The Jeunique J31 is a wireless bra with a 2-piece outer cup with a horizontal seam and an inner 'banderin' construction (this is what the manufacturers call it). It has fully adjustable straps, nursing clips on the straps and an inner sling as found in nursing bras. In this size it fastens with 3 rows of 5 columns of hooks.

I've really wanted to get my hands on one of these bras for years, but it seemed like every time I checked Ebay, cup sizes which would be at all close to my own or a sister size were all listed at like $90 USD or the postage to Australia would cost twice as much as sellers were asking for the bra. I was really thrilled to be able to purchase this from a Bratabase user for a better price as it provides support in a way which is so different from a conventional bra and I wanted to see how well it managed a very large bust.

Jeunique is a company which made bras based on patterns which were common in the 50s & 60s. Most of the bras around today seem to be old dead stock. My bra is tagged 1995, but it's definitely like new in terms of the material quality. Make no mistake about it, this is a very retro look! It reminds me a lot of the bra which I sewed myself 28M - Unknown Brand » Brabratory (42) although my construction was not nearly as strong and I used a vertical 2-part cup.

The J31 is the beige colourway, as each colourway made from Jeunique has its own model number. The lace and powernet is a medium beige with a warm tone. The cups are lined with a stabilising net underneath the lace. The straps and hooks are a slightly ligher beige. The nursing clips are beige plastic. There's a little embroidered floral decoration stitched on the top of the 'gore' area.

The banderin is super intriguing. It's a layer of very thick material which feels rather like plastic and comes about half-way up the bra. A retailer website said 'the banderin is made of an aerated plastic material with soft material on each side' but the actual bra care tag says '100% nylon lycra spandex' so I'm not entirely sure what it's made of. It's not like anything which I've seen before. This serves the purpose of shoring up the bottom and side of the cup and lifting the breasts to fill the full projection of the bra.

The lower part of the band is covered with fairly wide plush-backed elastic which has been folded over (about 1.5cm height on either side of the band) which creates a wide firm band area to sit flat against the chest. The top of the band has the regular sort of plush-backed lingerie elastic.

Onto the interesting part; the fit! I'm surprised about how much I really like some of the features of this bra which I was fully expecting to be mostly a curiosity, but it's not all positive. I picked this size 36KK based on the cup depth alone owing to lack of other info and knew that if I was happy with it I'd need to take in the band and perhaps make other alterations to better fit my frame size. The band on mine stretches to about 93cm (~37") which is pretty standard for a 36 band I think. It's much too big for me, but I can assess the cup fit if the bra is worn on the tightest hook. As this is a well-designed full cup bra, the straps are in a position where they stay on my shoulders comfortably. I repeat, the straps are in a position where they stay on my shoulders comfortably. Bras don't do that in my size range, especially as I am mostly obliged to sister size to get the cup volume I need. I think that I underestimated cup size a little, and may do better one cup size down, but some of that may just be that there's too much cup height, which is normal for my very short breast roots. It's actually pretty good guessing from numbers alone, though it's hard for me to tell exactly how the bra should fit as it's so unlike other bras I've tried. The straps also don't adjust short enough for my very small frame and high-set breasts, but on the plus side, the height of the bra cup at the side has been shaped well enough to not cut into my armpit. The cups are unfortunately too wide for me and I get quite a bit of gapping at the sides as the support there is very inflexible.

Putting the bra on involves a bit of leaning forward and wiggling plus a generous scoop to get everything lifted by the banderin and the apex of the cup filled. Once everything is in position though, it seems to stay there. Wearing this, I get simply phenomenal bust projection. To put this into perspective, I have a bust perimeter of about 107cm (42") wearing an Ewa Michalak FB, and this bra gives me a perimeter of about 118cm (46.5")! It's super pointy and amazing. I don't know if I have any clothes I can really wear it under because of this bar pajamas, and I don't know if I'd want to wear it out of the house even if I did, but I know that I'd definitely be ready for a 1950s dress-up party. I'm not sure that my husband can deal with this bra, he's clearly not as open to historical fashion trends as myself. https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt=":D" /> The bottom of the cup doesn't wrinkle at all thanks to the banderin, and it also makes the centre of the bra sit very close to the chest (it doesn't tack since it's wireless, but it's not floating halfway off my chest either). I think in many regards, this bra is better at actual support than anything else which I've tried. The banderin feature is extremely effective and far more comfortable than underwires, which tend to dig in owing to the sheer weight of my breasts. I'm planning to perform some alterations on the bra so that it fits a little better and will add more notes to this review then.

Or if you don't want to read the whole review, a quick list of pros and cons

Pros
~Excellent support
~Straps are well positioned
~The shape!

Cons
~Lace looks (and well is) very dated
~High coverage won't work well with many modern outfits
~The shape!

Updated on Mar 07, 2016 Flag this

• Show all comments (7)
• There should be a side-view picture in my review (unless the pictures haven't been approved yet?) The home page only picks out the first few pictures to display.

• Great! Also, wow the picture quality on this lot of uploads seems to be really poor. The only difference to normal is that I took them myself using the camera timer function. I wouldn't have thought this would make them look so much worse than getting someone else to use the exact same camera. :/ I may see if I can get a couple of better looking ones.

• I'm interested to know what you think too now that you've seen one in action. I'm really impressed by the support but obviously the shape makes it a little awkward. I don't know what kind of clothes I could wear this with both because it would be very attention-grabbing and I prefer to fly under the radar when it comes to my breasts and also because I need an extra 10cm of bust circumference room and pretty much every article of clothing I own is straining at the seams there already.

• 1

  This review makes me smile , because I had this same bra by cameo company ( they have several different names under which they sell I think it's regional differences) so if you actually like it you might try to search Cameo as well , I think there's several other names I can't recall at the right now.

  Anyways this is why it made me smile is because my husband called is my cafeteria lady bra . Always felt like I was locked and loaded with two to torpedoes on my chest . It's definitely a pointy luck . I wore them under my regular clothes and it looked fine, particularly heavy sweaters, perfect under shapeless stuff made you look really awesome you will get looks from men ;) . Oh and it's the best sports bra ever jump up and down they don't move . Of course it's not the most comfortable sports bra but you can run for the bus and there is no bouncing lol oh and your husband will likely like that bra if you open it up ;)
  Have read how to properly put one of these bras on? Those look like nursing clips but they are for opening up the front and properly placing your breast in the shelf then you close it. Here is a link .http://www.ahbras.com/how_to_fit_your_brantly.htm

• 1

  Ivp Using the clip to help position the breasts makes a lot of sense! I think that will make it so much easier to adjust than the awkward jiggle dance I was doing. :D

  I can't fully decide until I alter the band and wear it a little, but I'm much more positive about it initially than I thought I would be just based on the info from other users on the site. Maybe it's like licorice and a love it or hate it thing.

• 2

  I know it's a fugly thing but a feat of engineering that you have to admire much like a suspension bridge , mine grew on me .funny how that goes isn't it . I changed sizes or I probably would still have it thing was sturdy . Heck sometimes you need a bra that makes you feel like a 50s pinup or in my case I pictured a Russian Olympic champion (no clue why I am odd) now you make me think about trying to find one in my size again , wonder how hard it would be to dye or pretty up a touch hmm

• What a nice looking bra and I love the pointed shape it gives like yourself I have been looking to buy this kind of bra but because I have such a large bust and small frame I have not had any luck.Have you ever managed to find a long line bra in your size ? I have looked every where but with no luck.I don't think they make them for big busted woman.

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