is another time when women often come into the shop because their bras suddenly don't feel right. Hormone levels change considerably through perimenopause and menopause. That can affect the tissue and therefore the shape of the breast, and it can also cause soreness or tenderness. If you're hot and sweaty from flushes or night sweats and your breasts are tender, the bra you've happily worn all day for years can suddenly feel much less appealing.
We also see some women stop tolerating a very firm band as they get older. There is no prize for squeezing yourself into the size you've always worn simply because the number is familiar.
Sometimes Your Breasts Haven't Changed – Your Bra Has
Before blaming your body, take a good look at your bra. Bras don't last forever.
Think about what we ask that elastic to do. It's stretched every time you put the bra on, it spends all day under tension supporting the bust, and then it's washed so we can do it all again. Eventually the elastic loses its ability to recover. Cups can lose their shape and wires can become distorted, particularly if a bra has had a rough time in the washing machine.
One of the easiest ways to see this is when a customer replaces an old favourite with exactly the same bra. She puts the new one on and says:
"This is much tighter than my old one!"
Often it isn't. The old one has simply stretched.
That's why we recommend buying a new bra so that it fits comfortably on the loosest hook. As the band stretches with wear, you can move through the hooks to keep the fit. Once you've reached the tightest hook and the band still isn't doing its job, it's probably time to replace it. There are some other useful signs to look for in our guide to how often you should replace your lingerie.
That said, we still check the fit of a new bra. Bodies change too, and there's no point automatically replacing an old bra with the same size if it's no longer the most comfortable one.
Why Buying Your Usual Size Doesn't Always Solve It
Bra sizing is confusing. There isn't perfect consistency between brands, and even different styles within one brand can fit differently. Add plunge, balcony, full cup, moulded cup and soft cup styles and different wire shapes into the mix and it's easy to see why diagnosing your own fitting problem isn't straightforward.
You might have worn one size for years, but that doesn't make it your size for life. In the fitting room, we're not particularly interested in convincing somebody that she is a particular bra size. We're interested in finding the bra that fits.
So What Should You Do If Your Bras Have Suddenly Stopped Fitting?
Start with the bra you're wearing. Has the band become very loose? Are you already on the tightest hook? Have the wires become distorted? Does the elastic still recover properly? Is the bra simply several years old?
If the bra itself is still in good condition, look at where the fit has changed. If it's gaping at the top, don't immediately go down a cup size. If you're spilling out, don't automatically go up in the back. And if your bust isn't sitting as high as you'd like, don't keep shortening the shoulder straps. Those fixes can simply create another problem elsewhere. It may be time to reassess both your size and the style of bra you're wearing.
Ideally, get properly fitted if you can. When we fit regular customers at Plums, we check the fit every time they buy a bra. Rather than somebody discovering ten years later that her old size no longer works, we've generally been making small adjustments along the way as her body changes. That's really what good bra fitting is about.
One Last Thing
Normal breast changes happen throughout life, including during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, breastfeeding and after menopause. However, don't assume that every new breast change is simply down to age or hormones.
If you notice a new lump or swelling, a change in your breast or nipple that isn't normal for you, nipple discharge, skin changes, or breast or armpit pain that doesn't go away, speak to your GP.
