I've been pretty late in discovering Claudette bras, so the ones I've picked up have been from a liquidator on Amazon/eBay. I've read many reviews bemoaning the inconsistency in this brand, so I knew to expect some fit variation. The two Dessous bras I picked up in 28E and 30DD definitely had this issue, but I saw the Paloma for a great price and decided to give it a try. Happily, this one worked for me!
As far as I can tell, Dessous and Paloma are pretty much the same fit, just in different materials. They are both a three-piece cup with a double layer ... bottom cup and single layer mesh upper cup, with relatively short wings and J curved wires. The Paloma is made from beautiful satin for the lower cups and cradle, a mesh upper cup, and a mesh band, with full elastic at the top and bottom of the band and cradle. In theory, this construction should be pretty foolproof, but unfortunately the Dessous suffers from quality and consistency problems. This particular colorway of the Paloma, however, is a solid choice.
Most importantly, the band on this Paloma is nice and firm. The same stretch mesh is used in both styles (the kind of mesh used on Cleo Marcie and Lucy wings), but it seems there is a lot of variation between colors and some are flimsy and others are firm. This seems to be a combo of the mesh and elastic, not just one of the materials. My 30DD Paloma and my 30DD New Classic/Elsa Pink Dessous measure the same on the flat, but the Dessous feels too big in the band while Paloma is a pretty good fit. I do have to put this on the tightest hook to get the cups to fit snugly, but I don't feel the band riding up at all.
The shape of the cups fits me pretty well, and I have no issues with it. However, all 3 of the underwires on my three bras look different although they measure the same. My 30DD Paloma has a sharp J hook shape, similar to Freya underwires; the 30DD Dessous has a rounded C underwire, similar to Cleo Lucy/Kali, and the 28E has extremely round, half-circle shaped underwires. Because of this, all of the cups fit a bit differently. The cup separation is also quite different between Paloma and Dessous--the Dessous cups are almost right next to each other, but the Paloma definitely has a noticeably wide center gore. I have no idea why there is so much variation as the cup construction is the same and the measurements are pretty much the same, therefore I believe this is manufacturing inconsistency.
The only part I want to point out is that the upper edge elastic on this bra is slightly tighter than the upper edge on my Dessous bras, so it slightly cuts into my roots. Since I have short, shallow roots this isn't very noticeable, but I could see this becoming more of a problem on tall roots.
Overall, a very nice bra. Claudette bras are lovely if you get one that actually fits as intended, It's a crapshoot, but since they are discontinued, you should be able to find one deeply discounted and give it a try!
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Updated on Oct 31, 2019 Flag this