bra

With September drawing to a close, we're getting into Autumn weather. I wanted to talk a bit about the various ways that cardigan sweaters (jumpers) can be worn. Cardigans are often considered to be one of the 'tricky' items for full-busted ladies, and as a result companies like Pepperberry have made them with extra boob room: Pepperberry V-neck Cardigan This is great if you're looking for a sweater to wear buttoned-up, but that's not how I like to wear my cardigans. I prefer to wear them open. What I'm about to suggest is a little unorthodox, but hear me out. The key to flatter a full bust with an unbuttoned cardigan is to SIZE DOWN. You should think in terms of buying a size that would NEVER button over your boobs, and maybe wouldn't even button over your waist. The function here is to eliminate flapping, bagginess, and shapelessness that can come as a result of wearing an unbuttoned cardigan. When the size is significantly 'too small' for you, the...

I started this blog about two years ago with a huge pile of Curvy Kate bra reviews. At the time, the brand seemed like the best new hope for full-busted women--a fun brand with a great social media presence, cool contests, great colors, and a cheaper sister brand, Flirtelle. Yet now, even though all of those things are still true, I feel let down by Curvy Kate--particularly their unpadded balconette bras. I don't mean to suggest their unpadded balconettes don't work for anyone. That's far from true. But there are pervasive problems, which tend to intensify in the bigger cup sizes. The specific problem I want to address now is an issue of fabric tension. It is, I believe, largely responsible for the fabled "upside-down seven" shape. What's the upside-down seven shape? It's a phrase that was coined by Bras and Body Image in this post  and quickly entered the lexicon on Bratabase and other forums. It essentially refers to a shape where the upper curve of the ...

One of the most irksome aspects of the HerRoom bra shape quiz kerfuffle was their suggestion that full-on-top breast shapes would be suited to full cup bras. I've constantly asserted since starting my blog that that's not the case. But I never really explained WHY NOT, and I want to provide some visuals so people who are frustrated by this problem can grasp the central issue. By now, you may be familiar with my "bra seam structure graphic". The full-cup bra seam structure shown in the diagram isn't good at shaping boobs. But despite this, lots of people get a nice shape in full-cup bras and really like them. But others (hint: full-on-top ladies) tend to get a really pointy shape, and hate these bras. What's the secret behind this? To start with, let's look at the sort of photos I usually DON'T post to this blog: my own full-on-top boobs looking really sad in a full-cup bra. From the front, the Panache Loretta in a 30H fits well: But from the side, you...

I've been dying to try the new brand, Tutti Rouge, ever since I first saw the product photos. Recently, I was fortunate enough to be loaned a few of the styles by the lovely Erica over at A Sophisticated Pair . I tried the Liliana in 30HH, the Betty in 30HH, and the Birds of a Feather in 32HH. My immediate thoughts are really positive. I figured I was going to love this brand, and I did. The bras are lovely in person and are really well-made, which is nice because they are also fairly affordable. I expected that I would need a larger cup size and band size in this brand, and I did. My conclusion is that I would fit a 32HH in all the styles I tried. Since I usually wear a 30H in Cleo and a 30HH in other brands, that's 1 band size up and 1-2 cups sizes up. I would recommend most people try a size up from their normal size in this brand. From what I have heard, the bands run tight in the smaller size region and start to run larger in the upper band sizes due to increased stretch, ...