Mallika Sherawat

It's been more than 15 years that I have been in the business of manufacturing and fitting bras for my brand Necessity Bras and I have noticed a trend that’s emerged — cup sizes of the majority of Indian women have gone up. Women have remained small in build but their breast sizes have become larger. Coming across a well-endowed woman with a smaller back/waist was a rarity even five years back but today it’s catching on like wildfire.

What began as a mere Bengal observation, actually goes beyond. What I discovered stunned me. Women all over the world are wearing bigger cup sizes — be it in America, Europe, Australia or New Zealand. I had stumbled upon a global phenomenon that bra makers across the world are wondering about — the sudden spurt in the sales of larger cup bras!

Wacoal is one of the leading bra brands in America and their sales figures show that whilst 36C was the highest selling size three years back, it was 36D in 2008 and that current year sales clearly estimate that 36DD shall be the size of 2009!

A woman with a waist of about 32 inches would normally wear a bra of size 36.

• C implies a curvaceous built (think Kajol).

• D cup on the same waistline would mean that the lady is an inch larger than C cup (think Ayesha Takia).

• On the same scale a DD cup would be an inch more than the D cup (think Rakhi Sawant).

To complete the picture, let me give an idea of the smaller sizes too.

• AA is at the beginning of the spectrum (think of flat-chested ramp models).

• A is Kareena in Tashan and • B would be Shilpa Shetty.

Coming back to the trend, in America it’s not just volume-selling brands such as Wacoal or luxury brands like Elle Macpherson Intimates but also boutique brands like La Petite Coquette that are witnessing the change. “It’s the ascendancy of the DDs,” said Noah Wrubel, the chief executive of Bare Necessities, an online bra retailer. “The bras that women are wearing these days are not their mothers’ bras.”

In Australia, almost 40 per cent bra wearers are DD cups or more. Some brands have launched a cup size K after E, F, G, H, I, J. Existing data shows that in the 1950s it was a modest cup size B that sold most in Australia. From there on to the new millennium, Australian women have definitely started believing that bigger is better!

In New Zealand too, the picture’s quite the same. While the number of women wearing cup sizes AA to B has hardly increased, the numbers have doubled for those in the segment between C and DD. As I traced the story across Europe, the same trend continued. Small waists and larger cups — for a moment it seems that the world and its women are undergoing breast augmentation!

Not that anyone’s complaining about this trend though. In ancient India, it was desirable to have a tiny waist topped with well endowed cups and the trend carries on, never mind what we see on an anorexic ramp walker. Women the world over thank their buxom bosoms because they feel sexier and more desirable than ever before.

But while some find pride in their newly discovered abundance, others have mixed feelings. “Some women are in bra denial,” says Rebecca Apsan, the owner of La Petite Coquette in Manhattan whose biggest sellers last year were 32D and 32DD. “They think there is some mistake. That’s why I never tell them what size I am putting them in. They don’t want to believe it.”

We at Necessity Bras, too, face a similar problem. That is why we fit women into correct bras before letting them on to their precise size. Otherwise, sometimes they can refuse to want to try on a cup D or more, despite their body clearly needing it!

That apart, what is of real concern here is the reason behind the cups spilling over (no pun intended here)! Many theories abound and I personally feel that all of them put together offer a real explanation to the above…

Firstly, there is no doubt that obesity is on the increase the world over. When women put on weight it loves to deposit itself on the breasts since they are tissue and not muscle (therefore, cannot be toned, unlike the other parts of our body). Along with the weight came the weight reduction techniques but then again, despite them, the weight and fatty tissues hate to leave our breasts. Once women have developed heavier breasts they tend to shirk from exercising since being in a gym or on a yoga mat can be quite uncomfortable for well-endowed women.

“One thing I find in my body-image research is that girls and women with large breasts tend to avoid sport and physical activity because it becomes a bit bothersome. They stop exercising when they develop large breasts, whereas we want big women to do the complete opposite and be as physically active as they can,” says Jenny ’Dea, associate professor, University of Sydney. In such cases it’s advisable to exercise in the privacy of one’s home.

What’s critical is that the weight-loss on the breasts must be gradual and spread over time so that there is minimum sagging.

Secondly, oestrogen plays a vital role in adding weight to women. Contraceptive pills are much widely used today compared to a decade ago. Artificial oestrogen is also present in ready foods, plastics and cosmetics. All of this goes on to add to the breast tissue.

Thirdly, it’s the awareness factor that’s responsible too. It was seen that the sales of larger cup bras went up considerably after Oprah Winfrey devoted a show to wearing the correct bras. All she’d done was ask women to have themselves fitted. In India too, the awareness about getting fitted is growing amongst the urban woman. Women have traditionally worn lower cup bras with looser waistbands than what their bodies needed. Getting ones self fitted into a bra often reveals the true picture, which is generally that of a larger cup size.

So, whether you’re born with them or whether you have faked them, fact is that big boobs are in today. If you can carry them off well, then you’re sure to be the wow factor everywhere you go!

BIG BUST DO

Wear a supportive bra that covers your cups fully or else your lower back shall be in constant pain.

Wear bras with broad shoulder straps that are easy on the shoulders. Some bras have padded straps and they work well.

Avoid off-shoulder clothes that may require no straps or plastic straps. These are the death knell for heavy breasts.

In your everyday wear, opt for higher necklines since they help cover extra support bras.

In case you need to wear lower necklines, use under-wired bras but do ensure that they are of the correct size. A smaller wired bra can mean that the wire will poke into your breast under the armpit all the time and that can be very dangerous in the long run.

Exercise. This will help keep your breasts firm.

While exercising wear a no-bounce bra that can cut out the sagging as much as possible.

Lastly, be patient when grappling with your bursting bust line. If you’ve let it go for a few years, please don’t wish for overnight results. Give it a few months to regain shape.