Bridal Trousseau: Wacoal Embrace Lace Chemise

It’s only 2 weeks and 2 days until the wedding now – *deep breaths* – and my bridal lingerie trousseau is definitely filling up nicely.

I remember coming across the word “trousseau” in a book I was reading as a young teen and not quite understanding what it was all about – why would a bride need to gather together new clothes and linen for their marital life? As I got older, the idea of a bridal trousseau still didn’t quite click with me. My partner and I have been together for 10 years (or will have been by the time we’re married, it’s almost the same weekend to the day that we met!), and we’ve lived together for 8 of those years – not a lot will be changing when it becomes official. But then my love of lingerie kicked in and I realised that this was my one opportunity to gather bridal lingerie with reckless abandon – when else will I have the excuse to buy white and ivory pretties?! (I mean, I’ll still be doing so after the wedding…but let me give myself excuses!).

And so you might have noticed the rather dramatic uptake in bridal lingerie reviews and posts on the blog – we’ve had Something Blue (or two); we’ve had a solution lingerie in the form of a backless bra and a strapless bra; we’ve had a bridal lingerie outfit; we’ve had a new bridal collection spotlight; a desperate search for wedding knickers; and we’ve got some pretty huge bridal lingerie guides coming up in the next 2 weeks. And today, we’ve got a review of a piece of what I’d call “honeymoon lingerie”.

Finding the divide between bridal lingerie and honeymoon lingerie has been a tricky one. For me, they meant the same at first, but I’m now starting to think of bridal lingerie as the garments you could feasibly wear under a wedding dress, and honeymoon lingerie as the pieces that are more for fun – loungewear, cut outs, more dramatic and luxurious.

This Wacoal Embrace Chemise, which I was gifted by the lovely Knicker Locker, is honeymoon lingerie for me. Technically, I suppose, it could be worn under The Dress, but it would have to be a very specific dress for that. Instead, I think it’s pretty and lacey, and I would wear it for lounging around in dust-moted sunbeams of the old country house hotels in the English countryside or for cooking brunch on a lazy morning on honeymoon. In fact, that’s entirely what I intend to wear it for – we’re doing a minimoon in a gorgeous countryside Airbnb in the Cotswolds for a week immediately following the wedding.

But on with the review! Up until now, I’ve admired Wacoal’s main line from afar. Wacoal have been around since 1949, but now own the Eveden group which includes Freya, Fantasie, Elomi and more. Their main Wacoal collection, however, has a slightly limited size range and isn’t all that common to find in UK stores, but they have beautiful aesthetics that appear far more unique and handcrafted than the business size would suggest.

Enter Knicker Locker! They sent over this beautiful chemise for me to try, and I’m swooning! The chemise is crafted out of a soft light beige mesh that has a good amount of stretch to it, embellished with pretty scalloped floral lace at the edges and across the midsection. It reaches the top of my upper thigh when worn, so could make a short nightdress or longer chemise.

The bust portion isn’t strictly defined as many chemises or babydolls are, which is excellent for my larger bust. It can stretch to accommodate a larger size, while the rest of the chemise skims over your waist and hips, meaning it can fit a good range of sizes. I really like the way that the mesh has been designed across the bust with geometric lines, and the same across the lower portion of the skirt – it adds interest to what could otherwise be a very simple design.

It has straps that are half-way adjustable and are divided into two at the front. The careful placements of the lace also give the illusion that this garment is an elegant and luxurious piece when it’s in fact very good value at £38.40. The back of the piece is more plain, with no lace at all aside from the bottom band.

It’s also very comfortable to wear for lounging around with simply a pair of briefs underneath (the ones I’m wearing are an old white lace pair, by Implicite from a local boutique if I remember correctly!) – the beauty of a chemise is that it doesn’t need to be matched with anything and can be worn alone. I’d be happy to wear this as a nightdress for warmer climes or layered under a dress or skirt, like Daisy Lowe did here. In fact, I really like that outfit! It appeals perfectly to my love of ballet inspired lingerie right now.

The Wacoal Embrace Lace Chemise is available at Knicker Locker for £38.40 in sizes S to XL.