The long awaited Cleo Riley is here! Riley is a new, slightly modified version of the Cleo Maddie moulded halfcup bra.
It's the navy-pink colorway - the main color is a classy dark navy and there are some pink accents. I like that!
The fabric is really soft and smooth and the bra appears to be really well-made and comfortable.

Now, let's talk a little about differences and similarities between Riley and Maddie.
What I like most about Riley is that it has an U-back (or leotard back) instead of a straight back like Maddie. I feel that bras with an U-back fit more comfortably and the band is less prone to cut in or move around.
The band runs tight, a little tighter than the solid-colored Maddie and about 1 band size tighter than the older, animal print Maddie. It runs very tight for a 30, so you might want to size up for comfort. (Note: The fact that darker colored bras that run tighter is well-observed in the bra fitting community. If Cleo ever released a brightly-colored Riley version, band fit is likely to vary.)

The cups are similar in Maddie and Riley, molded and in a slight 'sweetheart' shape - the center gore is a little lower than the side wings. The gore fits comfortably and is not digging in.

However, as opposed to the Maddie, Riley runs very closed on top. On the plus side, this means the bra is less visible under a T-shirt. The solid colored Maddie had a very pronounced rim, which was often complained about by people with bottom-heavy boobs.
For my part, this has never been an issue for me. My boobs are quite high-rooted and evenly full at the bottom and on top, and the rim cuts into my roots. At the same time, the cups are gaping a little at the center gore, which indicates that the bra is slightly to big or it just requires more center fulness than I have. (I cannot size down, because it's already cutting in at the outer sides.)

Apart from that, the cups size appear to be on the smaller side, running about 1/2 - 3/4 cups small in my opinion. This is another similarity to Maddie, which is also known to run small. (This is of course dependent on my boob shape, so YMMV.)

tl;dr: If you are bottom-heavy and the solid-colored Maddie always gapped on you, Riley might be a good bra to try out. If you're even-shaped or top-heavy, better stick with Maddie and its open cups.

Navy/pink colorway

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Mar 25, 2016 Flag this

• Show all comments (7)
• 1

  Thanks for this review! I always appreciate first looks at new season styles and cuts. I've been wondering how Riley would fit in comparison to Maddie. I used to be FoT, but Maddie didn't work for my short roots, and now I'm more even, so I'll keep an eye out for Riley.

• Thanks for the review, bracrastination!

• This is great, thank you! Maddie one of my best fits, but I'm fob and the closed top scares me. Will have to try it!

• Thanks for the review! I'm a big Maddie fan and from a quick try on of the Riley I'm not sure if it works as well on me - I don't gape at all in Maddie & suspect the more closed cups are verging on quadboob. And yes, the band is definitely tighter than usual - I can fasten my usual 32 but the 34 feels more comfortable from the off. Do you reckon the band is likely to stretch? Or if going up a cup size might help? It's a super pretty bra but I may need to play around with sizing if I'm going to get/keep one.

• cakeset Which Maddie do you own? The solid-colored versions are way more prone to gapping than the fashion-colored ones (animal print, floral, etc). It makes a huge difference.

  The band didn't make the impression that it was likely to stretch out. It was both short and rather rigid to stretch in my impression.

• I have the solid coloured Maddies (nude, burgundy, and red) and they really don't gap at all. I did try a cup size up from my usual 32DD when I bought my first one as I heard they ran a little small and that *did* gap/went up a bit high, but otherwise wasn't a bad fit, so possibly a 32E or a 34DD might work in Riley.

  And thanks for the tip about the band, I've been stung before by bands that I thought would stretch and then didn't. The 32 in Riley isn't terribly uncomfortable (not like Cleo Neve, which is *ridiculously* small in the band - I'm on the loosest hooks on a 34 in that and I've had it for a while) but I'll do some more careful trying on before I commit to buying it or a particular size.

• 1

  Ok, the 32E is much better on me than the 32DD - there's a tiny bit of gapping in the centre but it goes away if I do some vigorous scooping, and the band feels roomier, presumably because more of me is actually in the cups. It definitely feels smaller in the cup than the solid colour Maddies.

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