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Bra shopping in Vancouver last weekend (review/try on/fit check)
My husband was asked by our friend to record his new podcast, but he was in Vancouver last weekend and asked him to come over for a few hours to record. Since I have a friend who lives in Vancouver, I tagged along and we made a day of it while he was recording, and we went tea and bra shopping since there are a few specialty shops there. I looked ahead of time because my friend has an autoimmune disease which can make her tire easily, so I chose one location only after looking at websites in advance. I picked this one shop, Scarlet, because of the brand selection, and that they had a Panache Olivia in my size range to try, and it is one of the styles that I have had recommended to me. I’ll include a link to the imgur album/pictures below, as I would be interested in feedback, but I’ll go into a little bit of detail about what I tried first. I don’t own them and don’t think I’m able to do a proper fit check for them.
I tried a few duds. Either they were shape mismatch or size issues. The Mimi Holliday plunge cut into my tissue in multiple sizes and the single hook in the back created a weird bulge under my arms. The Freya Crush was a 30FF and huge. The Pleasure State was too small in the 30 band and I was unable to do it up. Evolove midline and longline were too tight and shallow. The only 3 that had anything going for them were Panache...Olivia, Ardour, amd Lois (and in that order too) which is surprising, as I have not had much luck with Panache bras (Envy and Jasmine do not work for me). I admit that I was hugely skeptical of the Panache bras I was trying on because of my history.
I tried Olivia in a 30E initially, but I had a small bit of spilling. I really liked this bra a lot despite that, but knowing that the 30F Clara fits me better than 30E and that is also a stretch lace, I wasn’t satisfied until I was able to try the 30F. After trying the others, she found a 30F which was better. I really love the navy colour, the materials were soooo soft, and the stretch lace upper cup was super dense yet finely knit and silky. Totally different from the Clara and Ellace stretch lace. The band was good but on the snug side, and the gore was narrow, but it was super high, and I worry that it will be painful after a bit of wear because of the snug band. I’d probably need to use an extender as the 32 band looks like it’s stretched measurements are too long, though I didn’t try one. This was definitely my favourite bra of all I tried, but it was regular price and I was nervous about the tall gore long term. *
The Ardour was sooo fricking beautiful. Love love love the purple. LOVE!! The lace detail and center gore jewel were gorgeous. I had very mixed feelings about this one though, because it felt like it was slipping down or would with wear, and that it was too shallow, but it looks like it has a fair bit of depth for being a molded cup. So I dunno. Maybe I was impatient with it. My friend loved it on me. The gore is nice and low on this one so it’s something to think about. Especially with a nice snug band. Seriously reconsidering this one in case I was totally on crack thinking that it was too shallow.
The Lois was a very sexy bra because it was quite sheer. It’s got a bit of a side support in burgundy, but from a distance, it looks black and like it is weirdly cutting my boobs off in a very unflattering side view. The top of the cups were also a bit too open or me and I got some gapping. I can’t remember if I tried the 30E and 30F, or just the 30F of this. It’s got similar issues like the Marcie I have, but I think that the cups gap more. I definitely lack the upper fullness it’s expecting.
Anyway, pics are in the imgur link. Would be interested in getting thoughts on the fits. I do have the Olivia in both sizes shown, with the 30E at the beginning and 30F at the end. It’s not exactly a fit check for something that I got, but rather just curious what others think about them so I can take this knowledge with me as I continue my journey.
*There is a pink 30F listing here, and it’s very cheap, but it’s the pink colour which is ok but not my favourite, and the user has not logged in for a few months, iirc. I don’t know if it’s worth trying if I can reach the seller, but at $11, I guess if the gore is problematic, it’s not a big deal. I don’t hate the pink, but the navy, jade, and apricot colours are my preferred ones.
https://m.imgur.com/a/oT2yv
Imgur
Imgur
https://m.imgur.com/a/oT2yv
Filed under Bras ups and downs
11 comments
Excellent trip planning, @Calluna! How wonderful when you can try on multiple bras in your size in person! As your fit check: paging @wendybien! She's amazing at giving helpful brafitting advice. I'm about to get on the road, but later tonight I'll look at your imgur album to see if I can be helpful. I've tried on some of those same bras, and we're about the same size.
learningaboutbras it really was! We live in Victoria on Vancouver Island, so it was a 90 minute ferry ride each way, plus travel time to and from the ferry. I do have a specialty shop here, but I'm waiting for more of the new stuff to come in because they don't really have a lot of stuff that I can do right now.
Last time I visited my friend there (we admin a FB group together but met in person for the first time) we went to Change which was in her part of town. I still wanted to go back since I had more time and bra knowledge, but Scarlet was more practical because of the wider selection. Plus, it was across from a pretty cool (and expensive) Paleo cafe. We could have gone to Diane's but I preferred the brands that Scarlet had.
The only issues I had with Scarlet are that the store opened nearly half an hour late (though we were at the cafe anyway and didn't notice until we crossed the street that it wasn't open...but we were there just as the lady was opening), she didn't offer to fit me even though she had indicated over the phone when I called the day before that I should have/give enough time for a fitting (perhaps my confidence in asking for 30E/F or loose 28F/28FF and snug 32DD/E tipped her off that I knew my size range well enough so she didn't offer, and perhaps because she was still opening as we were inside she was busy, and another customer seemed to need more fit help)...my confidence or not, I'd still have been interested to see how someone other than my local store fits/measures me (my store is very firm that I'm a 28 band, at least from a technical fit aspect, even if it is not a comfortable fit), and she wasn't very vocal about the fits which is possible because that she thought my assessments as I was showing my friend were valid and she didn't feel like she had much to add so she just kept bringing me sizes and styles to try even though she brought a few crazy sizes that were never going to work. She did adjust the straps a few times but was never vocal in confirming or debating the fits. That said, she was very gracious and allowed me to try my new 30F Marcie in navy and assess the fit (which we agreed that it's the best size for me of the style but not a perfect fit) and this is when she told me that Panache had discontinued the Cleo line which is probably why I found the Marcie on Amazon so cheap (it was $26 CAD). It was a great experience still. I liked being able to try so much on in person. I feel bad about not getting anything, but the Olivia was out of my budget right now (plus the gore concerns, though I wasn't as concerned about it then as I am now). Thanks also for the tag too, so that I can hopefully get a bit of feedback on the fits. Excited to hear what others say about the fits.
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