Ok, are there any strapless bras that do not slide down to one’s belly? I have an ample chest and have some cute tops that I haven’t worn because they need a strapless bra. Any suggestions?
Yes, but they are expensive. I have a small chest but found I was not wearing tons of cute tops because of the same issue. I Finally went to a real bra store. My favorite was a Wacoal bra…cost me $75. I was regretting it, but now I love it. It’s not as comfy as a real bra of course, because it has to be tighter around the rib cage to not fall down. But the edges have this material that adheres comfortably to the skin so it doesn’t. I don’t think twice about wearing it now and I forget I have it on. It’s so nice to not having to pull up a strapless bra anymore. I’d never had someone fit me for a bra.
Paging @BunsenBurner who is an expert in this type of thing
Check out HerRoom.com.
I can’t remember the brand name just at the moment, but it is the only strapless bra I ever found comfortable and supportive. Oh, Elomi. The Wacoal is also nice.
There are independent lingerie stores that carry these brands with very deft and helpful Ritters that make a fitting absolutely painless and quick.
I’ll echo what conmoma said - they do exist but plan to spend. Good bras are prices - especially if you are not a
'usual size. I’m also busty and find that I need to shop at a specialty lingere shop because depratment stores do not carry my size. So, go get fitted and avoid Victoria Secret like the plague! You can also google how to get fitted for a strapless bra and you’ll find some good advice.
I needed a strapless bra for the dress I wore to S1’s wedding. I’m busty and wasn’t sure how this was going to work. I went to Nordstrom’s, got measured, and tried on 2 different bras. I bought the Wacoal. I affectionately called it the torture device because it had to fit snugly. I wore it for 8 hours at a time a couple of times before the wedding to be sure I could still breath with it on. Needless to say, I danced up a storm at the wedding and the bra never moved, nor did I feel like I was going to fall out of it.
Was just talking about strapless bras this weekend. I’m a 38C and was thinking that nothing sounded more uncomfortable to me than a strapless bra - and have to admit, I doubt how good a job they can do! The tightness doesn’t sound appealing! Thrilled I bought a MOB dress that requires no special lingerie!!!
Second the advice given: get fitted at a lingerie boutique and be prepared to shell out $75-150. Wacoal, La Perla, Marie Jo make strapless bras that do not feel like torture devices. This is the reason why strapless bras work: the band of any properly fitted bra should provide 90% of support; the straps are mostly there to keep the bra straight on. So if your bra is hanging on by the straps, it is not the right bra for you.
http://www.today.com/style/top-10-mistakes-when-buying-bra-2D80555005
The Wacoal sounds good. Is Soma a decent lingerie store? Soma, Cacique and Victoria’s Secret are all the lingerie stores near me. And like @bookreader - I detest VS. Otherwise, an hour and a half drive to the Chicago suburbs.
Avoid VS! 
Are you sure you need a strapless bra with your tops? Halterneck tops can be worn with convertible bras, like this one:
http://m.herroom.com/marie-jo-010-0416-avero-convertible-bra.shtml
The best thing about this thread is now I’m getting bra ads instead of those white NB tennis shoe ads from that other thread.
The one thing I found from the specialty bra stores is that they all had a rounded piece of gel type material on the bottom of the strap that goes around the rib cage.
I"ve shopped at Soma but was underwhelmed at how they sized me. The saleslady insisted that I was a larger band than I really am. By sizing me in a larger band, she could sell me a bra in a size they have. If I went down a band size (to my proper size) then they did not have a bra in that band size/cup size. I fall outside the size range that they sell. But they were happy to fit me into a bra that really was the wrong size for me.
VS is famous for improperly fitting customers. Just google it and you’ll find loads of stories about this.
It’s not just VS - it’s just about every discount and retail store (except, Nordstrom’s, perhaps, that tends to have a larger selection up bigger cup sizes than most stores). It is mostly s a function of the way bra companies size things in the U.S., especially when it comes to larger busted women. @bookreader, your experience is typical of sizing here – most bra companies only size up to a DDD (and many companies don’t go beyond a D or DD), forcing women to go up a band size rather than cup size.
As a result, many (or perhaps most) women wear ill-fitting bras in this country, and probably would to better to decrease their band size and increase their cup size. Someone that wears a 36 DD, for example, might be better served by a wearing a 34F. Europe is much better at sizing for larger-breasted women; it is not uncommon to see sizing up to N. Try finding that at Macy’s or VS.
There has to be an independent (or a small chain like Rigby and Peller formerly known as Intimacy) boutique around your neck of the woods! Agree that boutiques usually carry a larger selection of band/cup size choices than mainstream stores (some Saks, Neiman, and Nordstrom stores are exceptions).
I got mine at VS. Size 36DD. Worked great. Very comfortable. Wore it all day for a wedding. Cost was $55 or so.
@PhotoOp - VS can work for someone who is the size of a bra that they sell. However, they only sell a fairly narrow range of sizes. A DD cup would be much too small on me. And I’d be swimming in a 36 band.
@LoveTheBard - I agree that Nordstroms is one of the only department stores to carry a larger selection of cup sizes. They actually carry my size but they only have a small selection in my size, so I prefer my local independently owned lingere store.
I can only find my size in bras from European companies. For the life of me I am mystified about why American companies do not offer a wider range of sizes. It’s as if they don’t believe certain sizes actually exist. It’s no mystery to me why most American women are wearing improperly size bras - they can’t find their actual size. So they just assume that what the store sells is their correct size. And that is often not a good assumption.
Great points, bookreader! While we were burning our size 32AA bras, the Europeans were perfecting their fine art of bra making… Now our size 36F chests cannot fit into anything at VS… 
I “discovered” HerRoom thanks to some helpful CC posters. Now I can always count on their large selection. 
In addition to sites like HerRoom, Barenecessities and Biggerbras, there are a number of sellers on Ebay that sell discounted bras, so once you have a style and size that works, that can be a $$ saver.
In addition to the European bras, there are some custom and vintage style custom bras that give great support – they use a shelf system (called a bandarin) instead of a wire, so they are quite comfortable, although they give have a bit of a torpedo boob effect (especially the vintage ones), and might not work well with low cut dresses. Their are several companies that make them (or made them, in the case of the vintage ones), some of the main ones being Jeunique and Lady Cameo.
I have two longline strapless bras that I really like. The reason I prefer longline ones are that there’s more area on your ribcage for the bra to hold onto to keep it from slipping down.
However, neither of these is actually comfortable. I was wearing long, heavy gowns with them, though:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I5NJ83Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
^that one is my favorite, I ordered one cup size larger than I am because I had chicken cutlets for the pushup effect.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y7LYG3U?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
^Runs pretty true to size.