Bust a Move: B by Ted Baker at Debenhams

Yesterday, I went on down to Westfield to scope out the new B by Ted Baker lingerie range available exclusively at Debenhams. Now, I'm not really a big lingerie girl (my flatter than Kansas totties are more than happy in American Apparel's cotton crisscross sports bras), but the temptation of my first-ever proper bra fitting in the end proved to be enough to tear me away from my computer. My only prior attempt at determining the true size of my bust took place when I was sixteen. I waltzed into Victoria's Secret for a fitting and was turned away by a sniggling sales girl who proudly proclaimed that Vicky S only started at "34 B" and informed me that Gap Kids made sportsbras for preteens. So that was pretty much that.

Fast forward 8 years, and most days you find me going sans-bra or strapped into one of said American Apparel numbers. Now, when it comes to shopping in general, I am a devotee of the school of "do not shop by size." Size is but a number, and women who refuse to buy a dress in a size 10 and would rather buy the 8 and "lose the weight" to fit into it astound me. I never check sizes when I shop, I just know what fits me and how I like things to hang and that's that.

But when it comes to lingerie, I'm a total hypocrite and doggedly proclaim my lifelong adherence to the realm of 32A, determined in my lack of decolletage. Previously I have balked at the suggestion of a B cup, rendering any such insinuation to be totally offbase from my Asian washboard glory. But yesterday, I was taught differently. While I was bang-on when it came to the demi-cups (32 A all the way, as I had suspected), I was surprised that I could actually go up a cup size when venturing into the realm of the pad. I never ever wear padded bras, they make me feel self-conscious and I can never find one that fits--a gaping gulf stretching out between my t-shirt and skin, not a good look. But as it turns out, 34 A produced said gulf-effect, but 32 B left only a millimeter of empty bra in need of filling. Interesting.

So while I still took home the demi set, I exited Westfield feeling somewhat exhilarated, as if at long last, after 24 years on this earth, I'd finally been inducted into the world of grown up women and their grown up bras.

B by Ted Baker includes 42 pieces of lingerie and sleepwear, ranging from £10.50 for hipster briefs to £49.50 for the silk print kimono.