Bra fitting help » Cups too narrow and projected.
Cleo » Maddie Moulded T-shirt Bra (7201) » 28D 28:4
Issue resolved
I gave up on Cleo entirely.
Original problem
Though this bra is recommended for wide and shallow breasts, the cups are still too deep and the underwires cut into my side tissue. Armpit fat/tissue escaped as soon as I moved. My breasts couldn't fill the cups, even after scooping and swooping.
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Suggestions (2)
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helpfulI think that you are dealing with a shape mismatch. You are shallow, but your breast tissue is spread out more vertically than horizontally. So I'd say that you are shallow, medium breadth roots, and tall roots. I have a similar shape, although I am not as shallow. Try the Cleo Neve in 28D since it provides coverage for tall roots.
Updated on January 26, 2015 Flag this
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Consensus means I'm ordering it now! Thanks, guys.
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Yayyy consensus :-D Also I think Saskia mentioned the Freya softcup on another one of your threads and I concur that would be totally worth a try.
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Yes, Neve! I'm also shallow and find some Cleo bras have too narrow wires. Hopefully Neve will work for you.
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faustineli in the smaller sizes (28D, 28DD, 28E, 30D, 30DD) Cleo seems to have the Lily, which is narrow wired, the Marcie and Lucy, which are medium wired, the Juna and Maddie, which are broad, and the Neve Strapless, which is hella broad.
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mizwill113 did you ever get the Neve? How did it go? I'm one where I think the Maddie would be too narrow on me as well. The Juna was. I actually am dying to try the Neve Strapless because it is so broad! But still working on getting rid of enough of my wrong-size bras to pay for it.
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The Neve Strapless is super good if you need very broad wires.
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lcl0706: The Neve was a no-go. It was still too narrow, as you suspected. I'm scared of strapless bras because I've never been able to hold one up--large chest, small breasts, I guess. And my gosh, do I sympathize about saving up for bras. This stuff gets expensive, quick!
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I can't believe it was still too narrow! Since all this I've learned I'm broad but not as shallow as I once thought I was, so finding a wide bra that's not super shallow is even more fun! Haha, not. But dang, the Neve is super super broad. Wide enough for me, but far too shallow. I have the Koko strapless now, which is an updated, nude color of the Neve strapless. Same mold. Not as shallow as the strapped Neve, and definitely super broad, 6.2" wires (IIRC) in my 28FF size.
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Maybe tutti rouge? See what you can find on ebay for cheap, or order from TR, I know the return shipping is expensive but you might be a good match for the Liliana, which is notoriously very wide and considered quite shallow. Do a 30 band, they're known to be pretty tight.
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helpfulYour breast and body shape as well as your measurements sound very similar to my own and I experience many of the same problems you do. A small underbust and high-set, conical breasts in combination with wide shoulders with pronounced pectoral "wings" is not the easiest fit, I can tell you that.
For what it's worth, what you describe as "armpit fat" most likely is just skin that gets pulled under and trapped on the "wrong" side of the strap when you move your arms. Nothing much you can do about that except for not tightening the straps too much, but that might not solve everything.
As to this bra, it still is a common problem across brands that, on the smaller end of the spectrum, wires are simply scaled too narrow and cups too deep for the prevalent shallow (and subsequently relatively wide) breast shape. This is not often taken into account when brands or models are sweepingly categorised as, for example, "good for wide and shallow". Whilst a statement like this may ring true in the "medium" range, it does not necessarily apply to either end of the spectrum. This bra is indeed too narrow and deep for you and I'm afraid the Cleo Juna, another typically "wide and shallow" bra, is not going to work for you either.
A while ago, Libby posted a series of helpful lists for ladies with shallow breasts: http://www.bratabase.com/adventures/entry/2938/ and http://www.bratabase.com/adventures/entry/2346/ and http://www.bratabase.com/adventures/entry/1530/. One bra I would really recommend is the Freya Deco Moulded Soft Cup Bra (4231) -- it's an unwired plunge that works impressively well in the smaller sizes. You might find something worth trying in there. Tutti Rouge also seems very promising (I have tried the Betty, but from what I've heard they seem to be fairly consistent throughout their models).
Do not hesitate to try 30 bands, by the way. Your size and measurements are such that you quite probably do not really need the tightest of the tightest fit -- shallow breasts do provide as much counterweight and momentum to balance out band tension as deeper breasts do.
Updated on February 4, 2015 Flag this
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Thank you for the in-depth comment. The Freya Deco didn't work for me, though maybe 28D was simply too large. I'm intrigued by Tutti Rouge, but hesitate to try their bras because of the expensive return shipping.
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That's a really good observation to keep in mind! Generalizations about bra styles/brands may only apply to one particular area of the size spectrum. It seems like many bra designers scale the width of the wires proportionately with the rest of the bra so that smaller cup sizes=narrower cups and larger cup size=wider cups. However, this throws a wrench into fitting for people who are shallow-but-wide-rooted (like this user) and projected-but-narrow (like me). Unfortunately it seems like the most prevalent brands use the wire width as a sizing shortcut and it means seeking out alternative, harder to find brands.
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mizwill113 : did you try the regular Deco (with underwires) or the non-wired Moulded Soft Cup? These are two entirely different bras that fit-wise have very little in common. The regular Deco is not recommended in the smaller sizes, especially nor for shallowish shapes; it simply is cut too narrow and deep. The Moulded Soft Cup, on the other hand, can be a marvel for smaller breasts.
Libra-rian : exactly. From my own experimental research I have found that proportion-wise (breast root width along underbust / half underbust measurement), breasts don't really get narrower (or wider, for that matter) past a certain point. What changes instead is the shape and/or amount of projection of the breast volume. To me it is incomprehensible that bra manufacturers are still so widely failing to take this into account and instead continue to produce bras with scaled down (or up) "spherical" cups.
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The plunge styles simply aren't working for me. They're too projected and close-set. MilkAndHoney, I think you're right on the money. It seems to me that the CUPS of my 30-bands fit better than any 28s. I may have an unusually wide chest and narrow back, or some such mis-match.
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I totally agree with Saskia_C . What you keep calling "wide roots" or "armpit fat" is really only the place where the top outer edge of your breast tissue blends with the shape of the pectoral muscles... These little, low-cut, vertically short cup designs are not containing your shape and the straps are cutting across the upper half of your boobs.