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AM NAKED from the waist up, hidden behind a burgundy velvet curtain, when
Madame Poupie Cadolle, one of the last corsetieres in Paris, tells me that my breasts are not what I thought they were.

brazen luxury a statement of self-care, a madcap gesture ofjoie de vivre. I would look ahead to my fiftieth wearing a true wonder bra.
I just thought it would be a different size.
<<

.8urur1tr
FOR LESS

Dontwanttoburn
$8Oo on a bra? (Sorry,

granddaughter

Poupie Cadolle, 62, is the great-greatof Herminie Cadolle, who in

MADAME POUPIE,ST.OAT ,,

Madame Poupie-weTe

first bra. So it's hard to argue with five generations of mammary know-how when she briskly informs me that I am not the 368 I've long thought I was, as a wardrobe of
1889 invented the

brassieres back home can attest. I am, in fact, a 38A.

My mood deflates faster than my cup size. Until this moment, I was hugely enjoying myself. Poupie-it's easy to get on a first-name basis when one of you is halfnaked-is ensconced in an atelier in Paris's First Arrondissement, tucked into a small
courtyard off Rue St.-Honorr!, a stretch of luxe boutiques and flagship stores. Women from all over the world fly to Paris so that Poupie can measure them. And why not? Imagine a bra made to fit you instead of you trying to fit the bra. Who needs plastic surgery when the right engineering, the right lace-covered hoists and levers, can bring you the optimum bustline? Not that this expertise comes cheap. When I first read about Poupie, the going price for a basic Cadolle couture bra was $500. By the time I got around to flying to Paris to buy one, last April, the dollar had sagged and a true made-to-measure bra would cost a staggering $800. I was about to turn 49, but was already contemplating my fiftieth birthday. The question of how to best acknowledge my half-century mark was starting to gnaw at me. I've known women to climb Mount Everest, hike Machu Picchu, decamp to a wooded retreat, all so they could self-actualize into this crucial decade. Me? I was going to take a suitcase of cash

Getting fitted for your first bra is one of those clumsy, coltish steps to womanhood. The first time anyone approached my chest with a tape measure, I was a goose-pimpled teenager in a starkly lit department store dressing room, waiting with apprehension for The Fitter, a gorgonian creature whose bust preceded her like the prow of a ship. There wasn't much to measure, but it was a rite of passage. My mother hovered in the hallway outside while I cowered in front of the gorgon's harrowing smile and outstretched hands. When we left,I had a red face and little more than a training bra.
a coming-of-age

in a recession ! ) Consider
one of these French

bras,

all auailable at

barenecessities.com.

SIMONE PERELE AVANT-PREMIERE demi atp plunge bra ($87)

Close to four decades later, I'm in Paris for ritual of my own devising not

a gorgon in sight. Instead, I'm standing in an atrium under a skylight of frosted glass, surrounded by mirrored closets, gold mannequins and silk-covered boxes that hold filmy underthings with names like Gilda and Baby Doll.

CHANTELLE AFRICA
mesh undenvire bra ($95)

Poupie was

a law student when

her
ERES LA BRODERIE

mother marched her into the family atelier, waved her hand at the seamstresses and told her only daughter that if she didn't take over the business, the couture side of the Cadolle line would fade away (there is also a manufactured line, sold internationally). The world lost a lawyer but gained a zealous advocate for better bras. For despite her long, blonde
California-teenager

ATTRACTION demi undendre bra ($315)

hair and her burgundy

CHANTELLE CAPRICE demi bra ($rr5)

and fly to Paris to be fitted for the perfect bra, made by the same lingerie house that had crafted undergarments for Mata Hari, Coco Chanel and the Duchess ofwindsor. This would be more than a bra. It would be an act of

pumps trimmed with bows, Poupie is a woman at war. Her enemy: poorly constructed bras. "Bras are not bras anymore!" she scolds. "No support-they are just there to hide the nipple!" And don't get her started on the T-shirt bra. Of course mass manufacturers can't offer the luxury that Poupie provides: a customized bra designed in three fittings and pieced together by a staff of six seamstresses. But that doesn't mean just anyone-even a famous

AUBADE BAHIA
molded plunge bra (Sss)

Mon Dieu ! "Bras

are notbras anymore. No

support-they

are

just

there to hide the nipple." -MADAME CADOLLE

srrrcs of a custom-made Cadolle bra.:!. soME oF rr'n hundreds of spools stot'ed in Cadolle's atelier. e snarr,rsrxnss pieces together a couture bra. 1. TULLE color suatches. i. MADAME cADoLLE in her renouned boutique. (i. a suppr.rEs cHEsr passed doun from Cadolle's great-great-grandmother holds thread, ribbon, uire, hooks and eges, and other bra-making necessities. i. cenolrn couruRE on displag in her salon. l.i. sroRAcE bouesfilled zeith bras. f). caoor,r.r shows the author sheer couture, pointing out herfamous dart.
l. a
:1.

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DEcoNSTRUcTTNG pouprE's A auture sp.A

/)

Jl,r&orl',,
...sits lower in the back than it does in the front, so your cups don't have to do all the heaq'lifting.

Stuor.,

'..

...are ngrct ln tne tront, with elastic servn behind your shoulders, to prevent sagging.

t.._.

Ta(,ric Darts
real shape of your breasts,
...follow the
accenting what you

& Sro*, ----------\..a

,-."-JNr,
\-\--=\

trt*

... needs custom

fitting,

...is a non-stretchy, lightrveight material, like tulle, that rvon't

lose its shape over the course of a dal'.

have-not what

mass-produced bra says you should have.

too: The amount of space between one woman's breasts mav not be the same as another's.

designer-is qualified to become

"I do not

a maker ofbras. make blue jeans," she says. "Why is

I pull my sweater over my head, the moment of truth. She looks, purses her lips.
I wait, hoping that perhaps
she

af ";t

(Lherc to )hc,p

c"t;

Calvin Klein making bras?"

is

will smile in-

IN THE CAPITAL OF CHIC

Onmg quest.fortheperfect bt'a, I aisited thrce
ot her temples of lin geri e,

In the world according to Poupie, a good bra built like a good bridge, offering support and

suspension in all the right places. Those straps that leave indentations on your shoulder? A scandal! The molded cups that hide the nipple but obscure the shape of your actual breast? Unnatural! Skimpy backs that offer little support to the weight in front? Zut alors! Why do women accept this? Poupie knows: They blame themselves. When a bra doesn't look good, it must be the woman's fault. "It's a war, it's a battle, it's a fight to explain to women that they are normal," Poupie confides. "It's just the bra that is not right." Then she guides me to one of her two dressing rooms, pulls the velvet curtain closed and stands behind me as we look in the mirror. At this point,I'm still clothed. "Now," she says conspiratoriall,v, "what is it you want out of this bra?"

dulgently and then call me a silly woman, telling me I have the taut back of an acrobat. "It's bad," she says. "If you hadn't said something, I might have asked if you wanted me to
do something."
chest, and

Then the tape measure slips around my I find out I'm a 38A. My mouth falls

in thz SLrth and Sa,mth An'ondissements.

CARINE Grr,S Or.r'S shop
( cafi n e gilson.cont),

at

open in protest. Surely my breasts are fuller

than that. Why, men have promised impossible things to get at these breasts! I think of at least
one who would offer a testimonial by phone. Poupie smiles. She has been behind this cur-

18 Rue de Grenelle, is so hushed and sofih/ Iit .you hesitate to disturb

the

silky u,ara.vANNrM

tain for decades, measuring everyone from

teenagers to film stars, from Saudi glitterati to

vESPERINI's gtore, at 4 Rue de Totnnon ( a esp eti ni.fi' ), is lia eli er

uith tiolct u a//s.

RosA,

sa-BerA

the French secretary who scrimps and saves to buy her biannual Cadolle bra. All this time spent with naked, vulnerable women has
helped her develop a proper bust-side manner. Breasts come in three shapes, she explains patiently: poires (pears), pommes (apples) and pyramides (pyramids). "Yours are two triangles," she says firml.v. I don't look happy. Poupie sighs and shakes her head. In her experience, no woman wants to hear she has pointybreasts, but such women are turning away from what nature has given them. "I love points!" she says. "It is Ava Gardner! Kim Novak! Elizabeth Taylor in the 1950s!" She scurries out of the dressing room and returns to show me a back issue of French EIle, the cover model wearing a bra and pant-

73 Rue des S a i nts - P dr a, zc us zr here

at

Ifelt

ntost at ease. I ualked auag ztith a blark

lace bra

thatfelt T-shin

znPrLeS & PYRAMTDS >> I had made an appointment two months in advance, flown across an ocean and rented an apartment in the Marais district to make this moment possible. Now I suddenly can't
<<

PEARS,

,4 I

comfortable but looked rcadyfor a night out. I discm,ered these shops u,ith the help of Rebecca
Ma gn i an t, a Fran cophile

from Missouri tt'ho

became anAmerican

in

Patis by u'ay of mnriage. Arter real izing horc

talk, silenced by the body shame that dare not

speak its name.

friends

many ofherArneiran needed help

It's hard to talk about back fat. I didn't even know I could carry extra weight there until my late thirties, when I tried on a sleek jersey
sweater, turned my head to catch the back view in the mirror and saw those mounds of flesh.

ies combo that Ava would've loved. Poupie

designed this

retro

coNTrNUEo oN eecn

1fi

confess to Poupie that if she can fix anything, I would like to get rid of the bulges beneath my shoulder blades. "something happened as I got older," I sa-v. "It's like everythingwent south." "South!" she murmurs. "C'est g6nial," which I interpret as "You crack me up."

opposlrE

pror

shopping, Magniant started a business, Chic Shopping Paris (chicshoppingparis .com; pfices start at lOO euros per person,for aboutfour haurs ofshnp ping).She's also the rcasonlfound myselfin
I-A PETITE ROBE NOIRX,

The mang phases of a

couturefitting:

askingfor a W. 2.BE\MATLING her baclc fat. 3. cADoLLE gets afeelfor her customer'sfigure...
1. LANIHER 4,. ... arvo rarc,s tnee,&trerwnfs.5. wrrAT! Lartpherleams she's an A, not a B. 6. IINNED to perfection 7. srnep adju,stment is key.8. onnwrxc darts.g. FINAL htcks.

(didierludot.com), a
aintage store near the

Palais Ro;qal that sells onftl one thing: little black dresses. -K.L.

120

more.com I xovErrnun Zoou

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