Riley's Story: Trial and Error

By: Riley Moore

My first-time shopping for a bra was a few years back, but I still remember the shame and embarrassment that came along with it and how it made me feel. It was in sixth grade and at the time I was the first of most of my friends that needed to buy a real bra or even a training bra. I distinctly remember rushing to my best friend’s older sister for advice and the exact training bra she gave me, which was a cotton, gingham print triangle bra – not the cutest and definitely not the most comfortable.

Even at that point, it was something I didn’t even admit to anyone else, until my mom brought up the fact that I should probably be wearing a bra every day. This was in seventh grade. I had been wearing the training bra but because it was so uncomfortable, I could only wear it for short periods of time and felt it wasn’t worth it. My mom and I went to the mall, prepared to try on bras and find one that would work for me: someone who was still in elementary school who wanted something cute but not overtly sexual. 

This is when the true horror began. I was faced with lingerie stores whose target audiences were definitely not a seventh grader and it ended up making me feel more embarrassed and defeated than ever as I left empty handed and returned home to the uncomfortable, cotton bra. I was able to eventually find something that worked in the short time at another store, with okay options for tweens/teens, but unfortunately no longer exists. 

Overall, my first bra shopping experience was a bust. It took a lot of trial and error to finally find something that worked and even then, my body was changing so much that most bras did not fit for very long before I would have to buy a new one in a bigger size. When looking back at this experience, it makes me wish that I had a brand such as Apricotton to help me through such a hard time, with bras that adjust to fit a variety of different shapes and sizes as well as cute designs making bra shopping all the more comfortable for everyone.