A professional bra fitting happens in a private room with a door that closes. Your top comes off, your bra stays on, and the fitter measures your ribcage with a tape measure. Then she brings several bras to try. At Front Room Underfashions the fitting is free.
The measuring is only a starting point. The rest of the visit is you in real bras with someone who does this every day.
The Fitting Is Free, and You Do Not Need an Appointment
Walk in any time the store is open. Booking ahead is welcome if you would rather hold a room and a fitter, and it is never required. Either way there is no clock on the fitting: we would rather take the time and send you home in a bra that actually fits. Nothing obliges you to buy.
Wear separates, since a top comes off more easily than a dress. If you are fitting for a specific dress or blouse, bring it — how a bra sits under clothing is a different question from how it looks in the mirror.
Key takeaway: Walk in or book ahead, wear separates, and bring the dress or top you are fitting for.
Measuring Is the Quick Part, and the Try-Ons Are Where Fit Is Decided
The tape goes around your ribcage, snug and just under the bust, with your bra on, for the band size. A second measurement across the fullest part gives a rough cup. Together they are a starting size, not an answer.
Then the fitter brings an armful of bras in two or three sizes, because a full-coverage bra and a plunge labeled the same size can fit nothing alike. Here is what she is checking:
- The band. Level across your back and firm on the loosest hook, leaving tighter hooks for later. Two fingers underneath, not four.
- The gore, the panel between the cups, should lie flat against your sternum. If it lifts away, the cup is too small.
- The cups. No spillage over the top edge or at the underarm, no gaping at the edge.
- The straps. About ten percent of the weight. The band carries the rest.
A band that rides up your back or a cup edge that cuts into your side is a fit problem with real fixes.
The number on the tag is a filing system. Two bras in the same size from different brands can fit differently, so the size you leave with is a reliable starting point for your next purchase rather than a guarantee. We carry band sizes 32 through 56 and cups AA through N.
Key takeaway: Fit is decided by how several real bras sit on your body, not by the tape.
You Keep the Door Closed, and You Decide Who Is in the Room
The plain answers to the questions that keep women from coming in:
Will I be undressed? Your top comes off and your bra stays on for the measuring. For the first bra or two it comes off, so the fitter can read the band and cup edge.
Does the fitter stay in the room? Only if you want her to. Say you would rather change alone and she steps out and knocks. Many women ask her to stay for the first bra to save time.
Will she touch me? She will ask first. Adjusting a strap or smoothing a cup edge is faster by hand than by instruction, but only with your yes.
Will anyone judge my body? Our fitters are accredited by ABCOP and BOC, and they have fit thousands of women, every size and shape, after surgery, after babies, after weight changes.
The rooms have full doors, a chair, and hooks for your things. You can stop at any point, put your own bra back on, and leave.
Key takeaway: Top off, bra on for measuring, door closed, hands only with your permission. You set the pace.
A Post-Mastectomy or Prosthesis Fitting Is the Same Visit With Three Additions
Front Room Underfashions exists because of this fitting. Lenore Shebuski opened the store in 1980, after her own mastectomy, because she did not want to be fit for a prosthesis at a medical supply store. Same rooms, same fitters, same process, with three additions.
The fitter checks your skin first. Incisions, radiated skin, and swelling change what you can comfortably wear. If the site is still tender she will start you with something softer.
You choose a breast form together. Shape, weight, and how it sits inside a pocketed bra, meaning one with a fabric pocket sewn in to hold the form. Bring a fitted knit top you wear; the line under clothing is the real test.
Paperwork enters the picture. Breast prostheses and post-surgical bras are generally covered benefits, and plans typically ask for a prescription from your doctor. Coverage varies, so check with your plan and call ahead so we know what to have ready.
Most fitters schedule a first prosthesis fitting about six to eight weeks after surgery, once incisions have closed, though your surgical team sets the date. If you are unsure where you are in recovery, you are ready when the site no longer hurts under light pressure.
Come in wearing whatever you have been wearing; most women arrive still in a surgical compression bra, which is exactly right. After a fitting the choices widen: pocketed bras that look like bras, in lace and in color.
Key takeaway: A post-mastectomy fitting adds a skin check, breast form selection, and insurance paperwork. The rest of the visit is identical.
Pregnancy, Nursing, and Weight Changes Each Call for Their Own Fitting
Band and cup change independently. A woman can lose twenty pounds, drop a band size, and stay in the same cup.
For nursing, come in around 36 to 38 weeks, when your ribcage has already expanded and the fitter can leave room in the cup for milk coming in.
Weight loss, weight gain, and menopause each earn a new fitting, and so does the day your bras stop feeling right for no reason. That is usually the band, not you.
Key takeaway: Get fitted for nursing at 36 to 38 weeks, and again after any real change in weight, hormones, or surgery.
Repairs and Alterations Are Available for a Year After You Buy
There are sewing machines in the store. For a year after purchase we can repair or alter a bra wherever the work is possible: a band taken in, a strap shortened, or a pocket sewn into a bra that did not come with one. So if a bra is almost right, bring it back.
We do not keep your measurements on file, but we do keep a record of what you bought. Reordering the same bra later is a phone call rather than another fitting.
Key takeaway: For a year after purchase, bring a bra back and we will repair or alter it where it can be done.
Most Women Leave in a Size They Did Not Expect
The most common reaction in the fitting room is surprise, usually at a smaller band and a larger cup than she has been buying for years. Nobody sits you down and teaches band and cup sizing. Once someone hands you three bras that fit, the guessing stops.
Come See Us for a Free Fitting
If it has been more than a year, or you have never been fitted, come in for a free custom fitting. Our accredited fitters handle everyday fittings, first bras, nursing fittings, and post-mastectomy prosthesis fittings in the same private rooms.
Schedule a free custom fitting at our Lincoln Court flagship, or at our offices inside the Herbert Herman Cancer Center and Karmanos/McLaren Greater Lansing. You are also welcome to stop in during store hours without booking.