🩷 Quick Guide to Centre Gore Fit

What’s the centre gore?
👉 The small panel between your bra cups. It controls support, separation, and comfort.

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🔹 Wide-Set Breasts (2+ fingers apart)

✅ Best Gore: Wide & short/medium height
✅ Best Styles: Plunge, balcony
✨ Why: Keeps cups apart and prevents gapping at the center.

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🔹 Average-Set Breasts (about 2 fingers apart)

✅ Best Gore: Medium to tall
✅ Best Styles: Full cup, balcony
✨ Why: Gives forward projection & balanced support.

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🔹 Close-Set Breasts (less than 2 fingers apart)

✅ Best Gore: Narrow, short or plunge
✅ Best Styles: Plunge, narrow-gore full cups
✨ Why: Prevents pinching, wires sit side-by-side without digging in.

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🔹 Full, Round Breasts

✅ Best Gore: Medium/tall with vertical rise
✅ Best Styles: Full cup, supportive plunge
✨ Why: Provides lift & complete support without spillage.

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🔹 Side-Heavy Breasts

✅ Best Gore: Wide, mid-height
✅ Best Styles: Plunge, balcony
✨ Why: Directs breast tissue forward and reduces side spill.

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💡 Fit Tip:

• Gore digging in? Try a shallower cup.

• Gore pulling away? Try a deeper cup.

• Switching band sizes? Remember: down 1 band = up 1 cup!

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Learn more!

Why Is the Centre Gore of a Bra Important?

When shopping for a bra, most people focus on the cups, straps, or band, but there’s one small yet crucial detail that often gets overlooked—the centre gore. This tiny piece of fabric, sitting right between the cups, plays a major role in how a bra fits, feels, and supports your bust. But why is the centre gore so important? Let’s dive in.

1. It Provides Stability and Support

The centre gore acts as an anchor, keeping the bra in place and ensuring that the cups provide the right amount of lift and support. A well-fitted centre gore sits flat against your chest, helping to distribute weight evenly and preventing the bra from shifting throughout the day.

2. It Affects the Fit and Comfort

If your bra’s centre gore is too tight, it can dig into your sternum and cause discomfort. On the other hand, if it doesn’t lie flat against your chest, it may indicate that the bra is the wrong size or shape for you. A properly fitted gore should sit snugly without pressing too hard or floating away from the body.

3. It Helps with Breast Separation

For wired bras, the centre gore is especially important in separating the breasts. A well-designed gore ensures that each cup holds and shapes the breast independently, reducing the risk of a "uni-boob" look and enhancing a natural silhouette.

The width of the centre gore plays a role. Some gores are wider to suit women with wide-set breasts, helping the cups sit comfortably without digging in. Others are narrower, designed for women with close-set or touching breasts, so the gore doesn’t press uncomfortably against breast tissue. Choosing the right gore width can make all the difference in both comfort and appearance.

4. It Determines Bra Style and Suitability

Centre gores come in different heights, and their design affects how a bra fits different breast shapes:

• Low centre gore: Best for plunge bras, allowing for deep necklines without showing.

• Medium centre gore: Works well for everyday bras, offering a balance of support and comfort.

• High centre gore: Common in full-coverage bras, providing extra support, especially for larger busts.

5. It Can Indicate a Poor Fit

A centre gore that doesn’t lay flat can be a sign of several fitting issues, such as:

• The cups are too small – causing the underwire to be pushed away from the body.

• The band is too loose – leading to insufficient support.

• The bra style isn’t right for your breast shape – some bras fit differently depending on breast fullness and spacing.

A balcony bra has a mid-range centre gore as seen here in Panache Lingerie's Cari Balcony Spacer Bra:

Balcony bras fit a number of figure types, providing separation between breasts while still allowing some cleavage to peak across the top of cups!

Regardless of underwire or soft cup, the gore determines how much of your breasts are covered or exposed and how wide or narrow your breasts will be set. In an underwire bra, the gore should lay flat against your chest wall, neither digging in nor pulling away.

Only molded, soft cup (non-wired) bras will lay flat. An unmolded soft cup will generally stand away from your chest wall and your breasts will be centred (unseparated). Most women don’t like this feeling - skin on skin can create perspiration and if not kept in check, can lead to rash or irritation. That said, many reputable bra manufacturers recognize the worldwide revival of soft cup bras and their innovations have been significant in recent years!

A small percentage of bodies have a convex or concave breast bone. In either instance, finding a centre gore that fits perfectly flat can seem nearly impossible. Bra Fitters understand that the depth of the cup (shallow, average, deep) will change how the gore fits. If you feel the gore digging, you might need a style with a shallower cup. If it's pulling away, you probably need a deeper cup. In these instances, you need to change the style, not necessarily the size. Alternatively, you can try a smaller band size. Remember to increase the cup by one full size when decreasing the band so you don’t lose any volume in the cups!

 

The centre gore is a factor that affects the shape that the bra provides and it is integral to its support regardless of your size.

Take the test. If your breasts gravitate to the side and are two or more fingers apart, then wider centre gores will work for you. The narrower the gore, the closer the cups are set and this works well for narrow set breasts needing more forward projection. If your breasts are closer together; two or less fingers apart, then narrow centre gores will work well for you. If you are two fingers apart, you can likely work with multiple gore widths.

A low, mid-width gore (Matilda Underwire Plunge Bra by Elomi) is great for wide and average set breasts that are side heavy:

 

If your breasts are heaviest at the sides and spaced quite far apart with very little full breast tissue in the middle then you'll want to look for wide to medium width gores that are short to medium height. A tall gore can give you too much cup at the center which your breasts can't fill. (The dreaded gapping!) The shorter gore will still give you enough support as you don't have heavy breast tissue at the center that needs support.

A medium/tall gore like the Allure Full Cup Bra by Panache Lingerie is great for average set breasts (both rounded and shallow) that need forward support:

If you have breasts that are full all round and set averagely close together then you need extra support at the front/center of your bust. Look for medium to tall gores. The increased projection away from your body requires both vertical and horizontal support. Stretchy upper cups work well If your breasts are shallow at the top.

If you have close set breasts then look for bras like Elise by Fitfully Yours:

The centre gore is very narrow and the under wires are set side by side with no gap in between.

If your breasts are very close set, the centre gore often becomes a problem. If the gore is just too pinching, try on bras that have short centre wires found in plunge styles. The gore will lay flat against your breast bone, just below where your breasts meet.

The Molly Nursing Bra by Elomi is a great example of vertically rising cups from the centre gore:

This is a full cup bra that provides complete support to full, round breasts.

If you have full, round breasts then look for cups that rise vertically from the gore rather than cutting acutely across. If your breasts are shallow through the top then you can look for plunge styles with cups that come out more acutely from the gore as you need less cup coverage.

Final Thoughts

Next time you shop for a bra, don’t overlook the centre gore! It plays a crucial role in your overall comfort, fit, and support. If you notice your centre gore isn’t sitting right, it may be time to reevaluate your bra size or try a different style that better suits your body.

📞 Need help finding your perfect fit? Our expert bra fitters are here to help!