Review: Hip & Curves bralettes and balconette

This is a brand supposedly designed for curvy women, so I gave a few items a try. 

Conclusion: when they say 'curvy', this apparently means from the waist down only. Literally, their fitting approach seems to be tailored completely toward an extreme bowling pin shape: big hips and A/B cup sized boobs.

The lounge pants and panties I tried both fit beautifully: very pear friendly, with fitted waist and generous hip and thigh room. The bra and bralettes however....Not. At. All. 

I tried two different styles. The one on the left, especially, I thought looked workable in terms of cup capacity and more substantial straps. The one on the right, ehhh. 


Both turned out to have ridiculously tiny cups. I mean....incomprehensibly small. Maximum capacity would fit a small B-cup. 

Even then, the design is so inadequate for real boobs, I would not choose either style. The tiny straps have so much stretch they basically function as yo-yos. Cups have little stretch and zero depth. Bands run quite large and stretchy, so sister-sizing up is a non-starter.

I cannot post pics of these bralettes on me because, well, it would be basically pornographic. There is zero side cup, and basically no inner cup.  But here is a pic with a 38G bra on top....and the hysterically inadequate, flat-cupped bralette below it.

I was not expecting a great fit, but these actually have less cup capacity than your average bralette aimed at core A-D cup sizes. A lot less. 

The poor design is a shame because the fabric is wonderful. Literally the softest lace I have ever encountered. 

Chloe Soft Lace Cup Bra

I fared better with an actual bra in the line. But it was not a success, either.

Beauty & Shape.  Very pretty indeed.  Flat stretch lace, soft and non-irritating. Despite its horizontal seam structure, it gives a nicely rounded shape due to the very stretchy lace upper cup. The lower cup is lined in a soft knit fabric which is supportive without being stiff. 

Comfort & Fit.  The fabric has great comfort potential. But the wires are a dealbreaker for me. Nice and narrow-to-average, with an upright shape, but waaaay too tall for comfort.

And because the sizing runs quite small and I need at least a cup up, in my proper size the wires would be even higher. Which would put them basically at the level of my eyeballs. 

Because the wires are narrow, but the inner cups lack projection, while there is plenty in the center and outer cups, it seems that the cups do expect projected boobs - but just think that smooshed-together cleavage is the proper fit result. 

So again, great fabric, but a design fail for big boobs.

Sizing: I tried this in a 40G, as a starting point, based on my experience that most US bands run snug and cups a bit large, with greater increase in each cup size. That turned out not to be the case here. The band runs incredibly snug. This fit like a tight 36. And the cup also runs quite small. Because of the very high wires and awkward cup shape, I don't think sister-sizing would be successful.

What Shape Might This Bra Fit?

 Non-high-set, medium-to-narrow, balanced to full-on-top, non-projected boobs, without much in the way of inner fullness.