Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image. Related Story: Bra basics for getting the right fit

NEW YORK -- Talk about your awkward moments.

I'm standing half-naked in front of a mirror in a tiny dressing room at Ripplu, an upscale lingerie shop on Manhattan's famed Fifth Avenue, a frothy Bradelis bra clutched in my hand. All my developed life I've considered myself a modest 34B, so the voluptuous-looking C cup that fitting counselor Akimi Kureshiro is urging me to try on seems wrong. Waaay wrong.

Maybe it's meant for my better-endowed sister, who's also decided to be fitted and is rustling around in the dressing room next door. But Ms. Kureshiro, who has been guiding women through this most intimate of activities for some 20 years, including 10 in her native Japan, just laughs.

I'm not alone in this fashion misstep, of course; experts estimate that up to four out of five American women wear the wrong bra size, giving rise to those ugly lumps of back fat above and below the band and angry red marks on your skin when you take it off. Back and shoulder pain also can arise from a misfitted bra.

Even Oprah has weighed in on the subject with a "bra intervention" episode. That's part of the reason I felt so inspired to work in personal fittings at Ripplu and the Town Shop, another well-known undergarment store on New York's Upper West Side, during this girls-only weekend trip with my mother and three sisters.

Yet, thanks to specialists like Ms. Kureshiro, whose diminutive hands have adjusted thousands of pairs of breasts over the years, some of us are finally getting set straight.

"You see?" she asks, as I slip my arms through the lacy straps, fasten the band (middle hook, please!) and, rising slowly, venture a peek at the blushing woman staring back at me in the mirror.

		Chart: Step-by-step instructions on how to get that perfect fit

But before I can respond, she reaches a hand right into the cup, grabs a fistful of -- Gretchen -- and yanks it toward my sternum. Then, as I stifle a whoop (did she really just do that?) she hoists the entire package up toward my chin. Her other hand, meanwhile, is busy pulling the bra's underwire up nice and snug.

"You have to learn to scoop it so you get a nice, round shape," she explains, as blase as if she were showing me how to pack H?agen-Dazs into a cone. By "it," she means the loose flesh that's melting into my armpits.

The mistake many women make, Ms. Kureshiro says, is that they don't realize the fatty tissue under their arms is actually breast tissue that needs to be supported. So we choose a bra with a too-small cup and too-large band size, which makes us look "flatter and flatter."

Or, we wrongly assume that a bra's only real purpose is to conceal the nipple, and settle for something that simply covers, such as all those one-size-fits-all sports bras I tend to favor.

Ripplu's three-step system for creating a woman's "most beautiful silhouette," perfected over years of research and experience, is more focused: collect, channel and lift.

I gaze back at the mirror and Mamma Mia! So that's how the medium-sized Julia Roberts came to look like the maximum-sized Erin Brockovich. I suddenly was sporting some serious cleavage.

"Hey Mom, look! Can you believe it? " I hollered, as I threw open the curtain and displayed my new-found curves.

But wait. Finding the right bra size is only part of the process, according to Ms. Kureshiro. If you practice Ripplu's scooping system, you can "train" your sagging breast tissue to spring naturally into that beautiful curvy shape.

"Believe it or not, your fat will memorize the shape," she claims.

I nod incredulously, but I'm only half listening -- I can't take my eyes off that busty silhouette in the mirror. The bra makes me look so busty, in fact, that I know I'd never have the nerve to wear it in public. (Sorry, sweetheart.) So with my fitter's help, I choose something a little more subtle but still uplifting: a spongy, molded iBra by Wacoal.

As I use the store's pink heart-shaped pen to charge, Ms. Kureshiro reminds me to always wash my bras by hand, never to throw them into the dryer and to tighten the clasp after about 15 wearings to avoid stretching.

"You don't want your breast tissue to go back," she says.

It's a little more low-key across town at the Town Shop, a small lingerie shop on Broadway at 82nd Street. Unlike the peaceful Ripplu, where customers trickle in one at a time, this cramped place, which has been in business since 1888, is bustling with activity. And for good reason. Along with countless bras in sizes AA to JJ, it stocks sleepwear, swimwear, hosiery and shapewear.

My previous fitting at Ripplu started with a measuring tape. But Eyvette Manigault, a professional bra fitter for 35 years, immediately sizes me up with just a critical eyeballing.

"34C," she says, as she ushers me in the direction of the dressing rooms and then disappears to the area where the bras are stored. I'm starting to see a pattern.

A few minutes later, she returns with a handful of bras in varying styles, including one that's a 32D. (As if!) As I start trying them on, she explains the basics. Bras, she says, should always be comfortable. The band shouldn't ride up in the back or dig into the breast line, and the straps shouldn't dig into your shoulders.

For example, most women who are small in front assume they're an A cup. But that's not always the case; it depends on your breasts. The 34B I've been wearing, she says, cuts into my bustline, making me look squished.

So, I should always choose a 34C, I ask? Not exactly. Bra size, Ms. Manigault notes, varies depending on style and manufacturer. "So you always want to try a new one on before buying it."

I end up buying a sheer mesh contour "plunge" bra by Natori for $46. I like the way the straps can convert to a criss-cross or halter; the clear center gore between the cups is also pretty cool. Ms. Manigault nods her head in approval.

"Looks good," she says.

I have to agree.

But surely, I wonder as I try on my purchases a few days later in the privacy of home, New York isn't the only place to get fitted for a bra. So on the advice of a friend, I head over to The Pussycat, a fine lingerie boutique in Squirrel Hill, where co-owner Gail Gross once again walks me through the process.

A second-generation fitter, Ms. Gross is another who relies on her eyes instead of a tape measure to size up a customer. And once that's settled, her goal is to take what you have and "collect it" into something that makes you look and feel good, inside and out. Hence, the large selection of beautiful European designer demi-cup bras.

"You don't want a uniboob," she notes.

In years past, she says, American women sought a smooth, round look. The style today is to be lifted, so there's more space between the bust. Younger women especially love to be "up and perky," she says.

When I voice my concerns about creating too much decolletage, she laughs.

"It's not fake," she says. "It's just you, collected in front."

After determining my size -- a 32 or 34C -- Ms. Gross fetches several bras from various displays and brings them to the dressing room. Oprah's favorite, the $59 molded cup Le Myst?re, is comfy but ho-hum. And while the Mary Green silk ruffle day bra -- worn by the "Sex and the City" girls -- is lovely, it certainly won't lift me into place. The black lace number from Princesse Tam Tam is to-die-for gorgeous and fits like a dream but, at $94, is a bit too expensive.

Finally, Ms. Gross hands me an unlined mesh Soire bra by Cosabella, European Size 3. The soft molded cups couldn't have been more comfortable and the double-loop spaghetti straps and low V-cut center, incredibly sexy. Thanks to a nylon "wing" on each side, meant to gather everything in, it also gave me a great shape. I handed over my $50.

Ms. Gross wasn't surprised. Women today treat bras not as underwear, but the first layer of clothing. So while shape is important, so is aesthetics.

"See?" she says, pulling open her sweater to reveal a light purple bra. "It's a whole different mindset."

Exactly.