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The Central Coast’s new breast friend: Empowering Women One Bra Fit at a Time

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Hidden away under linen lifestyle shirts, unassuming work uniforms, busy basic t-shirts and grabbed-off-the-spare-chair activewear tops right across the Central Coast are hundreds of pairs of boobs bouncing about causing grief.

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Unless you’ve got a pair, you might not know it. But if you do, well, you know what I’m talking about.

And if you do not fit proportionately into the shopfront shape of a mannequin, you might also relate to the grief that is the job of finding that ‘perfect fit’ for your tit. Ahem.

This writer has pushed the task of over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder shopping time and time again to the bottom of the list of things to do, until finally I came across the Central Coast’s own Shell Lingerie, located at Forresters Beach, and thought it was time to see if the impossible could be achieved.

Bra Fitting Studio Central Coast

Local mum and your soon-to-be new best bosom buddy, Shell Barker, has realised her long held dream of opening a bra fitting studio by the sea. Hailing from the UK, Shell moved with her family to our sunny side in early 2023, and soon recognised the huge lack of quality professional bra fitting services us local ladies had on offer.

You see, about two decades ago Shell trained as a bra fitter, where she developed a lifelong obsession with underwear, particularly for those bodies that do not resemble the displays of the shopping centre windows. Or shall we say, pretty much all of us.

The itch was scratched and she opened Shell Lingerie Bra Fitting Studio, converting a space in her home into a welcoming, safe and private studio where she greets you with a cuppa, and invites you in for a 45 minute experience that takes women on a journey from ticking a task off the list to feeling completely empowered.

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Shell Lingerie Bra Fitting Studio Central Coast

Shell truly is passionate about teaching women how bras should fit and feel, and to bust myths about bra sizing so that no matter where they shop or the shape their body takes, they can navigate the sales racks with confidence.

When I visited Shell, I took along a few of my own bras as well as dresses that call the back of the cupboard home because I didn’t feel confident with what was ‘under the wear’.

During our fun fitting, Shell had diagnosed my confidence barrier by decreasing the bra size by two whole dress sizes, and increasing the cup by a shocking two letters.

“My aim is to share my knowledge and it not become mystical, and then to become everyone’s bra lady,” she said as she taught me how to swoop and scoop my chest.

Boutique Bra Fitting Forresters Beach

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She now has online communities of local women who chit chat about their rack as she sources them the perfect fit.

“I find I get a lot coming back because they’re empowering their own choices, they’ve realised they have choices now and options for colour, size and shape,” she said.

“I had one lady who told me she wore a bikini for the first time in 30 years after I found her one that fit, she thanked me for making her feel great inside and out and I got all emotional – I loved that for her because I think we as women are our harshest critics.”

Shell’s there to support and empower women of all sizes: especially fuller busted figures and those growing through the phases of pregnancy, birth and beyond.

She told me her client is, “any woman who puts a bra on in the morning and doesn’t like what she sees; any woman who takes their bra off at the end of the day and has any type of discomfort or pain, or anything that makes them think, ‘it could be better than this’.

“Because women deserve bras that fit – I champion embracing where you are right now. If a new bra makes you feel better than when you walked in, then I’ve done my job.”