I had to try an Empriente bra and see what all the fuss was about. Between the crazy price tag and largely glowing reviews, I was SO curious to see if the brand would actually be worth the money for me. I chose this model because I thought it had lining in the bottom half of the cup to cut down on nipple poke (it doesn't). That said, it is a VERY nice bra, and it ALMOST fits.

Quality wise, it's gorgeous. Beautiful embroidery, solid seams, soft fabric. Really pretty light pink color. The details are stellar. I love the ornate design on the gore, there's even a little crystal in the middle.

Fit wise, it was pretty close. I went down a cup size as suggested by Bare Necessitites. Gore tacked, band seemed fine. Straps were comfortable once adjusted. No pokes with the underwire or issues with filling out the cups on the larger side, and only slight wrinkling on the smaller side. The only thing off about the fit was that the underwire didn't stay in my IMF when I raised my arms.

I don't like the way it looks, though. I wasn't expecting it to be as low-cut as it is based on the pictures I saw on the product page, and it doesn't give me the shape I was hoping for. For $150 (and that was 25% off!!), I would have to LOVE it to keep it. Definitely a quality brand, but I’m not sure it’s worth 3x the cost of my favorite Wacoal. I’m also not sure that sheer bras are my thing.

Rose Tendre colorway

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Oct 01, 2020 Flag this

• 4

  I love Empreinte but it is one of the few brands to be designed from the get-go for a very large and heavy bust. Pattern grading only takes you so far so if you don't match that demographic the fit usually is only so-so, meaning it becomes a truly pointless expense for someone who has the build (average/athletic back, moderate cup volume) to very easily fit and wear all the OTHER luxury French brands that are designed with more average proportions in mind! If you want to splurge on super fancy French lingerie, you have endless choices... try Aubade, Lise Charmel, etc. At a slightly lower but still premium price point Lejaby and Simone Perele have tons of beautiful and well-made designs.

• 1

  In my opinion, the cups are way too small for your 27.9 cm b. perimeter. In the picture they can't contain all your breast tissue and cut in. The band seems also a little too big for you and rides up on your back. If you really like the design of this bra and want to keep one, I think the 32E will be a better choice.

  By the way, don't trust the "fitting suggestions" of any online shops easily. On one side it's commercial related, on the other side every brand is different in sizing and everyone's body shape is individual. For good bra fitting references I'll recommend ABTF (A bra that fits) and busty resources. Some personal blogs with fitting experiences can be useful too.

• 1

  smjwzhan correct, Empreinte in this size range runs very "short" vertically and is narrow too. So while the cup may have enough projection for faeriequeene it is too small in other dimensions. However, sizing up in this brand won't do any good if the problem is a shape issue, especially in view of their rather unique disregard for sister sizing. Going down a band and up 2 cups in their seamed bras usually results in a HUGELY deeper cup. Even down a band and up 1 cup can be risky. I made that mistake once or twice with bras I really was dying to have... the cups were so massively oversized, I could have used them to store my iphone, wallet and (car + house) keys and still had room.
  Their molded lace designs such as the Melody line are the only ones that I would describe as consistent in terms of sister sizing... probably because those bras were designed in the late 1990s or later, with completely new patterns and grading systems due to the different construction.

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