I'm not familiar with Aubade despite having seen it around for decades. It's almost always out on racks as a 36B or 34C when I encounter it and has always been woefully gorgeous and tiny. We exchange a simple glance and move on as though nothing has ever happened and thus is was that I've gone my entire life without a clue the perfect bra was quite literally lurking under my nose this whole time. I'd never have known Softessence was THE ONE! if not for another member here who has passed it onto me like a great blessing from above.
Softessence seems to be a hybrid halfcup ... plunge, cut much lower than even the discontinued Ewa Michalak HP, or Panache's Rocha are! Its cups are made from 2 layers of supersoft fine mesh with embroidery on the outer layer, this gives a breathable and gauzy, silky feeling rivaling Katherine Hamilton's fine tulle. It has a very short deep open cup with some degree of lift after the first cm through 4 cm out from the wire, which should do great things for a very narrow and projected breast. It's somewhat similar to Bravissimo's Elise which differs in that its a plunge that tends to run tall even without the upper panel.
Perhaps Softessence's middle-of-the-road lift is meant to compress breasts into themselves instead of toward the chest wall as many halfcups do. It seems less for a bottom full shape than perhaps for an even or upper full one. With my doublewide situation I consider this style pretty bottom heavy friendly as it's not crushing my breasts backward into my pits or up to my eyeballs- in my experience most balconette cups feel like a truck meant to run over and squish my tissue.
So it's either the short narrow wires, open cup top or just built different.
Big shrug. oh, No. OOPS...
That reminds me. Its dainty stretch satin straps are very sturdy yet soft, narrow but supportive, as well as beautifully adorned with matching embroidered mesh lace trim. A shame to not be able to see them hiding under sleeves. As with all of the sewing treatment & fine sundry choices, this bra has almost Rosa Faia levels of heirloom detailing, and just exquisite fabric matching. Attachment point where these are sewn to the cups tilts outward toward shoulders somewhat & kept raising upward and falling off my wide bones (rare!), so have tacked the straps facing inward the other direction, instead. This has only ever happened with older Ewa's, and I'd forgotten it was much of an issue until Softessense came into regular wear.
Unclear if this is an average Aubade feature or operator error at the factory. As the back does not have a ballet scoop to direct the straps up maybe they're more easily prone to simply falling off shoulders from there too. More about this:
There's a VERY tall, wide bra band made of 2 layers, superfine sleek powernet inner and an embroidered stretch lace outer. This has 4 sets of hooks for a closure indicating great anticipation of Serious Business Afoot. But it's not a longline, and still reminds me somehow of strapless bras which are made with a thicker band design to 'bear up' the heft awaiting in front. I'm not sure about this airy high tech design's ability to reign in free weight personally, as a good third of my breast are just tall upper tissue that the lower projection hangs from, and it's all attached to some crazy big strong shoulders that don't seem to be effected greatly by the less supported volume when upright throughout the day. They do ache badly after sleeping braless on my side in the morning but am not willing to test this fine piece of work out as a sleep bra just to answer the question of how effective it is for controlling heavy boobs. I'm not sure open cups would prevent mine from skittering all the way out these open cups like a pack of rats, should I roll onto my back anyway. So still curious to know more about the extra thick band's purpose in relation to this cup shape.
On fit. I have super short, full hard breasts that both appreciate the low cut & openness of the halfcup shape here but are also sort of fighting the lift feature, by trying to push the cups down & eventually an agreement is met between the mechanical stretch ability of the duel mesh layers, and my lower breasts. Softessense wants to retreat down my chest but instead manages to drag up my breasts highly, front & center like some great sleek russet momma-cat carrying aloft her kittens, and narrows the distance between apex by a few inches where it dumps them together in what I presume is where they are meant to nestle. Near my sternum. Being as I'm already very high set with super short inner tissue and find the average shirt too revealing, there's a quandary. I find Softeessence's lifted effect minimizing overall, but more accident prone as I'm not used to having more bulk right ahead for things to bump into, catch or spill on. I'm not used to anything remotely like cleavage, period and this constantly collects tiny crumbs, hairs and other items which feel like a bug triggering mortal irritation/terror. Ultimately for 'lost wardrobe' purposes it's nice to have the big roots squished out of sight even if the overall look is rather pointy in the clothing I've sized out of due to chest girth.
Softessence is also very comfortable despite some overflow near the outer cup where my boobs escape under the wire like prison convicts, which is one of the most singularly and literal hot points of contention I carry with cup fit. Its unclear if this happens due to the cup shape, band size or lack of a stabilized wing. I've 2 empreinte I'd worn regularly in similarly sized 32G with the same lack of stabilized wing where the band joined the wire channeling and while they had looser bands they didn't do this. Both of those cups were shaped more like Katherine Hamilton full balconettes with a very full lower cup which might have just matched my rounded outer breast shape and held me more gently there, instead of trying to prod it up up and away from the very place they should just be let to sit.
It's been a wonderful month with this in the bra-drobe... While I'd not guess that my short wide oval shape would ever be compatible with a very narrow deep plunge apparently I was dead wrong. I'm now on a journey to find this one again in a larger size as my hopes are this one will ease up and match my shape over time, but just to be on the safe side better to be prepared for the inevitable. If anyone has any idea of similarly short super-projected open topped styles please comment below!
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Updated on Mar 12, 2024 Flag this
I have the other bra on here, the 30E, and same story in this size as well. I meant to buy a 30F but must have misclicked/ wasn't paying attention, and I'm glad I did cause it runs very large, both in the band and the cup. I ended up keeping it since it fits okay enough at the tightest hook, and it was only like $15 on Amazon at the time. It's wild to me, I have multiple aubade bras and have tried on many more and this one is just BIG.