Bra Shopping with a Bosom Buddy is the Best

Some of you may like solitary runs through the forest or being holed up in an office researching quietly to your heart’s content, but not me. I’m in the best shape when I have a workout buddy, and I have the most fun at the office when I can brainstorm and collaborate with others. So it should have come as no surprise that I would enjoy bra shopping with Simona at Journelle last week.

Our sales assistant asked if we wanted to share the same dressing room, and even though we’d only met once before in December (she emailed me after the WNYC piece on my “About” page aired last April), we didn’t even bat an eye. Of course we’d share. Some large-breasted women may be self-conscious and shy, but that wasn’t the case with us. (To be honest, very few of the large-breasted women I meet are self-conscious. Maybe it’s because we’ve all learned to live with an asset that can’t be hidden.)

I have never shopped with someone who (a) has a similar frame to mine and (b) is so knowledgeable. We compared tips that other bra fitters have taught us and stories about shops we’ve tried (Simona is the first person I’ve met who had a negative experience at BraTenders). And we both had the same question about the bras we were wearing–hers a 36G Prima Donna Menton and mine a 36H Prima Donna Madison: Why was there so much room at the bottom of the cup? Together with our sales assistant, we came up with a theory that’s too complicated to explain here.

I loved hearing that she hates those pneumatic bras (Ã¡ la Dream Tisha) like I do.

First, “I feel like I’m going to get bigger with these molded bras.”

Next, “I’m not going to try these again.”

She looked amazing in the demi-cups she tried, but, like me, felt like the wobbly at the top was just too much for everyday. I long for a lingerie wardrobe filled with lacy, colorful, demi-cups that I can wear with abandon . . . maybe I’m self-conscious after all?

The Chantelle Icone 3-Part Cup Bra actually fit me great, but Simona identified exactly what was wrong with it: the skin rose color washed me out. I thought I only cared about outerwear not washing me out, but now I realize I want to look pretty in my underwear, too. Thanks, Simona.

One thing I especially appreciated about Journelle was that they didn’t seem to be commission-based. Our sales assistant started us in the lower-priced bras and didn’t try to push us toward the most expensive–and she was perfectly gracious when we ultimately decided not to buy anything.

For those of you who are lift junkies like Simona and I, you can see side profile pictures of the bras we considered after the jump.