ThirdLove: The Bra Size Revolution That All Started With A Selfie

Lingerie buying is a minefield.

Anything that can make it easier is a welcome development.

But ThirdLove's new app, which claims to be able to calculate your exact bra size just from a couple of selfies, seems a bit too good to be true.

For the big-busted, you're dealing with the constant fight between beauty and feats of structural engineering.

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For the ample-of-nipple, there are issues of chaffing to take into consideration.

For the more modest of bosom, it's a toss up between the latest "plumping" technology and a "s*d it, I'm just going to go and buy something lacy and pretty, I don't care what the boys think" attitude.

But when it comes down to it, we're really all just hoping that our breasts don't flop out onto the desk when we next bend over, or that our trendy sideboob doesn't become a rather less fashionable full-boob.

For the last few years, marketers have been taunting us with claims that we're all walking around in ill-fitting lingerie.

Basically, we're incompetent shoppers with no concept of our own body.

And of course, it's true in part, but probably only because we're all completely different shapes and most high street brands can't cater for that.

Going for a lingerie fitting can be a stressful experience.

It usually involves either a slightly severe older woman bossing you around and tutting like you've spent your whole adult life committing some heinous crime or a young inexperienced gal who's afraid to touch you at all.

So ThirdLove's new app, which promises to be able to accurately determine your perfect size from two selfies, cutting out the changing room faff, seems like a dreamy alternative.

The principle is simple:

You take two selfies, one from the front and one from the side.

No, you don't have to bare your naked boobs. In fact, you're supposed to wear a tank top.

The app then uses your iPhone's rubric to calculate your measurments and issue you with a size, right there and then.

ThirdLove's founders Heidi Zak and Ra'el Cohen, speaking to The Cut, said: "I think... the issue with e-commerce is generally around fit. That’s why you see initial return rates from online shopping are 40 to 50 percent, because people are buying two to three sizes."

"Using the mobile phone as a platform for both fitting and shopping for lingerie is completely unique."

It sounds great, but we're still sceptical.

Firstly, the app is directly related to ThirdLove's online store and the size you are provided with corresponds only to the bras in their store, in America.

Clever, if you think about it, but not useful for us Brits.

Secondly, getting a good selfie is hard to do! We don't trust ourselves to take the pictures properly.

Thirdlove's creating of a whole new sizing chart is just confusing and will probably CONTRIBUTE to the number of women walking around in the wrong size, if you ask us...

And finally, are they not just going to get a load of pictures of boobs, from people who haven't read the "tank top" clause? What happens if someone hacks into that database?

Hmm.

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It's an interesting idea, but we're not sure it will catch on just yet.

What do you think? Would YOU trust a measurement based on a busty snapshot? Let us know in the comments!