The fit of this bra isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn close. I have a fun backstory with this bra though (sorry it's a bit long)-

I've been breastfeeding continuously for 3.5 years. During that time I've been pretty prone to clogs anytime I even LOOK at a wired bra, so I've been mostly wearing bras I affectionately call "stretchy beige tarps." My youngest baby is a little over 1 year old and only nurses twice a day now, so I was VERY excited to make a trip to the local fancy bra boutique (Breakout Bras!) and have a proper fitting. Even before I got pregnant, I was wearing ... super old stretched out bras. I honestly can't even guess what size they were. In preparation for my fitting, I measured myself and followed the directions on r/ABTF and come up with a size somewhere in the neighborhood of 34G/GG. That seemed about right to me, I knew my band was 34ish but I couldn't find cups big enough in stores. I planned a girls' luncheon with my friends to try on bras, and off we went.

When I got to the bra boutique, the clerk (fitter? salesperson? I don't know her actual title!) gave me a once over in my stretchy beige tarp and declared me a 32HH. I was skeptical I'd be able to breathe, but figured she was the expert, so I eagerly waited while she brought me some bras to try. She brought a mix of Elomi, Fantasie, and Panache bras... everything was VERY full coverage. Not that I really requested super sexy/plunge stuff, but I'm very petite and have a short torso, and full coverage bras always feel like they come up to my neck. (I've since determined that my shape is very short-rooted/high set, narrow, and projected. I'm 5'2" and my bra band in the back is usually only 4-5" above my pants... super short torso.)

So I started trying on these bras, and I could BARELY fasten them... as in, if my ribcage were even 1/4" bigger, it wouldn't have happened. I was worried I was going to break/rip the bras. In hindsight I am certain the wires were probably distorted in everything I tried on. To say I was uncomfortable would be putting it mildly... my "break the tape" measurement is 32.5" and most 32" bands are painful. I told the woman that was helping me, and she dismissed my concerns, and said I'd get used to it. In all the bras I tried on, the straps had to be adjusted as small as they could possibly go. I realize now this was a sign that the cups were probably a bit too big and she was pulling up the slack (and they all still gaped a bit on my smaller side); it didn't actually make the straps too short. What it DID do was pull all the cups straight up into my armpits (I'm sure the super tight band and wire distortion played a part as well). The upper/outer sides of the cups were digging into my Tail of Spence and armpit and the area was red/raw feeling after about half a dozen bras. Again, I was told it was just because I'd been used to nursing bras, and I'd get used to it. She never took any bras back to try a different size, and according to her the band looked great.

Despite these red flags, I really liked several of the bras she brought me. My very very favorite was this bra - the Panache Clara in Duck Egg blue. When it came time to pick one to purchase, I picked a Fantasie Rebecca (basically a beige t shirt bra) and this one in a 32HH. The last step at the boutique is that a manager/supervisor has to come over and "approve" your fit. Well, the manager didn't care for the fit of this one. Not for any of the reasons I would've cited though; she said it looked like the gore and armpit wires were too high on me and even if it were comfy then, it would bother me within a couple of hours. She did not approve it for purchase. (I think I could've bought it anyway, but forfeit returns? or something, I didn't push it.) So even though it was beautiful and I'd made all my friends that were with me come look at it in the dressing room because I loved it so much, I didn't take it home that day... which is probably for the best because it was a 32HH.

I spent the next month obsessively reading bra blogs and reviews and measurements on Bratabase. I ordered a bunch from Amazon Prime just to try different sizes. And, lo and behold, I determined that a 34GG was a MUCH better fit for me in Panache bras! So I bought this one and am very tempted to wear it to the bra boutique, just to show it off. The fit is great now, the band is comfortable, the wires are comfortable (for Panache), the cups fit perfectly (it's like a second skin!), the straps are adjusted properly, it encloses all my tissue, and the cups are not up in my armpits/ToS. It's a bra miracle. I even posted a photo here in Bratabase, I was so excited about the fit. When I opened the package from Amazon and tried it on, angels sang. I lounged in it and read a book in bed, it was THAT comfy.

It's not quite perfect - I am still a short person and it does have a tall gore (it comes higher than the majority of my breast tissue), but I think I can bend it just enough to make it work. I also think I could use just a smidge more projection near the center (just below/beside the gore). The bra fits strangely in that region (it's that inner triangle of fabric near the center), and it creates an oddly flat area, but you can really only feel it, not see it, because of the location. My only other complaint (if you could call it that) is that the wire swings a bit wide under my arm, and ends up about 1" past the end of my breast tissue. It doesn't bother me comfort-wise, just worth noting for others that have narrow roots. The lace around the band is a bit stiff but I fully expect it will soften up after a few washes/wears.

Moral of the story: Don't let someone else tell you what bra you are comfortable in!
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Duck egg colorway

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Nov 29, 2016 Flag this

hard to clasp, good except for gore

Updated on Apr 05, 2023 Flag this

I was not a fan of the fit on this, the underwire was much too long and poked at both my armpit and sternum. It also make me look a bit too wide. However, the cup volume was good,

Updated on May 28, 2022 Flag this

Even though I went up a full cup size it still doesn't have enough depth at the wire for me and because of the bigger cup it poked me in the armpits to boot. I haz a sad cuz it's so beautiful and I had to return it.

Duck Egg colorway

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Apr 24, 2017 Flag this

Lovely round shape. I wear a 34GG in this but a 32H in Cleo Lucy.

Updated on Dec 11, 2016 Flag this

I already have one of these and love it, see my review of 34GG - Panache » Clara Full Cup Bra (7255) for a longer review!

The color I already have is the duck egg blue, and when I saw this one on eBay for $15 in beige (which should work as a nude for me), I couldn't resist.

Takeaway: Stretch lace is forgiving, materials are soft/stretchy and comfortable. Functions like a minimizer on me, which I don't mind; everything is still very rounded. The elaborate all-over lace makes me feel beautiful even if it's not the most stunning silhouette.

Fit: Just like my other Clara, this one ... has very tall wires, both under the arms and in the gore, but it doesn't bother me somehow. I am beginning to think I might try a 34G (one cup size smaller) in the next unlined Panache I buy, simply because I've noticed the Envy fits me much better in that size and these are fairly similar/based on the same model. There's nothing here to actually indicate I need a smaller size, but I also think the stretch lace is so forgiving it might be hiding an imperfect fit and I might get slightly more uplift with a smaller cup. I hesitate because I know the G-GG jump is where the construction changes (goes from 2 to 3 hooks, straps get wider), and I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk the comfort of the wide band and straps I get her just for slightly more uplift. On the other hand, this is the absolute tallest gore I think I can wear comfortably, perhaps a cup size down will scale down enough to reduce the gore as well. We'll see.
It's kind of odd, in my other Clara there is an odd spot of tension on the lower-center cup area (the triangle panel nearest the gore) that I took to mean that this bra doesn't have enough projection for my center fullness, but in this one it's the opposite. There's some wrinkling in that same panel, whereas in the other Clara it's almost too taut. It seems like it might also be an issue with the construction; there are 2 layers in that spot, and it seems only the top layer is wrinkled. I am revising my theory - I think there is enough projection in that spot, but I think the shape of the wires/gore isn't quite right for my IMF in that region; like the wires are wider at that spot than my breasts so they are resting on breast tissue and I have a hard time filling it right there. Regardless, it's not an issue with comfort at all, and since that area is on the underside and in my cleavage, no one can see it, so I choose to ignore it because this bra makes me feel beautiful otherwise!

Appearance: The lace is beautiful, just like my other Clara. The color is a very yellow-peach beige... It's not the same color as, say, my beige 32GG - Fantasie » Rebecca Spacer Moulded Bra (2024) or my 34GG - Panache » Envy Balconnet Bra (7285) . It reminds me of the color of vanilla ice cream that has that bright pastel yellow color. It's not a true nude on me by any means, but it'll work under light shirts. The shape it gives is very round. My shape is very projected, and this bra handles it just fine, but somehow gives me a very shallow/minimized appearance. I don't mind this at all - I have my 75G - Ewa Michalak » Sf Gładzioch Beż (849) for days I want some real "oomph" with an unlined beige bra. I actually toyed with the idea of converting this one to a nursing bra (I'm always in search of more pretty nursing bras), but I won't, because the stretch lace portion actually extends up to the shoulder area which would put the nursing clip on top of my shoulder. The lace is flat enough to not show under clothes, even thin clingy shirts; the seams show more than the lace does, but it's all pretty smooth.

Construction: Stretch lace EVERYWHERE. There's a non-stretch mesh layer under the lace on the cups that actually does the heavy lifting. The straps in this size are wide and padded with some felt underneath. The back has 4 sets of 3 hooks/loops. There are side slings (double layer of the mesh), but I'm very center full with narrow roots and don't really need side slings ever so these just kind of sit there.

In summary, although this bra doesn't give the same stunning silhouette some of my Polish bras do, it still does an admirable job lifting/rounding. If I hadn't found Ewa's unlined bras, I'd probably love this one even more. This bra does make me feel like a very grownup classy sort of person when I wear it, and it's very comfortable!
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Beige colorway

Updated on Nov 02, 2016 Flag this

How I wish this bra had fit me! So beautiful, but once again - way too small in the cups! Great forward projection, but half of one breast is trying to escape on the top. Too bad - I really love the look and the side support.

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on May 05, 2015 Flag this

I tried the 'Moonlight' colorway, which is a purplish blue (like periwinkle, but darker) overlaid with grey lace. It has crossed elastic in the front, similar to the Panache Dahlia (7291)](model:10616). The straps are half adjustable and padded. It has a side support sling of doubled mesh fabric. Like the Dahlia, which I observed was comfortable for me in a 34 and thus looser than I am used to with Panache, the Clara also fit me in 34. I got slight wrinkles in the bottom of the cup; it didn't have enough immediate projection for me.

Band: runs true-to-size, loose for Panache
Cup: true-to-size
Depth: similar to Andorra, not as deep as Jasmine or Dahlia

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Nov 02, 2013 Flag this

Didn't write a review

Added on Nov 07, 2015

Didn't write a review

Added on Jun 19, 2021