Can Curvy Kate change New Look’s appalling fitting calculator?

Posted on April 28, 2012 by busts4justice

Curvy Kate LingerieVery soon, D+ queens Curvy Kate will continue their bid to take over the world and launch on New Look’s website. From a brand point of view it’s a super smart move – Curvy Kate’s young, fun style is perfect for New Look, and New Look will give Curvy Kate huge visibility on the e-high street.

There’s just one problem. I wouldn’t trust New Look with my G-cups if Kelly Brook herself were coercing me with gin and mucky jokes about Billy Zane. Their fitting guide is (standard high street style) negligent at best, offering shoppers little insight in to fit, no visual help at all, and a whole lot of misdirecting inches added to the back band. Take a look:

New Look Fitting Guide

All things considered, I’d be surprised and disappointed if Curvy Kate would trust New Look with their customers’ D+ cups either. So the move presents us with a unique opportunity: could Curvy Kate overhaul a major high street retailer’s fitting guide and sizing advice, not just for their own styles but for all New Look lingerie?

Such a move would be a huge step in our mission to rid the world of irresponsible fitting advice – and a real coup to get a mass audience thinking about their lingerie fit. Can you imagine the implications on women’s understanding if Curvy Kate got their hands on that customer base? If they could shift misconceptions about cup size and get New Look women thinking critically about their rising back bands and unsightly quadraboobs?

Curvy Kate, we’re watching with baited breath. Will you rise to the challenge?

[If you’re looking for help understanding all of these numbers and letters, please check out What Most People Don’t Understand About Bra Sizes]

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Masquerade’s Medina reviewed!

Posted on April 24, 2012 by busts4justice

Masquerade Medina Balconette Bra

Masquerade – Panache’s deliciously luxe lingerie line – has some real treats for us this summer, and in the spirit of Spring (*rolls eyes at raindrop splattered windows*) I decided to try this floral, Moroccan-inspired Medina balconette.

First things first, it is a little more chintzy a print than I would usually go for, but actually on it’s striking, sexy, and not twee at all. I tried my more-often-than-not size 30G and the fit was spot on – with the band veering towards the firm size, just as I like it.

The cups are lightly padded and the uplift gives the perfect amount of Pride & Prejudice style heaving bosom without veering towards the for-bedroom-eyes-only. Also worth noting is that while the centre wires and gore come up extremely high (a style my bony, flared rib cage does not usually make friends with), it’s very comfortable too. Sexy and soft – what a beauty.

Masquerade’s Medina is available in sizes 28-38 D-G. I got mine from the ever trusty (and internationally delivering) Figleaves.com.

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Accepting it’s over: getting over a favourite bra

Posted on April 16, 2012 by busts4justice

I’ve known the end was coming for a while. You recognise the signs, even when you don’t want to. Even when, really, things are still okay between you, and some days feel like they always did. Until finally, something snaps, and it’s over – just like that. There’s no going back now.

It hurts, too – at least, it does when your hard worn elastic thread pings free and whips you about the ribs. Fool I am, I let her do it three times before the end – each time hoping it didn’t mean what I knew it really meant – that our time together was over. The lies we tell for love.

It’s time to face the truth. My beautiful, bright pink, no longer available Freya Jolie bra is dead. May she recycle in peace.

There’ll be other bras, of course. Hell, there are other bras. But I loved this one. Comfortable, supportive, and the absolute perfect shape and fit for my body, for me Freya’s classic Jolie is a real hero bra for me. And the pink was my favourite – she mixed-and-matched so well, was impossibly discreet underneath sheer tops, always comfortable but never drab… I know there will be other loves, but it’s hard to image how I’ll replace her. Farewell old friend *sniff*.

Rebound?

Freya Jolie

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Christina Hendricks to launch own swimwear line

Posted on April 10, 2012 by busts4justice

Well this could go either way.

Frustrated by her difficulty finding supportive swimwear, Christina Hendricks has claimed she’s creating her own line of swimwear for big boobed women. Hell, if I were in a position to I’d do the same.

But I’m torn. On one hand, the thought of a (presumably) 50’s-inspired swimwear range for women with curves is Very Interesting Indeed – and while in the last few years retailers Freya and [especially – check out this beaut to a K cup] Panache have blazed a trail for DD+ swimwear, there’s still work to be done before finding a perfect bikini beyond an E cup becomes easy.

But on the other, I can’t help but think the self-confessed *cough cough* DD cup will fall in to the same old predictable trap, and put her name to a range that – in terms of good fitting – doesn’t come close to being able to support her.

As gorgeous as she is, Hendricks is as close to DD cup as I am to world domination. Which – as much I’d like it to be otherwise – is not very close at all. And unless her swimwear line embraces the letters her cups so visibly strain to be in, her swimwear line is going to be Not Very Interesting In The Slightest.

Sure, I like retro swimwear as much as the next person. But another product promoting DD dogma in the face of overwhelming proof of the life beyond H? Another product ‘solving’ problems that can be solved with better understanding of fit and sizing? Another product keeping women in their A-DDs and chasing maximum profit over perfect fit? I’m sorry Christina, but I think I’ve already had enough to last me a lifetime.

But I’m just a cantankerous old lingerie blogger. What do you think?

[Source: The Sun]

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Sports bras reviewed: Shock Absorber

Posted on April 10, 2012 by busts4justice

Shock Absorber Sports Bra Review

I’ve been hearing great things about the Shock Absorber lately, and despite writing it off when I first started running I thought it deserved a second chance now I actually know what I’m talking about.

But first, full disclosure: I went in to this review not expecting to like this bra, and certainly not expecting to like it as much as I like the practically perfect Freya Active underwired bra that supports me while I run, jump and gym myself silly 3-4 times a week.

So in that sense, the Shock Absorber was a good surprise. I wore my go-to size 30G, and the fit of bralet style top was great: firm, but not constricting, and soft in the straps. And the support is good. There is rather a lot of movement even in the ‘maximum support’ level 4, but it’s controlled and there are no jolts or judders that stopped me in my tracks. It’s not a bad little sports bra.

That said, there’s not enough here to tempt me from my Freya Active. Firstly, while the movement is contained it is pronounced, and I get significantly less bounce in my Freya. Secondly, I’m not a fan of the bralet style or the double hooked back – the Freya manages to give what I believe is a superior support whilst looking like a fairly normal bra both in and out of clothes, and so wins on counts of ‘ease to get in to’ and ‘not making me feel like bag of boulders in Lycra’.

So there you have it. The Shock Absorber is good, but (certainly if you’re running) it’s not as good as the Freya Active. But perhaps it was an unfair fight: the Freya Active is practically perfect. She just needs to come in a 28GG and I’m hers for life…

The Shock Absorber is widely available, and retails at about £30.

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