If like me you're not a fan of moulded/padded bras the Divine is definitely worth a try as a t-shirt bra. The cups are made of sturdy floral lace which is shaped trough little darts at the centre gore and base of the cup, achieving a smooth round uplifted shape without any visible seams. This pale pink Prima Donna calls Venus is too light to work as a nude for me, but I imagine this could work for someone with pale skin. For me this is the perfect summer bra, cheerful, lightweight and seamfree.
I found this bra to have enough projection and deep cups. But consider: the gore is about 1'' wide and the cups are quite closed on top without any stretch. It worked for me as I'm wideset and FoB but I think the cut is not very forgiving shapewise. It has to match your shape just as it would be with a moulded bra.
Lovely pink colour. Cups completely encompass my breasts without any extra space on the bottoms or sides. Sheer, but lace is placed strategically to obscure the nipple. My left breast is slightly smaller so it doesn't quite fill the lace on the top. Lace is not scratchy. Only one hook on bra closure which looks quite strained at the end of the day. Pretty ribbon and bow details. Gore sits right on my sternum. No gaping or quadboob. This bra fits me well. It was expensive though. I paid $165 CDN.
This is a gorgeous, sophisticated looking mesh bra in a mocha color scattered with small red embroidered flowers -- I SO wanted it to fit. Sensitive types will appreciate the thin, flexible wires, which have extra cushioning like all of the Prima Donna bras I've tried, and the lack of scratchy picot edging and side seam boning. The lower cup and side-support panel are lined with very soft, light cotton so the nips don't show. The upper lace panel is very stretchy, soft and the edge is reinforced by elastic. The wide straps are almost fully adjustable, smooth, satiny elastic, with a couple of inches of small embroidered ...applique flowers climbing them like a trellis. Delightful!
PETITES: Short women with small rib cages will appreciate the close-set 6.5" back strap placement and the diminuitive 12" distance from outer wire tip to outer wire tip, as well as the minimal 3/8" underband, which is scooped out below the gore to give lots of tummy room. This is not a bra that will dig into short girls' ribs when you sit down.
BAND: Like the 65F - Prima Donna » Aurora Underwired Bra (0162631), the 22.5" unstretched band is even shorter than the usual Prima Donna 65 band, which I measured at 23.5 in the Prima Donna Madison Plunge and 24" in the 65E - Prima Donna » Couture Underwired Bra (0162580). The band stretches about two inches before the wire tips begin to spread out and distort the shape of the cup, so if your tight underband measurement is more than 26.5", you may have issues with the wires poking and the cups not fitting properly. I am a snug 27" and I had quadboob and poking under the arms despite not filling the cups fully due to the distortion. The band is very stretchy and will not feel too tight on a 29" ribcage -- but the super-flexible, narrow wires, very short band, and elastic-backed edge of the upper lace panel will magnify each other into disaster territory. Go up a band size or two, or expect to use an extender.
CUP: The Prima Donna First Lady has a 3-part cup consisting of a curved side support panel that comprises the outer 1/4" of the cup, a deep, lower "cat's ear" shaped panel with a curved transverse seam about 3/4" above the nipple that comprises approximately half of the cup, and a 2" wide sheer rectangular mesh panel that comprises the upper 1/4" of the cup. It is almost identitical in cut to the 65F - Prima Donna » Couture Underwired Bra (0162581), except there is no hidden vertical center seam in the lining of the lower cup for extra lift. In my opinion, this makes the First Lady a great bra for very full on bottom or very full all around shapes. For those like me who are deflated on top, somewhat full on the bottom and very squishy, the result was two pyramids! I did not have that problem in the 65E - Prima Donna » Deauville Underwired Bra (0161810) which has the same design, except the upper panel is a full inch wider -- putting the curved transverse seam right at the nipple -- and the shorter lower panel has a center vertical seam in the cup lining to give extra lift.
Yowza, this is a really small band! (Note: Check out the individual measurements for actual sizing, which is around 27 inches stretched. The interpolated data point is really throwing the numbers off here.)
Delightfully narrow cups, though, and good projection. (Prima Donna runs really deep.) I normally wear a 30E/F UK, but I think I’m going to try a 32D in this. Only thing other than the band that I don’t like is that it only has one hook in the back (I’d prefer 3, but I’ll settle for 2).
Not my best fitting bra. There is elastic on the lace part of the upper cups which presses into my breast tissue creating a slight quadboob effect. The under wires are a bit too wide for me. I like the fabric and the details on the straps and gore. The band feels very snug. I like this bra, but I know it's not a perfect fit.
But the bra is marked as fitting? Is that a mistake?
It's not a horrible fit so that's why I marked it as fitting. To me, those fitting remarks are just me being nit picky. It's a decent enough fit, but I just prefer to wear my cuter bras instead.
The 65E (roughly equivalent to a UK 30E because of Prima Donna's bizarre sizing system) is a lovely vertical seam, unlined bra in a vibrant red. It was cutting in the way plunge bras can on a shallow shape. Though my shape isn't really shallow or projected, my size in Prima Donna is usually 65F, but the Fantasia is a discontinued, past season model. I haven't been able to find another in what would probably be my correct size.
Like all the Prima Donna bras I've tried, the materials are top notch, and it was very comfortable from the first moment I put it on. This bra inspired me to try the Prima Donna Madison Plunge Bra, which I now have in three colors.
Some of Prima Donna's plunge have vertical seamed cups. This, as I recall, is one of them. The Madison Plunge is another. The Traviata, the only convertible bra Prima Donna has come out with, is, too. Excellent construction for lift and shape.
The 65E Prima Donna Tamise Balconette (016-2433) doesn't make me quadboob, but the top of it strains to keep me flattened into the cup. Unlike the full, rounded shape I get from most of my bras, the Tamise kind of flattens the top half of my boobs so the profile makes me look full-on-bottom. In bras my boobs behave like full-on-top. I have three Prima Donna Madison Plunge Bras, which, like the Tamise, are unlined. The Madison Plunges fit great in 30F. I suspect the Tamise would, too. I wear a 30F in most bras I own. I've tried perhaps a hundred bras and found 30F to be ...my most common size. However, this bra is a past season model and I couldn't find it in 30F.
However, the Tamise, being a balconette, is higher in the center gore and thus has more coverage than the Madison Plunges. The Tamise also has that irritating and common Prima Donna feature, one row of hooks and eyes. Someone at Prima Donna had the sense to put two rows of hooks and eyes on the 30F Madison Plunges.
The Tamise is white, lightweight, unlined, and unpadded. It would suit someone who doesn't mind a center gore higher than 1.5" and who typically wears UK 30E, I believe. Prima Donna's cups run big in my size range, and they skip some letters. That explains why I wear a 30F in their bras instead of a 30G or 30H
The higher price of Prima Donnas is evident in the materials used in the Tamise. Comfort is where the nicer materials really come through for the wearer. The materials are all soft and feel good.
One feature not evident in the product photos of this bra is the pale gold embroidery on the cups. It makes the bra prettier than I had expected. The embroidery is subtle and attractive. Read more 201 more words
Prima Donna doesn't use U.K. sizing. According to their size chart, I should be in something two or three cups bigger, but this 30E fits well. Prima Donna's cups run insanely large, at least in 30 bands. I have about a dozen bras that fit me well, and the vast majority are 30Fs in U.K. sizing.
This is one of those rare sheer, unlined, unpadded half cup bras in a fuller bust brand. I love it. It's lower at the center gore than most of my half cups but has a little more fabric where the cups meet the straps than most of my half cups. Most ...of my half cup bras are Fauves.
The bra's purplish color is less pure and less saturated than my photos would lead you to believe. It's gorgeous, but I'd prefer a richer, clearer purple. The lovely embroidery embellishes the cups and the front half of the straps. The straps are only partially adjustable. This is not a problem for me, even though I am petite. This leads me to believe the straps are on the short side compared to, say, my 30F Fauves or the Cleo Marcie in 30FF.
I don't like that there's only one row of hooks and eyes. It's been comfortable whenever I've tried it on, but I'll probably wear this with one of my Braologie Mini Vests. I don't seem to have back fat with the bra alone, but I like the Mini Vest for the extra push to front and center. I also may still be experiencing tissue migration, which the Mini Vest surely helps with. I bought this in June 2013 but have been delaying removing the tags and wearing it until after entering all data into Bratabase. Read more 182 more words
Thanks for the review! It's a really pretty bra and I like the idea of acting as a tee shirt bra without being moulded.