I picked up the Masquerade Medina a little while ago on eBay from a UK seller, but due to unforseen delays, it finally arrived in my mailbox today. I was initially interested in this style because of the rose print, and because Masquerade padded bras have been excellent quality and a pretty decent fit for blind buys. Upon looking at the 3HC styling and comparing the measurements I expected this to fit like the Angie, which suits me well, but Medina is slightly different, resulting in a less than ideal fit on me.
Medina is made from rose printed Masquerade satin throughout, and has a lovely dove grey base ... that extends into the straps and elastic. Like most Masquerade styles, the majority of the strap is fabric with decorative trim, and only the back of the strap is adjustable. The straps and upper cup have a dusty rose ball-type trim, and the only other adornment is a simple bow at the gore. As with many of their other bras, the band is quite narrow, and there is a gentle leotard back.
Medina seems like it would be a “normal” 3HC rounded shape, but there is something a bit odd about the proportions. The vertical projection of the cup feels a bit shallower and less bowl-shaped than Angie, and when viewed from above, the fullness of the cup is concentrated at the center gore, like on the Athena. Masquerade tends to do this with some of their padded bras, but this shaping really doesn’t suit my body as I don’t have inner fullness. Because of the odd shape of the cup, while the volume fits, the top is too open at the wrong part of my body, so it gaps slightly on my larger side at the center gore, and gaps all around on my smaller side. I also need to wear this bra on the tightest hook in order to get all my tissue to stay scooped inside the cups, which is always an issue with wide and shallow cups since it’s so easy for tissue to escape. If there were more immediate projection at the wire, a more rounded shape, and a more closed off top, it would be great!
I’m confused as to why this bra is cut differently than Angie, because the basic construction is the same. Both have the same 3HC cup construction, full band cradle, and similar band proportions. Medina’s wires are touching at the center gore while Angie’s is not, and Medina’s wings are just slightly narrower and made from single layer satin rather than powermesh lined, so it feels less secure. It seems like Masquerade should have just created one cut for both bras since you would not know without trying on that these similar looking bras actually fit quite differently.
I’m bummed that this didn’t work out because I liked the Angie fit a lot and had hoped to find something else similar. This bra is for someone with more upper and center fullness than I have. On me, the seams look quite lumpy and visible under clothing, but I think they would work better on someone who fills out the bra fully.
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Updated on Apr 20, 2020 Flag this
Ooooh, that *is* a pretty bra. Such beautiful fabric.