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AM NAKED from the waist up, hid-den behind a burgundy velvet curtain, whenMadame Poupie Cadolle, one of the last corse-tieres in Paris, tells me that my breasts are notwhat I thought they were.

Poupie Cadolle, 62, is the great-great-granddaughter of Herminie Cadolle, who in1889 invented the first bra. So it's hard to arguewith five generations of mammary know-howwhen she briskly informs me that I am not the368 I've long thought I was, as a wardrobe ofbrassieres back home can attest.

I am, in fact, a 38A.My mood deflates faster than my cup

size. Until this moment, I was hugelyenjoying myself. Poupie-it's easy to get ona first-name basis when one of you is half-naked-is ensconced in an atelier in Paris's

First Arrondissement, tucked into a smallcourtyard off Rue St.-Honorr!, a stretch of luxeboutiques and flagship stores.

Women from all over the world fly to Paris

so that Poupie can measure them. And whynot? Imagine a bra made to fit you instead ofyou trying to fit the bra. Who needs plasticsurgery when the right engineering, the rightlace-covered hoists and levers, can bring youthe optimum bustline? Not that this expertisecomes cheap. When I first read about Poupie,

the going price for a basic Cadolle couture brawas $500. By the time I got around to flyingto Paris to buy one, last April, the dollar hadsagged and a true made-to-measure bra wouldcost a staggering $800.

I was about to turn 49, but was already con-templating my fiftieth birthday. The questionof how to best acknowledge my half-centurymark was starting to gnaw at me. I've knownwomen to climb Mount Everest, hike MachuPicchu, decamp to a wooded retreat, all so theycould self-actualize into this crucial decade.

Me? I was going to take a suitcase of cashand fly to Paris to be fitted for the perfectbra, made by the same lingerie house thathad crafted undergarments for Mata Hari,Coco Chanel and the Duchess ofwindsor. Thiswould be more than a bra. It would be an act of

brazen luxury a statement of self-care, a mad-cap gesture ofjoie de vivre. I would look aheadto my fiftieth wearing a true wonder bra.

I just thought it would be a different size.

<< MADAME POUPIE,ST.OAT ,,Getting fitted for your first bra is one of thoseclumsy, coltish steps to womanhood. The firsttime anyone approached my chest with a tapemeasure, I was a goose-pimpled teenager ina starkly lit department store dressing room,waiting with apprehension for The Fitter, a

gorgonian creature whose bust preceded herlike the prow of a ship.

There wasn't much to measure, but it was arite of passage. My mother hovered in the hall-way outside while I cowered in front of thegorgon's harrowing smile and outstretchedhands. When we left,I had a red face and littlemore than a training bra.

Close to four decades later, I'm in Paris fora coming-of-age ritual of my own devising nota gorgon in sight. Instead, I'm standing in anatrium under a skylight of frosted glass, sur-rounded by mirrored closets, gold mannequinsand silk-covered boxes that hold filmy un-derthings with names like Gilda and Baby Doll.

Poupie was a law student when hermother marched her into the family atelier,waved her hand at the seamstresses and toldher only daughter that if she didn't take overthe business, the couture side of the Cadolleline would fade away (there is also a manu-factured line, sold internationally). The worldlost a lawyer but gained a zealous advocatefor better bras. For despite her long, blondeCalifornia-teenager hair and her burgundypumps trimmed with bows, Poupie is a womanat war. Her enemy: poorly constructed bras.

"Bras are not bras anymore!" she scolds. "Nosupport-they are just there to hide the nip-ple!" And don't get her started on the T-shirtbra. Of course mass manufacturers can't of-fer the luxury that Poupie provides: a custom-ized bra designed in three fittings and piecedtogether by a staff of six seamstresses. Butthat doesn't mean just anyone-even a famous

.8urur1trFOR LESS

Dontwanttoburn$8Oo on a bra? (Sorry,Madame Poupie-weTe

in a recession ! ) Considerone of these French

bras, all auailable atbarenecessities.com.

SIMONE PERELEAVANT-PREMIERE

demi atp plunge bra ($87)

CHANTELLE AFRICAmesh undenvire bra ($95)

ERES LA BRODERIEATTRACTION

demi undendre bra ($315)

CHANTELLE CAPRICEdemi bra ($rr5)

AUBADE BAHIAmolded plunge bra (Sss)

Mon Dieu ! "Brasare notbras anymore. Nosupport-they are justthere to hide the nipple."

-MADAME CADOLLE

l. a srrrcs of a custom-made Cadolle bra.:!. soME oF rr'n hundreds of spools stot'ed in Cadolle's atelier.:1. e snarr,rsrxnss pieces together a couture bra. 1. TULLE color suatches. i. MADAME cADoLLE in her renounedboutique. (i. a suppr.rEs cHEsr passed doun from Cadolle's great-great-grandmother holds thread, ribbon,uire, hooks and eges, and other bra-making necessities. i. cenolrn couruRE on displag in her salon.l.i. sroRAcE bouesfilled zeith bras. f). caoor,r.r shows the author sheer couture, pointing out herfamous dart.

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Jl,r&orl',,...sits lower in the

back than it does in '..the front, so your \

cups don't have to doall the heaq'lifting.

Stuor.,t.._....are ngrct ln tne tront,with elastic servnbehind your shoulders,to prevent sagging.

Darts & Sro*, --...follow the real --------\..-

shape of your breasts, \-\--- =\

accenting what youhave-not what a

mass-produced bra saysyou should have.

Ta(,ric...is a non-stretchy,lightrveight material,like tulle, that rvon'tlose its shape overthe course of a dal'.

,-."-JNr, €trt*... needs custom fitting,too: The amount ofspace between onewoman's breasts mavnot be the same as

another's.

designer-is qualified to become a maker ofbras."I do not make blue jeans," she says. "Why is

Calvin Klein making bras?"In the world according to Poupie, a good bra

is built like a good bridge, offering support andsuspension in all the right places. Those strapsthat leave indentations on your shoulder?A scandal! The molded cups that hide thenipple but obscure the shape of your actualbreast? Unnatural! Skimpy backs that offer lit-tle support to the weight in front? Zut alors!

Why do women accept this? Poupie knows:They blame themselves. When a bra doesn'tlook good, it must be the woman's fault.

"It's a war, it's a battle, it's a fight to explainto women that they are normal," Poupie con-fides. "It's just the bra that is not right."

Then she guides me to one of her two dress-ing rooms, pulls the velvet curtain closed andstands behind me as we look in the mirror. Atthis point,I'm still clothed.

"Now," she says conspiratoriall,v, "what is ityou want out of this bra?"

,4 I<< PEARS, znPrLeS & PYRAMTDS >>

I had made an appointment two months inadvance, flown across an ocean and rentedan apartment in the Marais district to makethis moment possible. Now I suddenly can'ttalk, silenced by the body shame that dare notspeak its name.

It's hard to talk about back fat. I didn't evenknow I could carry extra weight there untilmy late thirties, when I tried on a sleek jersey

sweater, turned my head to catch the back viewin the mirror and saw those mounds of flesh.

I confess to Poupie that if she can fix any-thing, I would like to get rid of the bulges be-neath my shoulder blades.

"something happened as I got older," I sa-v.

"It's like everythingwent south.""South!" she murmurs. "C'est g6nial," which

I interpret as "You crack me up."

I pull my sweater over my head, the mo-ment of truth. She looks, purses her lips.I wait, hoping that perhaps she will smile in-dulgently and then call me a silly woman, tell-ing me I have the taut back of an acrobat.

"It's bad," she says. "If you hadn't said some-thing, I might have asked if you wanted me todo something."

Then the tape measure slips around mychest, and I find out I'm a 38A. My mouth fallsopen in protest. Surely my breasts are fullerthan that. Why, men have promised impossiblethings to get at these breasts! I think of at leastone who would offer a testimonial by phone.

Poupie smiles. She has been behind this cur-tain for decades, measuring everyone fromteenagers to film stars, from Saudi glitterati tothe French secretary who scrimps and saves

to buy her biannual Cadolle bra. All this timespent with naked, vulnerable women hashelped her develop a proper bust-side manner.

Breasts come in three shapes, she explainspatiently: poires (pears), pommes (apples) andpyramides (pyramids).

"Yours are two triangles," she says firml.v.I don't look happy. Poupie sighs and shakes

her head. In her experience, no woman wants tohear she has pointybreasts, but such women are

turning away from what nature has given them."I love points!" she says. "It is Ava Gardner!

Kim Novak! Elizabeth Taylor in the 1950s!"She scurries out of the dressing room and

returns to show me a back issue of FrenchEIle, the cover model wearing a bra and pant-ies combo that Ava would've loved. Poupiedesigned this retro coNTrNUEo oN eecn 1fi

opposlrE pror The mang phases of a couturefitting:1. LANIHER askingfor a W. 2.BE\MATLING her baclc

fat. 3. cADoLLE gets afeelfor her customer'sfigure...4,. ... arvo rarc,s tnee,&trerwnfs.5. wrrAT! Lartpherleamsshe's an A, not a B. 6. IINNED to perfection 7. srnepadju,stment is key.8. onnwrxc darts.g. FINAL htcks.

120 more.com I xovErrnun Zoou

af ";t c"t;(Lherc to )hc,pIN THE CAPITALOF CHIC

Onmg quest.fortheper-

fect bt'a, I aisited thrceot her temples of lin geri e,

in thz SLrth and Sa,mthAn'ondissements.CARINE Grr,S Or.r'S shop( cafi n e gilson.cont), at18 Rue de Grenelle, is so

hushed and sofih/ Iit.you hesitate to disturbthe silky u,ara.vANNrMvESPERINI's gtore,

at 4 Rue de Totnnon( a esp eti ni.fi' ), is lia eli eruith tiolct u a//s. sa-BerA

RosA, at 73 Rue des

S a i nts - P dr a, zc us zr here

Ifelt ntost at ease. Iualked auag ztith a blarklace bra thatfelt T-shincomfortable but lookedrcadyfor a night out.

I discm,ered these shops

u,ith the help of Rebecca

Ma gn i an t, a Fran cophile

from Missouri tt'hobecame anAmerican inPatis by u'ay of mnri-age. Arter real izing horcmany ofherArneiranfriends needed helpshopping, Magniantstarted a business,Chic Shopping Paris(chicshoppingparis.com; pfices start at lOOeuros per person,foraboutfour haurs ofshnpping).She's also thercasonlfound myselfinI-A PETITE ROBE NOIRX,

(didierludot.com), aaintage store near thePalais Ro;qal that sellsonftl one thing: littleblack dresses. -K.L.

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