Kiss Me Deadly

Sizing

The chart below gives a rough guide to our sizing, first in inches, then in centimetres; the amount of stretch in our items varies depending on the fabric. Our Van Doren basic 6-strap suspender belt stretches enormously, for example, whereas the boned version tends to stretch less. Our UK-made items often run a bit smaller in actual measurements than those made overseas, but as they are also often powernet, they stretch tons.

With respect to bra sizing, we use the old standardized system. This means that the actual underbust measurement of our bras is 4 inches LESS than the stated size, which can seem small compared to value brands.

If you're buying for yourself, the easiest way to work out your bra size is to measure yourself with a soft tape measure, preferably while you're already wearing a bra that fits you.

(When you're wearing a bra that fits, your breasts should completely fill the bra cups without spilling over; the shoulder straps should not dig in; the band should stay horizontally across your back, without riding up; and any underwire should remain flat against your chest, without digging into your breasts.)

For your underbust measurement, measure horizontally around your ribs, just underneath your bust, and refer to the chart below:

For your cup size, measure horizontally around the fullest part of your bust and compare this to your band size. A bust measurement that is 1 inch (2.5cm) larger than your band size is a B cup, 2 inches (5cm) larger a C cup, 3 inches (7.5cm) larger a D cup and 4 inches (10cm) larger is a DD cup.

Our bras are made with stretch fabric, which gives them some flexibility of fit, and you can try going one back size up and a cup size down, or vice versa, if we don’t have your size. However, this doesn't always work, so see if you can find a shop close to you to try styles on. If you order online, be aware that removing the tags may mean a return is refused.

And now for a spot of theory and explaining:

Despite the best efforts of the EU, there is no longer much real agreement on what measurements constitute a certain size. This can make life quite difficult, but it allows different brands to cater for different groups of people; you can be the same size at age 18 and age 30, but you’ll probably be a different shape - and that’s assuming you haven’t changed sizes a few times during those years! So, please take the dress sizing as very roughly indicative.

Like any other clothing, some lingerie styles will help you look your fabulous self, and some maybe won’t do much for you, so it’s worth trying a few different styles from us, especially as we introduce new ones regularly.

As a general rule we tend to make our items for people who are bigger in the rear than up top, as we're a UK brand that sells largely to women in their 30s and upwards. Women come in all sizes and our choice of what we make is based on the market, not what size and shape we think you should be.

That market thing: we’re a tiny brand. We only employ two people full time. You can count the numbers of items we make in the hundreds, not the tens of thousands that high street stores and supermarkets manage, and that means we have to choose the fastest and best-selling sizes and shapes.

We have been trying to expand the range of sizes we do as fast as we can, but it’s often a choice between spending thousands of pounds on new sizes, or on new styles in sizes that always sell. For the moment we’re going to be doing the latter, mostly because to keep our prices low we’re having to buy many more of each item than we used to.

For those of you who are outside of the current size range, we’re really sorry about this, and we’ll get back to doing more sizes when the government stops the recession. That’s a promise!