bra

Tutti Rouge's Betty bra is a fully padded half-cup with a single vertical seam. So far, it appears to be Tutti Rouge's most versatile cut, with the potential to work for many different shapes. It gives a very round, very compressed shape; as a result it is also slightly minimizing in terms of projection. It will tend to provide a lot of cleavage on most shapes. In terms of sizing, the Betty runs the same as Tutti Rouge's other bras in the cup, which typically will mean 1 cup size up from what you need in other brands. It is MUCH tighter in the band than Tutti Rouge's other bras. I comfortably wear a 32HH in the Liliana as my everyday bra, but the 32 in the Betty feels more like a 28. I cannot even fasten it without an extender. Most people will probably want to size up in the band in this bra. Women looking for a small 28 band or a 26 band should take note of this option! The details on the bra are gorgeous, with delicate lace edging the cups and a ruffle underneath. Tu...

Tutti Rouge's Liliana bra has filled a massive void in my life and I can't get enough. Here's the gang: I know, I know, I have SO many of these. So what's the secret to my great love for the Liliana? Well, it's two-fold. First off, the Liliana is THE BRA that I have been lusting after for years in terms of appearance. It's the sort of bra I bought back when my size was common and I had options. The vanilla with pink ribbon, particularly, brings me back to a simpler time when finding a bra was never hard. The Liliana's existence gives me the option to actually buy the type of bra I want.     The second reason I love the Liliana is the shape. Specifically, the very minimized shape: I have to wear scrubs at my job, and those who have worn them know that scrubs tend to be baggy and are not very bust-friendly. Despite this, I love the concept of scrubs because they are so egalitarian and simple. The Liliana bra gives me a way to make peace between the two opposin...

Over the past couple of months, I've made an attempt to familiarize myself with all of Tutti Rouge's bra offerings. There are many reviews coming up, but I wanted to post a summary just to start off with to help my readers get some mental categories started on what may or may not work for them. For the most part, I've found that it's necessary to size up in the band and cup from your normal size to fit in Tutti Rouge, so I wear a 32HH in Tutti Rouge as compared with a 30HH in other brands. However, it seems (from preliminary information from those who have tried these bras) that the bands suddenly get larger around 34 and start running normally. This means that true 32 bands may be sized out, oddly enough. Exceptions are noted. Tutti Rouge's original collection contained the following shapes: 1. The Liliana, a half-padded semi-plunge balconette shape. Though too shallow to work for some people, it is a miracle bra for anyone who is looking for a really minimized sha...

The long-awaited Freya Marvel finally arrived on my doorstep today. Ever since I saw this bra previewed on Stanikomania many months ago, I knew it was going to be great. Despite Freya's nervousness about the design, I wasn't nervous. I could see that this was a first step at bringing the innovation and genius of Freya Swim constructions into their bra collection. Well, I was right. It's great. You may all go back to your homes now, there is nothing more to see. Just kidding--here is the bra: You may notice that this bra is slightly different from the bra that was marketed: In this photo, the purple mesh at the top of the cups is transparent. In real life, it's sitting on top of the cups themselves. Some companies' product photos reflect this change, others don't. I like it better with the transparent mesh, but that's okay, Freya. It's a minor detail. What really matters is the most important photo, the side view! YUP, THOUGHT SO! This bra gets a solid go...

A couple of clever readers have suggested that I do some sort of round-up of the best bras available and I thought it was a really great idea. I think it will be helpful for anyone who isn’t sure where to start with properly fitted bras or new knowledge of their shape, or for anyone struggling to build a basic collection. I’m trying to cover all the bases here. Let me know what I missed! I’ve distinguished in some categories between bras that give a ‘purple shape’ and bras that give a ‘green shape’. I’ve also tried to distinguish between bras for full-on-top boobs and full-on-bottom boobs wherever relevant. Bras I’ve honored for shapes other than my own are based on the experiences of bloggers, forum members, and friends with different shapes than mine. Bras lost points for things like crappy band construction and problems that plague almost everyone. (That’s why you don’t see the Cleo Lucy on here, even though it’s a personal favorite—the band is at a stupidly high angle and the...