I am finding that horizontal cut half cups are best for my shape, so I couldn't resist ordering the Mademoiselle. It's a bit too ornamental for my taste, but the subtle colour scheme appealed to me anyway. Also, the idea of possibly getting a complete lingerie set is tickling https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" />

Bra description:

I must say, this bra is even prettier in person that it appeared from the online photos: the 'blush' colour is the palest of pinks, which works really beautifully underneath the black lace overlay. On pale complexions it actually appears close to nude. The black lace itself consists of a delicate all-over ... floral pattern on tulle with a wide, detailed, yet flat embroidery border along the cup edges. Bold, embroidered parallel lines finish off the design. The pattern is perfectly mirrored on both cups, a detail that pleases me greatly (CK Entice, I'm looking at you!). The wings are made of a single layer of black powernet and the edges are finished with decorative elastic. The centre gore is embellished with a fairly large black organza bow, a delicate piece of 'blush' ribon and a small black rose. The strap connections are adorned with a simple 'blush' ribbon bow and small black rose. The straps are fairly wide, fully adjustable and feel lovely and soft. Instead of rings, sliders are used to connect the straps to the wings in the back. All findings are black coated metal. The bra is unlined, unpadded, completely synthetic, and very light weight.

One thing one doesn't see mentioned often in a bra description is smell -- this is the first time I myself find it necessary to mention and unfortunately not for positive reasons: the moment I opened the (beautifully wrapped) package a strong 'plasticky' whiff caught my nostrils. Really, this bra smells so strongly of plastic that's it's quite off-putting for me -- I'm terribly sensitive to smells and this one is giving me slight headache. I can only hope it lessens with time.

Bra fit:

In a previous life, I would have said this bra fits me well enough. Now, however, I'm quit sure it doesn't. The main reason is the wires. Oh, these wires ... ! They are some of the most flexible, least stable wires I've ever encountered. They are so flexible that they distort to the point where the centre gore barely stays put on my sternum. They also stretch way too far back under my arms and the bottoms of the cups are visibly flattened. One could argue that this happens because this 28 band is too tight for my 69cm/27" underbust (!) -- I'm obviously using part of the cups as 'band' -- but these wires really ARE extremely flexible. As to tightness: the band actually FEELS perfectly perfect, although I can SEE it obviously isn't. I don't know how a band size up would work with wires this flexible ... wouldn't the whole thing simply feel too loose?

Having said that, I think the shape is otherwise reasonably nice. As it is, the cups are quite shallow and flattened this much they give little projection, but they do indeed suit my shape and with sturdier wires they would almost certainly look *really* good. I AM tempted to exchange this bra for a band size up and a cup size down just to see what happens. I'm thinking I could always replace the wires ... the thing that makes me pause, though, is the high level of 'syntheticness' of this bra. Do I really want to wear a 'plastic' bra?

Conclusion:

What to do, what to do? Exchange and perhaps fiddle around with replacement wires or just return and give up on the thing? I'm impressed with the looks of this bra, but not with the quality of the materials used -- at £32 this is NOT a cheap bra, and I'm really not convinced it's worth the money ...

Edited To Add:

I tried this bra with and extender and with the worst of the strain off the band and wires the cups definitely look better. It also shows they are actually too roomy. With an extender the band definitely feels looser, but it may be worth a shot after all as I DO need unpadded bras more than anything ...
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Updated on Dec 11, 2012 Flag this