Let’s Talk About Bra Sizes, demystifying the Double D Bra.

Did you know that a UK DD cup is equivalent to an EU E cup, and in the US, it’s a DD/E?

For years, bra sizing has caused confusion, especially when comparing UK, European, and US sizes. One of the biggest misconceptions is around the UK DD and EU E cups — but how did this difference arise, and how has it shaped our perceptions of bra sizes?

So let's demystify the Double D Bra. For a long time, D was the largest cup size most lingerie shops offered, with A, B, C, and D being the standard options, with a small range of back sizes. To fit into these sizes, many women wore ill-fitting bras. The pressure to appear "smaller" led British manufacturers to label the next size up from D as DD, rather than E, because DD simply sounded smaller, and they believed this would make the DD bras more appealing to customers.

Sometimes people think that DD is half a cup size bigger than D, but that’s a myth!

Today, the narrative has shifted. DD+ bra sizes are celebrated, and brands are expanding their size ranges to offer better-fitting bras for all shapes. Women are not only embracing their natural curves, but understanding the importance for well-fitted bras. The movement toward body positivity and self-acceptance is thriving.

At Naughty Knickers, we list UK sizes on our product pages, and often include EU sizes too. However, many European brands print only the EU cup sizes on their tags, which can sometimes cause confusion.

To help make things easier, we’ve included a size guide below to show the international cup size conversions as well as the international back size conversions, so you can confidently find your correct size without compromising on style or comfort! Feel free to reach out to us if you need help with bra sizing - we're always happy to help!

P.S. DD isn’t even necessarily a big cup size, it depends on the band size, but we’ll leave that for another day!

The below size guide shows the International conversions for CUP sizes.