When I received this bra, I first noticed how lightweight and thin the materials are. It is a pretty bra with the lace and sheer parts. Usually I can put on a bra very quickly but with Victory I needed quite some time to arrange my boobs for my pics so it looks decent at least.

The issues:
(when I put on the bra like I would normally, no extender, straps adjusted but not as short as possible so they don't cut too much into my arms and shoulders)

Lots of gaping at the top. The cups are very tall and have lots of room in the top section, very full on top friendly. Wires are not as sturdy as I like and stretch quite a bit, but they also quite wide already. There is empty fabric in the cups at the sides and the wires almost end at my back.

Also when I tried to adjust my boobs into these cups, try to escape at the V-part of the gore. The gore is very tall at 13 cm which I cannot stand on my Panache Tango but did not bother me too much on this bra. The gore does not lie flat, it gets pushed away. Center full boobs do not work with bra that I guess.

On Bottom of the cups I also needed to kinda push my boobs towards the wide so they fill out that part. There was some empty fabric right at the wire I cannot fill. It almost looked like my boobs wanted to overtake the bra and fold over at the Bottom and over the underwire instead of filling the space. I don't know how to explain this better, it was really weird. I think there is not enough room there for deep boobs, also not enough center room.

The band is firm and short like a 30 band. I could fasten it but it looked and felt too tight. The cups are big for a 32K, I wear 32K in Panache Tango and it's a good fit, and I think Tango is fairly true to size it has been around for years?

32K Victory appears like 30L to me. The band is so small, you need a really small back for it, on the other side the straps are so seperated that I need a wider frame and broader shoulders to have a proper fit and not cups and straps cutting in my arms! I have narrow shoulders for my size, if I check size charts my shoulder width is 3 sizes smaller than what clothing size I actually wear also my underbust is smaller than my waist. That makes bras in big cup sizes just more difficult to fit and I think the bra could work on wider frame with smaller boobs. Very good bra for full on top, tall wide and somewhat shallow boobs (on bottom?)

Also the shape from the side is spectacular. I never saw such a round shape in a CK bra https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt=":D" />

I tried it on again today and adjusted the straps to the maximum and wore an extender with the bra. I got rid of almost all wrinkling in the cups, when I also pushed the gore flat like on one picture it looked somewhat decent. But looks deceive as it is not wearable this way, because the shoulder straps would kill me and cut my arms off. Also I felt like there was not much support from the wire and band, the wire was too wide to support by bust on the side and would not do any support at the gore since the gore gets pushed away. The shoulder straps are super thin, stretchy and they slip all the time when adjusted. 50% boob weigh at least on the straps which would give me terrible neck pain. Not a bra for me.

Is it bad that I think about trying 34J... just for science. I will edit this when I have other thoughts, I wrote very quickly my first impressions here.

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Feb 22, 2019 Flag this

• Show all comments (58)
• I've been meaning to order Victory but I was really discouraged by Dottie's short straps. Their 30 band was fine for me on Dottie, but the straps pull on the band so much it has seriously stretched out and rides up like crazy.

  I do wonder if you would do better with Dottie though! The cups are considerably shorter than Victory (even in stock photos) and not so much full cup.

• The straps are very wide set on Dottie, though, almost as bad as this. So it might just be a Curvy Kate thing!

• 1

  Dottie is a pretty bra especially that purple color, but looks like it stops at HH cup in all band sizes :(
  It looks great on you btw:)

• 1

  CK was known for wide wires, and wide set cups yes, I thought they changed their shape a bit, like Victory is a new to CK 4 part construction but it has only changed that Victory is very roomy in the top cup and gives a better more round shape compared to old CK which gave me pointy upside 7 shape.

• I actually stopped wearing it due to the short straps. They were giving me so many headaches and neck pains that I just couldn't bear to wear it anymore. The bra is very beautiful, though!

• 1

  Oh no :( Would longer straps solve the problem? like take longer straps from an old bra and replace them?

• Yes they would (I usually have strap length issues on pretty much any bra that is not custom made--I pay extra to have straps longer on my EM bras), but the colour is so particular I cannot find a good match anywhere for strap elastic :(

• 1

  Would it help you if I measure the strap lenght on Victory when they are longest?

• 1

  Yes true if you don't want to have the bra look like patchwork bra. Would be easier if it was the black Color...

  I never had the issue that straps were too long… must be so annoying.

• 1

  I don’t know how tall and shallow you have to be to fit these. I don’t get it because on most instagrammers the fit is good! Maybe they are editing their pics or rearranging everything.

  Like, how is this possible? https://www.instagram.com/p/BnJHTyzB5Uz/?hl=en

• 1

  Her arms are up in the air, though. Could also be Photoshop.

• Guys do you think 34J could work? I don't wanna give up yet. Band is too small so I size up but size down in cups.
  No one writes the size they wear on instagram so they could just pick the one that looks best on pics and in real life wear other bras. For a pic fit and comfort are irrelevant. I also could make this bra look better with adjusting the straps very short I wonder if I could make it look like it fits with posing.

• 1

  Yes, or her hair is hiding that it’s too small. Looks like the gore tacks though. I don’t know it’s so short on her!!! How????

  https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl0PofJBhwF/?hl=en

• 1

  The buying for science is a temptation several of us are plagued with. We must have all the pieces to our bra puzzle!

  Sorry it was such an ill fit. :-(

• 2

  But if it’s too shallow with not enough center room, sizing down won’t help.

• I think it is too shallow at the centre. Why else would my boobs push the gore away?

• Oh I love to try more bras for science. I feel like I'm starting bra fitting all new. Everything that used to work does not work anymore. I wanna order some more bras. I have Panache Tango that somewhat works but I don't wanna wear only that one...

• did you consider EM? lace.de might deliver to you if you don't wanna order direct

• Ehm yes I had tried a few years ago when I was around 32K like now. I found the bra construction too weak in my size. Also ordering a hassle and expendive with all the paypal snd cudtom fees. At least they sell quickly ln here. I prefer to find british brand bras that work. I don't know could never get into EM hype.

• Arghh I cannot mention and edit when I type from my phone.

• That is understandable, especially if you feel it can't carry your weight.

• 1

  I have very soft and heavy boobs. I need a bra that keeps them in and does as much support as possible with wires and band. If the bra just is a bit weak I can get terrible neck pain. Even Panache Floris is too weak now it is too big in the cups. Adjusting the straps very short to get rid of gaping does not make a bra less weak.

• 1

  alisa I am just speculating about a cluster of fit problems that might be working together to create this epic support failure, tell me if this seems possible:

  - cup is so tall and wide that the wires on your side have no ability to brace (or "push back") against the ribcage, thus defeating the purpose of underwire bras -- and enabling the gore end of the wires to just go wherever your boobs push it with very little resistance
  - because CK designers tried to give it a cute bandless look with just a little stick joining the cups down at the base of the gore (instead of having at least a triangle of strong powermesh like a normal bandless bra), if the bracing effect of the underwire is lost due to wire width, the front of the bra loses even more stability
  - therefore the whole front of the bra, including the gore, tips forward very easily under the weight of the bust and the torque effect, even if the cups themselves theoretically have the depth needed to easily fit over the wearer's breast (as you can see when you force it to tack).

  If this is a possibility, perhaps a smaller cup size would allow the bra to at least have some functional stability because the crazy wire width problem might be solved.

  The question is HOW MUCH you would need to go down in cup size to get an acceptable wire width, and would that still allow enough cup depth to actually, you know, fit your boobs!

  I think there may be some hope for making it work in a smaller cup size and 34 band, because here while it looks like an acceptable depth for your breast tissue, in fact there is quite a bit of cup volume that is just not being used -- there is such a big portion of the bra that is being stretched round your sides instead of sitting where the boob is.

  The Instagrammer that was linked above, Fairyboobmother, is also in a FB lingerie group I'm in--she is super nice. If you wanted to ask her what size she wears in this bra and what she has observed about the fit I am sure she would answer, or if you have never talked to her I can go and find her name (which has slipped my mind but I know she has posted about her IG so it's not a secret/privacy thing) and ask her myself in the FB group.

• I took a picture holding up my arms. I just had to :D I forgot about the hair though which would hide how the straps cut off my arms. http://bra.pe/Imfa/
  My theory is you can make any bra look decent in photos, if the size is not too far off, like only 2-3 sizes too small or big.

• wendybien thank you for your comment! I love how you explained everything, and I think that is what is going on with this bra… the band even stretches the wire more to the sides since it's so tight. The cup depth of this bra is 39cm which is the same cup depth as in my Panache Tango that fits well. The difference between these two is that Victory is very tall and very roomy on top while Tango is moderately tall and more closed on top. Also the Tango has sturdy Panache wires that can are not stretched to my back.

  So is Victory not really a shallow bra? I also think it does not look shallow but behaved like a shallow bra at the wire and gore. If the wire weren't so distorted I would have even more extra space in this bra.

  I'm also worried about the whole bandless style, I never got along with bandless bras. The bra is a really cute design but they probably only tested in on smaller cup sizes.

  Like I said I find it fits kinda like I imagine a 30L. So if I sistersized that to a 34 band, I would wear 34K, but then I have to go down in cups like 2 sizes which would make me have to order 34J? Oh if only that 36HH that was added here was measured… so I could compare cup width of a sister size.

  Should I order another or should I not? I'm really really curious so no other way to find out. Ha I love to try bras for science. My wallet does not love the shipping costs ;(

• alisa brastop has a sale going on today..I think ... So maybe that'll help?

• 2

  alisa can you pay via PayPal and use their returns reimbursement option? That’s what I do if there are no free returns.

• 1

  Your arms up pics...wow. I need to remember that when looking at insta. You don’t even need to photoshop, it’s all in the posing.

• 1

  Frazzleberry thanks I got this Victory bra in their sale, now they got even 1-2£ cheaper than last week :)

• 1

  cupandahalf I can use free Returns in PayPal, 12 times a year and no more than 3 times in 1 month. I almost forgot about that. Yaay!

  I'm just not used to buy so many bras, haven't done that in a while so I feel a bit "bad" for buying so much :D

  Yes instagram is not good for bra fitting just promoting sales of the bras by having them look good no matter what. Good that we have bratabase for fit issues. I also think a few popular instragram bloggers are in too small bras, just to fit into a size range of a brand,but would need a bigger cup for proper fit. The bras never look like they are too small though.

• 3

  The only bra fit photos I trust are the ones on btb! lol

• 1

  alisa the way a bra looks to fit in photos is often very dependent on lighting, I think it was MamaPagan who showed her photos in different lighting that were a stark difference in fit despite being taken one after the other.
  In my photos some of my issues are often very hard to see... I quad in near every bra I try due to my freakishly tall roots, despite being pretty FOB, yet it is extremely hard to see that in photos!

• brasaremean I even try to make my photos so that the issues I describe are visible. Sometimes I take photos where I make a bra look better but then I write it down, like that arm holding up pic or when I strangle my arms with super tight straps to get rid of cup wrinkling.

  I wonder if my roots are really tall for my size? I mean I don't have any data to compare. How tall has a tall root in size 32K to be? :S Back in the day everyone told me I need tall deep cups and they worked. Last week I got 4 bras I couldn't fill the top, I'm confused :S

• 2

  The example brasaremean mentioned:
  https://www.bratabase.com/picture/dpbi7/
  :-)

• 1

  alisa looking at these pictures and the Bravissimo ones I wonder if your shape has changed and you’re now more short rooted. Medium roots?

• 1

  alisa Our breasts are ever changing, and I swear when I think I've figured mine out, they up and change again. I am currently between sizes for the main brand I wear. One cup is painfully small but I get the dreaded wrinkle in the next cup up. Yet it's still better than any other brand for me, as the options are quite limited. :-/
  I feel your frustrations amd pain.

• 1

  That is what I gathered from her fitting help request cupandahalf. Unfortunately with weight loss come breast shape changes and what would have worked before might no longer work.

  MamaPagan those are the ones! Thank you :)

  alisa I genuinely try to make the fit issues obvious in photos but they just won't show :/

• 1

  alisa I just went to look at some of your old bras (I hope you don't mind). So for this photo ( http://bra.pe/IQYl/ ) I would definitely say you lost some upper fullness. This happened to me too after some weight loss over the past year (I went from 83kg to about 74 right now). The more weight I lost, the more FOB I got, which was really annoying to me because I genuinely felt like my breasts were full all over and what worked before (even in the wrong size, as much as that can work) stopped working after that weight loss, and prompted me to actually start looking into this whole a bra that actually fits thing.

• 1

  Wow, comparing those two bras, especially the angled views, really shows your weight loss and shape change! You are still full on top but your breasts start lower on your chest.

  Let me think about what might work well for you keeping this in mind.

• 1

  MamaPagan thanks for the pics :)

• You're welcome :-)

• brasaremean No no I don't mind. I had this floris since 2014 when it fitted and it fitted again for few weeks during my weight loss journey. 2015-2018 when I was at my heaviest weight, was my easiest time in bra fitting. I just wore Bravissimo 34L bras. When I wore one to death I just could order another in that size and it worked. I felt a bit sad about it today but I'm also excited to try new bras :) Interesting about how weight loss can change boob shape and how we need to fit ourselves.

• cupandahalf could one change full on top boobs to full on Bottom? I kinda think it could not be possible? Maybe change from full all over to more full on top / bottom? I have shorter roots now probably medium for my size, I lost a lot of upper and side fullness.

  Today I almost cried when I put on my 30K Tango with extender. I had zero quadboob. I even thought I forgot to scoop in side tissue and did it again 2 times but everything fitted so well I was shocked. I was so thankful for the support of this bra. I made the mistake of wearing 32K floris last week when I also had a migraine and it made everything worse by being unsupportive and gave me neck pain. Tango keeps my boobs in place and holds them up. I thought if everything fails, I can get another 32JJ Tango. But on the Bravissimo website they complain about quality issues and new Tango colors apparently have weaker wires and wires popping out after a few wears. What did Panache do to this bra!? :(

• You can always order the old colourways on ebay and such

• MamaPagan you are the expert here on polish bras and Ewa Michalak, would you recommend any of those for me? I had tried 2 comexim, and 3 EM bras years ago, they did not work. (fit was off) but what kept me from exploring some more was that I found them to weak to support my boobs. I also prefer british brands as they are easier to buy and return for me.

• brasaremean yes I know, I love eBay. There isn't as much there nowadays but one can still get bargains occasionally.

  On Bravissimo new in I found this lilac colorway: https://www.bravissimo.com/products/tango-bra-bluebell-pn53bll/ sooo pretty I always wanted a bra in this color, they call it bluebell, I love bluebells :)

• I love! the new lilac/periwinkle/bluebell colourways!
  Bravissimo also has Stella plunge and CK has the lilac one. Beautiful colours

• 2

  I wouldn't call myself an expert since we are all learning every day, but I have tried quite a few. I wouldn't recommend Comexim unless you want to switch the wires as they will not serve you well.

  With Ewa, I would think her FB line might give you the support you need while still providing you comfort, but would recommend going with one that has the stretch lace to adjust the fit better. dbmamaz has tried a few of the FB models, and her input would be very valuable here.

  From what I've read about the line, the bands and cups run small, so double check the sizing before leaping forward though.

  Aside from the FB, I'd suggest the SF line as it is more supportive than the BM but more flexible with fit than the SM.

• 3

  alisa I remember your EM adventures (which were indeed failures in terms of support) and I would say that it could be worth at least examining cup measurements here or contacting them to ask questions about wire length, wing height etc. in an appropriate size, since they now make more high-coverage cups, which are more supportive on a full AND tall breast shape like your own (perhaps not as tall as before, but you still have some pretty solid, projected boob height that needs support). I think you would definitely want to make sure you were trying the designs with the most robust materials and appropriate height at the gore and on the sides, because those features are very important to get a nice, stable, secure fit.

  Re: changing degrees of "full on top"/"full on bottom"-ness, you can absolutely experience a big change in breast shape and proportions at the same weight if your body composition and breast composition has changed. Let's take an example of a young lady who goes from 65kg at age 18, to 85 at age 22 and then back to 65 at age 25. Same breast volume overall at 18 and 25. Well, if she was like me at 18, a good proportion of her breast was composed of nice soft fluffy fat, which often sits on the upper pole of the breast. Now let's say that her massive weight loss from ages 22 to 25 was related to the fact she took up a strenuous sport (thus increasing muscle mass and reducing her body fat % to at least a little bit less than what it was at age 18, and meanwhile also experiencing further growth of the actual glandular tissue because she is one of those people who gets breast growth in her 20s). Now she is 65kg once again but her boobs at 25 will have a much higher proportion of glandular tissue and less fat. So she could have lost a great deal of the fluffy fullness she had on the upper pole of the breast when she was a teenager, while still having roughly the same breast volume, and she will now also likely find that her breasts now are heavier and denser requiring even more serious support than before--because glandular tissue is heavier than fat.

  (My considered opinion about the Full on Top/on Bottom descriptors anyway is that they are not complete shape descriptors. For a meaningful description, other proportions need to be considered together with those FoT/FoB qualifiers. People use them loosely and interchangeably with various terms suggesting more or less breast height, but if you use them strictly, a person with a very very full upper boob shape may fit into the most closed-on-top, small-cup-height bra if the projected part of her breast is simply not very tall and she has more of a "b" boob shape (round full shape that ends abruptly on top and no tapering tissue going up towards collarbone). Meanwhile another super-full-on-top shape person could be utterly unable to fit any but the tallest and most open-on-top cups (a bit like the blogger BrasIHate who coined these terms) due to the unusual height of the full, projected part of her breasts. So, yes these are helpful terms but they only tell part of the story.)

• 2

  alisa dbmamaz has a few Tangos and she thinks they are good quality in a similar size to yours, so I think it's ok to try maybe?

• 3

  I was waiting for this comment wendybien , you explain it best. I kinda remember having this weight/shape changes discussion before...

• 1

  brasaremean oh yes by now I have a lot of practice singing that tune
  :-D I was a bit afraid to mention it the first time years ago because people REALLY loved having these terms that they thought would be the key to all kinds of fit dilemmas. Fortunately nobody got mad so I have mentioned it again many times since!

• I'm sorry everyone I answer so late. I appreciate everyones comments. :)

  MamaPagan thank you for your recommendations. I have added a SF and FB on my wishlist. I don't know if I would be sized out of SF depending of how it runs compared to UK sizes. THe biggest size they make is 75K.
  I will avoid comexim, the bras were too weak, my boobs would fall out of them. I don't think it's worth it as long as I have other options.

• alisa They often make sizes larger than what's listed. My size is never listed (60KK-60L) as available, not even under custom, but they still make it. It just requires an email order instead of a web order, and of course custom sizes are never returnable.
  @dbmamaz still wears Panache so she could assist with knowing how they compare in this size range. I would definitely speak with her before ordering.

• 1

  wendybien thank you for your comment. It was very helpful. I re-read BrasIHate''s master post again http://brasihate.blogspot.com/2013/02/clarifying-breast-shape-full-on-top-vs.html and with your comment it helped me clear the confusion.
  I still do have a full on top shape by definition of this post. Also combined with tall root but not extremly tall like you described. I can wear a Panache Tango in the right size without overspill and that is not a bra that is recommend for FOT shape. But I lost some fullness with my weightloss going from 34L /36K to 32K which was fluffy fat I had on the sides and the upper boob. (When at 34L I decribed my boobs are full on in all directions :D Also I would fill the cup to the wire and top in 34L selina, no empty spaces ever. ) I think the bras I tried recently were too big in the cups, I don't have so much upper fullness to have to size up 2 sized in Bravissimo compared to Panache and CK Victory is just weirdly sized. I have a 34J on it's way just to satisfy my curiosity and for bra science.

  What you think, should I open a new adventure about weight loss / bra size changed so everyone can share their stories? I think it would be easier to find, than your talk here on a bra review. Valuable information can be found easily by search and we could link the adventure if the topic comes up again?

• I think that's a great idea alisa . Almost everyone deals with that at some point and it's one of the rare fit issues that seems to affect every single size range in terms of the way it will shake our confidence in fitting ourselves. Plus, changes in weight, size, body composition or reproductive situation are FAR from emotionally neutral so we often need all the help we can get in those situations.

• 1

  wendybien I will let you know when I opened the new adventure, so you could add your very imformative comments from here there too. I don't know when I get to it in the next days. I will also do a new adventure of my bra trials and fails so there is not too much off topic stuff on this review here.

• Thank you, yes, reminders are a good idea--the brain cells I wore out thinking about bras seem not to be renewing as fast as they used to hahaha! If I don't post on it promptly, feel free to send me a PM--sometimes I miss a notification if there are lots on the same day.

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