The Great Retro Bra Adventure II: THE GAME IS ON!

My Amazon order of no less than 5 old school wireless bras arrived a day early! Whee! (It's also one of the hottest days of the year here, and we have no AC in our hotbox-style top floor apartment, so there was a certain amount of self-kicking for having started this adventure with a bunch of longlines. Nothing quite like contorting oneself to do up 8-12 hooks and eyes in an airless 90 degree environment!)

Background: see previous post http://www.bratabase.com/profile/c13/adventures/4008/

I took a crap-ton of photos (FOR SCIENCE!) and will dutifully measure and review later. But for those who are interested, here is the verdict.

Please note I am a 32FF/G in most contemporary wired bras, 30 in a few select brands. My measurements are: 29" comfortable underbust, although I go up to a solid 32" when fully inhaled; ideal cup width and depth in a wired bra are in the region of 5.5" and 11.25". I have a soft mummy tummy due to chub and loose abs but my waist is still only about 28" so most of the longlines just smoothing, rather than really snugly shaping--I feel fairly confident this is how they're supposed to fit in my size range. If you are already toned in this area I don't know how much smoothing you'd see, but it should not affect stability or support of the bra part.

Here were the duds:

Carnival Front Closure Longline (745) in 34D. Distinctly too small in the cup. Material on cups felt pretty flimsy and overly elasticated. Material on band was better.

Carnival Full Figure Wide Strap Longline (730) in 34DDD. Distinctly too large in the cup. Material was much nicer than the 745. Band also quite loose, wrinkling a bit.

And the winners:

Carnival Full Figure Wide Strap Longline (730) same model as above, but in 34DD. Awesome! Comfortable, great uplift, great shape, smoothing effect on tummy as noted above.

Rago "Lacette" Longline Bra 2202 34DD. At first I was put off by the fact that it allows the breasts to sit very wide, which is visually striking in relation to the nipped in torso. When wearing just the bra, the lace cups felt scratchy against my arms (although no scratchiness in the boob area) and I was disposed to send it back. However, trying on a T-shirt changed my mind. Not only does it give a super cute, neat and uplifted yet rounded shape and make me look like Halle Berry (ok, almost), eliminating the scratchiness by putting on clothes allowed me to realize this felt AMAZING. Not amazing as in, I feel like I'm not wearing anything. Amazing as in, I am getting a perpetual back massage and shoulder rub, and my boobs are floating as if gravity were a thing of the past.

And the "on the fence":
Exquisite Form Original Fully Support Wrieless (532) in 34DD. The only bra that's not a longline, btw. I went back and forth on the sizing of the cups with this one. It's very comfortable, shape is super pointy but not deforming my breast shape. Ultimately I suspect the cups are a bit too deep for me--there is just a bit more wrinkling at the apex of the cups and underneath and less uplift than the bra seems engineered to provide. Once I upload the pics I may do a fitting request. I found even cheaper 34Ds on a little retailer's site so I ordered a couple and I'll see how they fit.

The Great Retro Bra Adventure - by wendybien | Bratabase

http://www.bratabase.com/profile/c13/adventures/4008/

Filed under Bra sizing and fit

Shared on Jul 15, 2014 Flag this