Today we’re reviewing an old favourite, and another lucky find our trip to the Panache factory sale last year (probably one of the highlights of our blogging days together—literally elbows deep in boxes full of lingerie!) From their AW13 collection (how did time go by so fast since then?!) it’s the Ariza superbra in mint.
Appearance & Shape
I rarely find anything so subtle and delicate in terms of appearance. The mint colour of the bra and the lavender floral embroidery are just gorgeous. Sian and I refer to this as my ‘secret garden’ set, after one of our favourite childhood films. For this reason it’s a firm Spring favourite for me. I pull it out when the daffodils start blooming, and I think it plays the part nicely. When it was released, Panache described this set as ‘sorbet inspired—to lift your spirits even in the darkest winter days’…I can’t say that works for me, as I don’t wear it often in the winter, but I DO very much appreciate the sentiment when it’s still cold and miserable during those early Spring months. There’s a lovely lilac bow to finish the gore, but my favourite part of this has to be the amazing amount of embroidery—seriously, SO detailed and lovely! The straps have a lovely embroidered design also, with scalloping all along the sides.
The soft cup style often doesn’t do much for me in terms of uplift. It gives a fairly natural shape, but does tend to a slight ‘point’, a la that conical vintage look. It isn’t anything truly conical, but I find the design of the cup tends to become slightly pointed or triangular. I imagine this wouldn’t happen quite so much with a larger size cup size, or a different breast type—but with being shallow, the full cup / soft cup mix often means that the top part of the cup can wrinkle, and doesn’t result in the best shape for me from the bra.
Sizing, Fit & Comfort
I got this in my usual 30D, and although it fits tolerably well (since it’s a Secret Garden set I thought I’d add a little Pride & Prejudice in here too ;)) I could probably have sized down in the cups to achieve a slightly better fit. As I mentioned about, the soft / full cup mix doesn’t give the best shape for me, and I’d probably get less wrinkling in the cup if the fit was a little more snug. The underwiring proves a pretty good fit though—a fairly wide ‘U’ shape that sits comfortably on my frame.
The only real bit of discomfort in this set comes from somewhere on my back in the band, but I’ve never quite identified what’s causing it. There is certainly something that rubs and digs in a little, and I always thought that it was maybe the label, but on comparison with all my other bras, I’ve noticed it can’t be that as that’s where every label is, and I’ve never had a problem before. I think potentially the problem could be in the band itself—a study, thick band (probably to support the very fine mesh material elsewhere), but the elastic does have a fairly dramatic ‘ridge’ edge that I can’t see on other bras of mine. Unfortunately, it’s often enough of a niggle for me to decide not to wear this one. A bit of a shame as it is so gorgeous otherwise!
The straps are also only half adjustable, and there are three sets of hooks on the band—of which I’m still on the loosest, so plenty of Springtime wear left in this one yet!
This is an old style from Panache, but I have found a few still out there on the internets! From Amazon, The Bra Closet, and A2B Fashion. We’re also feeling the pull of Springtime and love the mint tone of this bra—we’ve collected some current mint bras we’re loving in the widget below 🙂
Oh that’s an oldie, but goldie! <3 The colors and embroidery details are in fact more "spring" in my ears than winter…it's a beauty! <3
kiss kiss
Nádia
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