First impressions. I suspected this would run smaller like it's sibling cuts in other associated brands and stand vindicated.
Going over a bunch of recently outgrown bras, I overlapped Jasmine and this replacement Alexis, hung them together in front of a bright window yesterday with the cup seams matched up- there is nearly no difference in their pattern shape at all.
30J Alexis (equal to 28JJ) is 1 size taller than my 28HH Jasmines, and an entire 1"-1.5" deeper which adjusting jasmine up 2 cups, should make it run a half a cup to a whole size larger than Jasmine while sitting lower. Mostly this ... cup space is somewhere in Alexis' outer 2 panels. It doesn't look as evenly full in shape as Jasmine, since the side control causes the cups to tilt inward to increase inner depth- jasmine didn't pull that one me (other head trips yes but not this one). What Alexis has that Jasmine & Chi Chi hasn't... is decently low necklines (or any necklines when one is high set or very short torsoe'd). Yay. So what does it do?
Day 1 wear.
Totally in love with the height of the mini gore and plunge-balconette hybrid fit, holds everything in with some breathing room. Best of both worlds. There is a true stabilizing wing between the band and cups! At nearly 5.5" it is a tall wing, so naturally the wire feels oversized here albeit not digging at all which I'm chalking up to the band fitting me looser at 28.5" on the tightest hook. I'm highset and most of my breast is somewhere between my sides (very narrow over there) and just to the front of my shoulder (very wide upper body here) so a high enough wing to support- but not so high that it's forcing me to run around with my arms raised all day, is a big deal.
I'm not mad at this strap placement. It could be better for petites; different attachment point to cup, some j hooks, a way shorter upper side panel, better angle, etc. The straps are cute but feel cheaper compared to those on my 30H Cleo Kayla. Not swimsuit cheap but not as good as Cleo's done in the past. Personally I'm finding the armscye and strap aren't terrible for my everything-in-the-same-place-at-once, ie, armpit/sideboob/shoulder region. This could be down to pure shoulder width or the sheer volume of cup space available below that in an area I don't often get it, preventing boob overflow and consequential pinching (Della was quite good at this too, in it's own weird way). Do not mistake volume for shape, it only so happens to not be lifting, folding and squishing my outer half to oblivion (a surprisingly frequent and painful occurrence as bras seem to believe all breasts are simply some type of heavy batter, meant to be poured into the cups & easily take the same shape, rather than cups built to suit their inherent form).
Like earlier Cleo 3 piece halfcup shaping, Alexis side control panel is pretty much just a vague afterthought providing no depth nor making a real effort to hoist things UP AND AWAY forward, so typical shallowness on the outer side. You will not be finding much in the way of Ewa Michalak CHP open fullness here. The lower cup isn't for the bottom full so much as a generally wider rooted shape with even volume tapering up to apex, but it allows for a sort of 'relaxed seating' for a more projected shape to rest without vanishing into the depths of the cup. Being as I have a double helping of everything all at once at the wire to wide apex, the thin fabric is strained to accommodate without buckling and doing a pretty decent job of tolerating uncompressible tough tissue, allowing very little mobility when in motion which is like not having boobs at all, love that.
It's open keyhole gore is .5"- .75" wider than Jasmine's at the lower half, so the cups end up east-west and side set on me, wires sit on my lower inner breast (used to this with UK brands) which is squashed upward into the super stretchy lace that just clings for dear life... soon to cut in but oho not YET... swooping them out is to no avail, unlike comexim my inner area is once again compressed from a firm rounded shape into a weird flat triangle giving those lovely classic UK bra inverted trapezoid boobs we all love.
I don't care for cleavage or vavavoom fluff at the gore for sex appeal, but wonder sometimes if it's possible not having bulging toward my shoulders that looks extra sideheavy like (___/\___) with that extra helping of boob flattener at the gore (usually also below). It makes me wonder why the seams aren't more curved, or more panels added to round out the shape better? For someone who isn't especially inner full I feel really gaslit every time I finally track down anything that is supposedly good for giving the girls some space there.
Inner cup panel itself is basically the same cut and shape as the smaller sized Jasmine, so there's no improvement in depth there whatsoever. Guess they just scratched their heads as one does when solving a puzzle 'Hey toss me a lower cup piece that matches a 3" tall gore' 'Ok yeah no prob, here ya go' instead of asking themselves the bigger question of whether someone of fairly short and elongated 30J proportions is able to pinch themselves into that. I might have missed a fraction of an inch in measurement just at the wire, or a tiny difference in angle degree that would explain everything but like many of this company's offerings, same old thing. No fast moves. Trusty if nothing. So directly at the wire, outward to apex it appears to have only as much projection if not quite as much overall upper or inner fullness as the rather smaller 28HH Jasmine's inner panel. Wish they'd gone for a little bit more though. Pour one out for our homie, squished innertiddy.
Materials are so so silky, lightweight and fine which bodes well for summer; while Alexis feels invisible on a sweltering day I worry how things will go with swelling or higher humidity. It's cups upper elastic lace is very pretty and soft, no itchy seams to be seen anywhere at all. However this stretches about 50% while feeling like a whisper, barely noticeable which strikes me could feel pretty insecure for a taller breast. Clearly this is designed to forgive a multitude of design sins but it also comes with a price. On one hand I adore stretch lace above the cup and on the other I fear double quad and the crawling out with outgrowing- as usual for panache the lace fits generally tighter than I need, neither closed in nor open so we will all feel some way about this short-tight-stretchy bit before mumbling 'oh well, look at least the lace is pretty'.
I'm not excited about the chore of removing the tiny strip of superfine slinky lingerie seam elastic under the stretch lace to make the cup more natural/spacious. It's almost like a 1/8" version of the typical foldover elastic sold and used everywhere, but... not a foldover, just what we attach to sergers when sewing stretchy delicates that need reinforcement. Like most panache offerings of late, the zigzag stitch attaching it is microscopic! This gives a 1.5mm ridged 'tunneling' effect along the elastic on the inside of the cup, when it's stretched it is more pronounced... Not sharp or rough but this lowers percentage of 'give' on top to maybe 25% so upper cup ease allowance is up to 8" before the quadmonster kicks in- taller roots or fuller inner breasts may get in the way here, as the cup is much shorter.
I'll have to set this aside and do some fiddly work to introduce the cups to one another by way of sewing the keyhole gore closed, improve the strap situation somehow. What else am I missing here. In 2024 Bratabase has sized me somewhere between 28J-JJ-K-KK sizing with only comexim 55N (too small having already sized out of 60O awhile ago) but branching out back from polish brands that have been scarce pickins makes the hunt for super short, immediately full, extra deep, short narrow gored bras has me kind of confused about listed sizes vs their actual sizes (so many oddly large small lettered cups lately! so much crazy pushup cone boobage!)
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Updated on Aug 07, 2024 Flag this