The Fantasie Leona is such a pretty bra, but she seems to be a particularly troublesome fit. I had read reviews by another user (Slava-Zone ) saying that it seemed like the wires of her bra were not the right size, but no idea if this was a fluke as there aren't too many other reviews of this style on various websites. I picked one up on Amazon in my regular size, and sadly, she is right. This fit is bizarro.

The band of this bra is actually a little bit smaller than some of my other Fantasies, which can run anywhere between 25.5-26", but this one is a solid 25". However, the cups of this bra are just plain weird. The cups are much wider and have much longer wires than any 30DD or even 30E in my collection, and I agree that the wires and cup width are more proportioned for a 30F. However, the cup depth is appropriate for a 30DD as I can basically fill out the cup with no problems if it weren't for the enormously wide cups. So, it's a 30F cup with the cup depth of 30DD. Not sure how this is supposed to work. I also tried putting in silicone inserts, and found that the inserts only really worked in this cup shape at the top of the cup, but because the cup shape is shallow and the upper cup is closed, it would be tricky for tall roots. So, it seems to suit a slightly shallow and short FOT shape that needs very wide wires.

The Balcony cut differs from the other side support cuts in that it's a 3 piece cup with no side sling. I am surprised at the width of these cups as I found the Fantasie Side Support styles to run pretty narrow, but Fantasie specifically says these styles have "wide wires." This style is NOT described with "wide wires" on their official website. I'm not sure what to think of this, but maybe this makes more sense on Backwards Day.

I also found the cup height and wing height to be perplexing, as both are much taller than normal. I had to shorten the straps all the way up to the decorative portion, and the wings and wires were all up in my armpits. If this is meant to be a full coverage balcony style, then the cups are already supposed to come up higher on the body, so why design this with such tall sides? Perhaps this is a style that got lost in translation, where the grading from larger sizes just didn't translate down to the smaller end of the size spectrum. Maybe this would work better sizing down to 30D, but I fear that the shape and shallowness of the cups would make this less than an ideal fit.

Aesthetically, this is a very lovely bra, and it turned out much prettier than in the picture. The purplish grey cups are embroidered with baby pink and tonal grey flowers and leaves in what looks like a cherry blossom shape, perfect for this season. The cups and cradle have a bit of 3D lace decoration. The band is made from a very firm satin with a severe leotard back, so it would be a bit difficult to alter the band down. Straps are solid textured elastic with picot edges, and the gore decoration is a simple bow with round metal disc.

It's a shame that this is such a funky fit, as I think sizing down would not remedy the fit issues of this style. Hopefully this is a grading issue and works for Fantasie's core size range better than in the smaller cup sizes.

Slate colorway

Updated on Apr 08, 2020 Flag this

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  belleandblues Glad to know I wasn't just having weird luck!
  In January, I ordered another Fantasie balcony style bra from somewhere else (the Leona; I don't have much information up but I did at least add the measurements) and it too had very wide wires with shallow, closed-on-top cups. From seeing the fit on the models, one would not think it is a very different fit from the "side support" style. And yet it really is! The side-support style fits me perfectly, so I was really sad to see the balcony styles constructed so differently. Wish they would offer both styles in each fabric they use.

• Whoops, missed that I got it in "Slate" colorway this time; didn't actually realize it was exactly the same model name haha, the first being "Blush" colorway. :)

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  Slava-Zone Ugh, the Blush colorway is sooooo pretty.
  It makes me sad that this is really the craziest bra fit I've come across, and that's saying a lot when compared to some of the Freya fashion styles. I remember reading your original reviews when they were on the front page and thinking I'd better be careful with Fantasie if there are weird inconsistencies like this.

  I've picked up a bunch of their bras now and all the side support styles are pretty normal (and so gorgeous!), but now I will stay away from any of the alleged "balcony" styles. Have you tried any padded half cups or molded cups? Those are next on my list, but I haven't been able to find any for super cheap, they are all at least $50 on Amazon.

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  belleandblues I haven't tried any Fantasie molded bras... molded generally means too shallow at the underwire, and just shallow in general for me. I have conical projected boobs, so getting them rounded out is the goal, and molded just SMASH my shape haha; or, if it's deep enough, the underwire is wide enough to sit a full 1-2 inches behind my breast root. The cups are almost always closed on top as well. As long as I've been wearing bras, molded have almost always been empty in the bottom of the cup while cutting in at top as the same time, and just being too wide. Not comfy!!

  The only molded bra I've made "work" is the Cleo Maddie. It was open on top and already quite bowl-shaped for its kind (rather than like a plate). I enhanced it by replacing the underwire with one size narrower to force it to be a more projected/narrower/deeper shape, and moved the straps in so they stopped hitting my armpits. I have extensive sewing and bra making experience, so I'm willing and able to do bra surgery if absolutely necessary. But lucky for me, I've found that the Fantasie Side-Support bras and the padded plunge Comexim Hot Chocolate bra are my best fit right now, so luckily no surgery needed for the time being. :)

  I have tried the Fantasie half-cup Mae in two different sizes. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough room for immediate projection, and in comparison to wire width, the cup depth is a bit more shallow than the side-support (not as bad as the balcony though). I constantly feel like I have to shove the bra up all day because I can feel the underwire sitting too low on my ribs, but it's stuck there with no room in the bottom of the cup!

  In all my experience, and reading millions of review, half-cups with only vertical seams are known for being wider and shallower than bras with horizontal/diagonal seams. I think the only company who has managed to not make them shallow is Ewa Michalak! And looking at how a lot of the Fantasie molded bras fit in photos on here, with visible gaps below the breasts inside the cups, I'm going to take a wild guess that they're too plate-shaped too. I'd probably recommend staying away from molded if these "balcony" styles feel too wide and shallow. Hope this long-winded reply helps. :)

• Slava-Zone Ah, thank you so much for the detailed response! I am also worried that their molded cups might be too shallow, but I haven't gone and looked at user pictures since most of their most popular styles are unlined. I'll have to go and look into them further, but good to have your feedback.

  I agree, a lot of molded cups tend to be really shallow. I used to wear them all the time, but then started to realize that most of them are too shallow for me, and only worked because the bands were too big. Seamed padded cups seem to be fine for me in general, but I did also recently find a Comexim 3HC to be too shallow for me. Not sure if this was a fluke or not. I haven't tried any Ewa cuts except the M and it isn't really great for me.

  I have a wider shape than you, so I can get away with a pretty wide range of styles, but agree that really shallow bras are a pretty bad idea unless you're also very shallow. I have a bit of the conical shape going on too, so I know what you mean with some of those fit challenges!

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