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Rachel Sutherland

Rachel Sutherland has been a professional journalist for 14 years, most recently as the Style Editor for the Charlotte Observer. Her writing and styling work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country. She is often a featured guest on syndicated radio programs The Matt & Ramona Show and The Satisfied Life. Find her at www.rachelsutherland.net or email her: rachel@rachelsutherland.net.

Having been blessed in the chest and a vocal disciple at The Church of The Good Bra, I am not afraid to check out what other women have going on.

And more often than not, I find myself wanting to do an Oprah-style bra intervention.

Nothing — NOTHING — makes you look shorter, plumper, squattier, more disproportionate or slubby than an ill-fitting, poorly supportive bra. And I say that with love, as someone who loves her braless work-at-home days in UGGs and yoga pants as much as the next girl.

I saw an adorable young, petite woman out recently in Charlotte and the total chicness of her ensemble (well-fitted dress, excellent shoes, tasteful accessories) was completely overshadowed by her large breasts that were essentially sitting at her waist, nearly obscuring it.

I didn’t know her well enough to discreetly give her the name of my girl Mackenize at the SouthPark Nordys. So I fought the urge to grab her by the shoulders and do a bra intervention on the spot.

Had I figured out a way to do it without offending, here’s what I would have told her:

* Finding a good fitting bra doesn’t have to cost a zillion dollars. REALLY.

* Check your nervousness and shyness at the fitting room door and let an expert (a real expert, not a disinterested teen sales clerk at Victoria’s Secret) get all up in your business and help you find a bra that fits. I promise: your breasts are not the first she’s seen. Or the biggest. Or the smallest.

* Don’t like the prices at the department store? No worries. Let the professionally trained bra-fitters get you in a size and style that suits and shop online to find a price that fits your budget.

* You will not believe the confidence boost you’ll get from a properly fitted bra until you wear one under your clothes. I’ve even come to love my décolletage thanks to properly fitted undergarments.

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