Our cups runneth over!
Britain's busts are bigger than ever – with some of us needing an N-cup. But do women with large boobs find them an asset or a curse?
By Sadie Nicholas
Rigby & Peller, the Queen’s underwear supplier, has launched the N-cup bra, the biggest size ever made in Britain. It’s certain to be a relief for thousands of women who have been squeezing their breasts into ill-fitting bras for years.
In the Fifties, the average woman fitted comfortably into a B-cup, but today underwear retailer Bravissimo estimates at least 60 per cent of women in a C-cup should be wearing a D-cup — or larger. The average size is closer to a 34E than the 36C we’re led to believe.
So, with the nation’s breasts swelling and a typical L-cup weighing more than a stone, we wondered what life is really like for those ‘blessed’ with a big chest. Here, five readers reveal whether their bigger breasts are an asset or an affliction...
Celebrating their curves (left to right): Annie, Sarah, Lisa, Elisa and Terri-Lee
'I REALLY ENVY ALL MY SMALL-CHESTED FRIENDS'
Annie Beaumont, 19, is a student at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle. Bra: 32LL. She says:
Annie Beaumont: 32LL
I'd give anything to look like my friends with their pert breasts. But instead I’m dreaming of a breast reduction on the NHS to decrease my chest by four sizes to a GG-cup.
Perhaps then I will get a good night’s sleep instead of spending hours struggling to get comfortable.
By the time I was 14 I was a G-cup. Unlike my friends, I’ve missed out on the joy of being able to wear trendy clothes such as slash-neck baggy tops. They just hang off my boobs and make me look enormous all over, but on my friends they look great.
I have to wear fitted, stretchy tops that mould to my shape.
Last summer, a group of us went on holiday to Jamaica and the other girls had lots of pretty bikinis, while I felt ordinary in a boring black swimsuit.
People rarely think about the emotional side of having a big cleavage or how it feels to be passed over in favour of your slimmer friends.
On nights out, my friends attract compliments for their looks or style, but all I ever get is ‘Oh, you’ve got huge boobs!’ as though they can’t think of anything else to say about me.
I’ve rarely known how it feels to have a man speak to me because he wanted to and not just because he was fascinated by the size of my breasts.
Other girls have beautiful lingerie sets, but I have no choice unless I invest in bespoke bras. But at £160, the price is prohibitive.
The only advantage I can see to having a chest this big is that I get served quickly in pubs and nightclubs.
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My friend, who had H-cup breasts, had them reduced to an E-cup and she swears it’s the best thing she’s ever done. She no longer has aches and pains or problems buying fashionable clothes.
I’m on the waiting list for breast reduction surgery. It could take two years, but I know it’ll change my life.
'MY BREASTS ARE PART OF MY PERSONALITY'
Sarah Roberts, 36, recruits for a tool hire company and lives in Wigan. She is divorced with two children, Freya, 14, and Harry, 12. Bra: 36L. She says:
Sarah Roberts: 36L
Even though each of my breasts is bigger than my head and they always enter the room before I do, I love them.
What’s not to love about having a sexy, hour-glass figure and feeling ultra-feminine? No one ever describes me as Sarah with the dark hair, blue eyes or trademark red lipstick. I’m known as ‘Sarah with the big boobs’, but I adore that.
I dress appropriately for my age, but I always stand up straight, walk tall and wear low-cut tops and dresses to show off my ample bosom.
Nevertheless, finding the right size bra or swimwear can be a nightmare. Some styles show off far too much, while others flatten you. It’s hard to find something that simply gives you a nice shape.
Buying clothes isn’t easy either. Often I’ve bought dresses three sizes too big just so they’ll fit around my chest.
In the heat of the moment in a changing room I’ve even said I’m going to have a breast reduction. I’d never go through with it, though, because I love my boobs too much.
I know there are plenty of people who think that you get breasts this big only if you’re overweight. But I lost three stone last year and not a bit came off my bust.
My mum is a B-cup, but my teenage daughter is already in a G-cup, so she’s obviously taking after me.
It’s so important for me to be positive about being curvy for her sake. She wants to be like her friends, who all have smaller chests, and I can see that her womanly figure will soon start attracting unwanted male attention.
The best thing I can do is instil in her a sense of confidence in her looks and help her to dress for her age so as not to draw attention to her chest.
Though it would be wonderful not to have constant backache and to see an end to the deep ridges in my shoulders from years of bra straps digging into my skin under the weight of my breasts, I wouldn’t ever have surgery to reduce my cleavage.
My boobs are part of my personality and I wouldn’t want to change that.
'IT CAN BE LONELY HAVING BREASTS THIS BIG'
Lisa Walker, 42, is a PA and lives in Warrington, Cheshire, with her husband Dave, 47, an auditor, and daughter Shelby, 16. Bra size: 32M. She says:
Lisa Walker: 32M
There's an art to living with breasts as big as mine and it’s not always been easy.
Looking at my chest, it’s hard to imagine that when I was 12 I longed for my breasts to grow so I could wear a bra like all my friends.
I should have been careful what I wished for because when I hit 14 my breasts appeared to develop overnight. In the space of just a few months, I went from nothing to a DD-cup — and that still wasn’t big enough. But back then, that was the largest bra you could buy.
People may expect that I loathed looking different to all my friends at school, but I loved the attention my huge boobs attracted. I’d always been a bit of a wilting wallflower, but suddenly I stood out from the crowd.
The boys nicknamed me Ben Nevis because of my chest, but it was all done in good humour so I wasn’t offended. I’ve never minded the attention my boobs have attracted — to me, they are part of my identity.
But as I’ve grown older I have encountered some problems. More than once I’ve been made to feel unwelcome at parties because of my cleavage.
Men tend to avoid me for fear of staring at my chest, and their wives spend the whole evening watching them like hawks. It can be a lonely having breasts this big.
People joke that it must be a long time since I’ve seen my feet — and they’re right. I’ve tripped over plenty of times because my large chest means that I can’t see where I’m walking!
The only real problem was spending years squashing myself into the wrong size bra. Ten years ago, I was so relieved to hear that Bravissimo sold a J-cup, but that was too small for me — even the launch of the L-cup was a tight squeeze.
The physical pain of carrying around the extra weight of large breasts is sometimes unbearable. I weighed them once by getting on my bathroom scales at home and asking my husband to support the weight of my breasts with his hands — I instantly lost 17lb. I have constant aches and pains in my back, shoulders and arms. Some days even my wrists hurt from having to adjust the position of my boobs.
That’s why a good-fitting bra can change your life.
'IT’S HARD TO BE TRENDY WITH A LARGE CLEAVAGE'
Elisa Ashdown, 25, works for a lingerie designer and lives in Cambridge. Bra: 32L. She says:
Elisa Ashdown: 32L
A well-fitting bra can be the best diet and breast lift rolled into one. When I first put on a L-cup bra, I was thrilled at the number of friends who asked if I’d lost weight because my breasts looked more pert and my waist was nipped in.
I’d been wearing a 44F bra, which was so big around my back that I could take it off over my head without undoing it.
When the K-cup was launched four years ago, I was fitted with a 34K. It was heaven in comparison and gave me a lovely shape.
I knew I needed something bigger, but despite scouring the internet there wasn’t anything on the market, not even in the U.S.
Bigger breasts run in my family — my mum’s a GG cup and my sister an E despite being very slim. This is obviously just how I’m meant to be.
I like to keep myself fit and go swimming and even running, though I need good support to keep my chest in place.
Sports bras used to be tricky, but they’re now available in a K-cup. I tend to wear one over my normal bra for extra support.
I’m young and want to be fashionable, but there have been many times when I’ve had to buy a size 20 top because of my breasts, which doesn’t do a lot for a girl’s self-confidence.
I used to be a tomboy and live in jeans, but in the past few years I’ve learned to embrace my hour-glass figure. In fact, my huge breasts seemed to have dictated my style.
I mostly wear pencil skirts and fitted, stretchy tops. Wide belts are my new best friends as they accentuate my slim waist and take attention away from my chest.
I’ve had a tough time accepting my shape. I even have the scars to prove it — ill-fitting bras cut the skin under my breasts and have left their marks.
'MY BOYFRIEND HATES THE ATTENTION I GET'
Terri-Lee Whitford, 20, is studying animal behaviour and psychology at Chester university. Bra: 32L. She says:
Terri-Lee Whitford: 32L
There are two things that upset me about the size of my breasts. First, most men I meet take one look at me and assume I’m a very sexual person.
Even before I’ve introduced myself, I can practically hear their lewd thoughts. If you had to deal with that every day of your life, you’d feel as fed up as I do.
It also places a lot of pressure on my relationship with my boyfriend of 18 months. He hates all the attention I get. I never court it, but it happens all the same.
And while men are busy assuming you are ‘liberal’, women tend to assume you must be greedy if your boobs are that big.
It’s so unfair. I’ll often see them nudging each other and staring in the street.
I go to the gym and lost a stone recently, but my cup size has remained the same. It’s got nothing to do with how much I eat.
My boobs started to develop when I was ten and by the following year I was wearing an underwired bra because I needed the support.
Since then I’ve been known as ‘the girl with the big boobs’.
I blame my Dad’s mum, who was part Italian and had a voluptuous figure. I certainly haven’t inherited my shape from my mum, who is only a C-cup.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to have small boobs, but I’m sure I wouldn’t feel as womanly.
The only drawback is that I have to plan clothes shopping — I can never buy anything at the last minute if I want it to fit well and look good.
Picture: DAN GOLDSMITH Clothes: Fenwick, LK Bennett & Bravissimo
