The Panache Emily is a former continuity style, from the Superbra line. It was introduced in 2010 and discontinued for 2013. The style wasn’t very popular, possibly because Panache did very little to promote it, and released it only in black, white, and nude. It was a bit of a departure for Panache, in that it was a four-part cup with side support. Today I see the Emily as a precursor to the Andorra and the Jasmine. I bought my Emily before the news hit that it had been discontinued, because I had been looking at it for more than a year and wanting to try it. You can still find many many of these on eBay and will probably be able to for awhile.
Isn’t it pretty?
Great in general: I ordered the Emily in a 34GG because the measurements looked right and I had at that time lost a little boob. I was pleasantly surprised, when it arrived, to see that it is made of really high-quality materials. The fabric and workmanship are actually what I would expect from Panache’s luxury line, Masquerade. The wings are made of a thick, very soft powerknit, with a great feel. The cups are made mostly of a textured jacquard fabric, again with a lovely hand. The top panel of the cups is a delicate lace, reminiscent of Dutch embroidery. The straps are embroidered as well, and very soft (though as usual I found them too narrow.) The whole effect is of a very luxurious bra. I mean, when my partner touches the fabric and says in amazement “Wow, this is a nice bra,” you know you’ve got a winner. The construction is very robust, with the band elastic crossing in front (a detail carried over to Andorra), but this isn’t a whole lot of bra: it doesn’t feel bulky or restrictive.
Great especially for me: The cups are narrow and deep, which is a favorite shape for me, since my breasts are (relatively) narrow and deep. I also noticed that the outermost section of cup is cut on a bit of a curve, with the result being the the straps are closer together than in similar bras. They are almost a center-pull strap, but because they are attached to the side support panel, they still pull breast tissue inward and forward. This is a nice bit for those of us with narrow shoulders. The center gore is narrow. The band, in addition to feeling just sublime, was firm and wide, with three hooks. Also, the underwires are Panache’s typical strong, sturdy wires, so it did hold my breasts up just fine.
Front view.
At an angle
Unfortunately, the fit of the Emily was all wrong for me, as you can see in the photos. It is cut very full in the bottom, and small and tight in the top. The result was that it gave me almost no lift; it left my boobs kind of low and wide. It did provide projection, but without lift that doesn’t do me much good. My breasts are full on top, so they just kind of fell to the roomy bottom of the cups and sat there. The top edge was tight and dug into my breast tissue, and because there was so little room in the top of the cup, some of my tissue was being pushed toward the armpits. I thought about going up a size to 34H, and at first I was leaning that way just because the bra is so gorgeous! But after examining it more closely, I realized that even in a larger size, it wouldn’t work for me, due to the roomy bottom area. So I have listed it on Bratabase.
I think that the Emily is an excellent bra for someone with bottom-heavy breasts. It is very roomy in the bottom of the cup, and it feels very supportive. And I still can’t get over the loveliness of the materials! I really wish it had worked out for me. If it had been more roomy in the top area, I would have kept it, because I think that would solve the problem I had with this bra.
Also of note is that the wires on the Emily do not come up as high as those on the Andorra. So for short people who want a bra with shorter wires, the Emily might be a great choice.
It looks like the new Jasmine is an updated version of the Emily: cut smaller in the bottom and with the Sienna’s stretchy lace on top. I am looking forward to trying the Jasmine soon.
It has come to my attention that there is some confusion about what, exactly, is the name of the blog now. I know, a name-change after more than a year of blogging at one name is confusing, and I am sorry about that. The name of the blog now is “Rock the Curves” and I hope that clears up any confusion anyone has.
Thank you to all my readers for sticking with me through this transition, it means a lot!
So, I did not realize that the current default setup of wordpress does not include commenting using social networks and other internet logins. I have fixed that! And it explains why so many people have been visiting but not commenting. Comment away! I’m sorry for the inconvenience
Bras I Hate made a post a few days ago which has been getting some discussion in the boobie blogosphere. Her post advocated using the underbust measurement plus 2 inches as a standard for bra fitting. She goes on to say that this method has worked best for her and for her sister, who are of similar, slender build.
I think maybe BIH expected some people to be upset about her post, and I am pleased to say that all the comments I saw, even those which disagreed, were friendly and respectful. I don’t think there is anything wrong with BIH speaking up about what works best for her. In fact I think it’s wonderful! No one should feel afraid to speak their truth, especially on their own blog. However, I also don’t think +2 is a good standard for bra fitting, or even a good starting point.
The main reason I don’t think that this is a good starting point is because different lingerie companies, and even different brands within those companies, vary in band tightness and stretch. For example, a lot of bloggers complain that Freya bands have been getting more and more loose, to the point that many ladies who would like to wear 28 bands can’t wear a Freya 28, because it’s too large. And in my experience, Masquerade bands run tight, so when I buy a Masquerade bra, I do size up (which means I get a 36 instead of a 34.) I took a friend of mine bra and she tried on a ton of bras; in Freya she could wear a 32, in Fantasie a 34, in Panache a 36, and in Wacoal a 34 or 36, depending on the bra. It is clear that there is a lot of variation between brands.
I personally am a chubby lady, and my chub around my ribs is soft and compresses easily. When my friends and I talk about this chub, we call it “rib squish”, or just “squish” for short. So when my underbust measures a 34, I really do need a 34 in most bras. Yes, that 34 seems to be digging into my flesh, as you can clearly see in photos, but it’s not painful at all; it is just necessary to stabilize my breasts. A woman who is not chubby, but who has loose skin around her ribs may find that her skin itself is more mobile on her body and under the bra, so she needs a tighter band to keep the bra in place. Also, as has been pointed out in a few different discussions, a narrower band will often need to be tighter in order to provide the same support that a wide band provides, and a woman with smaller, lighter breasts does not need as much support as a woman with larger, heavy breasts, so the woman with smaller breasts can wear a looser band than the other woman. My heavy boobs need more support and thus a tighter band than my sister’s 28Bs.
Then, in the comments to BIH’s entry, I learned something new: several women said that they get the best fit from a band sized two inches smaller than their underbust measurement. This was news to me, but it makes sense. A woman with more fat around her rib cage than I have will naturally compress more, especially if she also has loose skin, even if we are the same measurement. A few women also find that this tighter band pulls underwires wider and gives wide-breasted women a better fit.
Another reason I don’t support “+2″ as a standard bra size is that I have actually tried it. In 2009 and 2010, my weight was changing very quickly, and my underbust size changed a lot through that time. I went from a 40 band to a 34. I was also really broke and hadn’t learned to shop for bras online the way I do now, so I had only a few bras, and when one became too large in the band, I usually had to wear it for awhile before I could afford another one. I wore a 40 band for at more than a few weeks when I needed to go to a 38, and I wore a 38 for more than a month when I really needed a 36; when it was time to go to 34 that 36 was riding up like crazy. I have experienced first-hand what “+2″ did to me: my breasts felt unsupported and looked it, my back hurt, I had very very bad chafing, and I could not WAIT to go to bed and take that horrible bra off at the end of the day, a bra that when it fit me was fine.
Several years before that, I was in a situation where wearing any kind of tight clothing hurt me, including a bra (I was deep in major, chronic illness at the time.) I stopped wearing tights, which had been a staple of my wardrobe for decades, I wore yoga pants, pajama pants, knit skirts, and sweatpants everywhere, and I bought bra bands that were a size too large. These bands were totally unsupportive and I had a lot of breast pain and ended up with vertical stretch marks in my breasts from the lack of support.
I also do not support the advice I have seen on a few sites, which is “wear the tightest band you can fasten around your body.” I can see that BIH was burned by that advice, and I was too for awhile. I advise instead that one wear the tightest band you can comfortably wear. That old advice about how you should only be able to fit two fingers comfortable under the band? Throw it out the window; it is from another time, when bras were much more rigid and women were in general thinner. Modern bras are stretchy, I can slip my whole hand under mine (which makes it uncomfortably tight) but when the hand is not there, the band does not ride up or chafe me. I can tell if my band is too loose with a few clues: do my boobs feel supported? Is the band moving around a little? How loose does it feel if I tug on the back center band? If my band is too tight, I can tell because I get heartburn and back pain. If your actual ribs, rather than flesh, are being compressed, it is too tight. Unless you have a neurological problem, if it hurts, it’s too tight.
I will not wear a bra that gives me heartburn, chafes me when sweat is not involved, restricts my breathing, or is painful to wear. Trust me on this one. One of the things I have learned from having an hourglass figure and a lot of size changes is that the number on the label is really just a reference point: I have clothes in my closet ranging from “small” to “XXL” and they all fit me.
The take-away from the big discussion that BIH started is that bra-fitting is complicated. There is more to band size than just the size of your underbust: the condition of your skin, the shape of your torso, whether your ribs are fat or lean. (Which means really, band fitting is just like cup fitting, which is more than just to the measure of your bust.) I think of the underbust measurement not as a standard or a requirement, but as a starting point. If your underbust +2= your perfect fit, then wear that number! Same if you get the best fit from ”underbust-2″; it is not the number on the label that is important, but the comfort and fit on your body.
ETA: while I was writing this BIH made a follow-up entry to her “+2″ post.
HI! Welcome to the new site! You may see that it has a new name, new URL, and new look (though don’t count on that look staying the same.)
Why the changes? Well, I never loved the name “My Curves”. It was okay, but not exactly what I wanted. Then I remembered something that a very sweet, special lady friend once told me: she said “You rock the curves like no other.” And I knew that was the name for my blog. Unfortunately, I hemmed and hawed about registering that name at wordpress.com, and someone else did so. That person said she would hand it over to me, but as that never happened, I am quite happy to move it over to my own web space.
Rock the Curves is now hosted on a subdomain of my newly-resurrected personal website, 00goddess.net. I really wanted to get all of my separate personal sites and blogs (and there are several) in one place, instead of keeping them separate, but I wanted this one to have its own space all the same. You don’t ever have to visit my main site if you don’t want to, and you don’t have to look through posts about food, politics, sex, health, happiness, animals, etc, ever. Of course, if you want to visit, feel free, just keep in mind that some of my views are controversial, some of my stories are sad, and you might not like what you read.
This is still my little place to write about bras and clothing for busty people. I really enjoy the bra blogging community and all the kind people in it, and I hope you will stick around. Please update your links and bookmarks to reflec the new URL.
(P.S. I am very sorry to say that when importing the content from wordpress.com, some of the comments did not make the transfer. I don’t know why or how to get them back! So if you left a comment and it isn’t here, that’s why. I do apologize.)
Sleeping with big boobs can be difficult. If you have big boobs, you know what I am talking about: they get in the way sometimes. They take up a lot of space. I am sure some of you ladies have had a bed partner roll over onto your boob, right? Because there’s no way it can be just me.
They actually *move* around, which is hard for those without breasts to understand. Here is the best way I could come up with to explain it: imagine that your arms had no bones in them, no way for you to physically control their movement. They would just hang there, right? And when you laid down to go to sleep, they would be all over the place: you’d have to situate them just so, to be comfortable, but if you moved a tiny bit the wrong way, one might fall out of position. Having large breasts is like that.
It is the movement that bothers me the most in terms of physical discomfort. A few years ago I started really analyzing my sleep and I found that any kind of movements in the bed would disturb me even if they didn’t wake me up. And this explained why I always slept more comfortably in tight shirts: they restrained my breasts and let me sleep more comfortably. But as my breasts have gotten larger, and larger, tight tshirts just weren’t enough anymore. Without a bra, my boobs were all over the place. So, I started looking into sleep bras.
Here are my requirements for a sleep bra: It must fit. It must be comfortable, and have no underwire (I don’t like sleeping in underwire.) It must keep my boobs close to my body and hold them relatively still when I am sleeping. It must be easy to get on and off (because I’m not wearing any sleepwear that is going to interfere with my sex life, and I don’t want to wrestle with a difficult bra when I am tired.) And, it must be inexpensive, because I am not paying a lot for sleepwear. I do not actually care what shape it gives my boobs: it is not a bra I am wearing out in the world, it is a bra I am wearing to sleep in. (It seems that at least a few bloggers are concerned about the shape that a sleep bra gives their boobs, and while they are of course free to have whatever standards they like, I think this is silly.)
I knew I didn’t want to wear underwire when I was sleeping, so that narrowed the field. I looked at soft-cup bras in my size range. I almost said I looked at a lot of them, but there really aren’t a lot to look at! It felt like a lot though. I was very attracted to the Royce line of wire-less bras, but many reviewers said they are tight and hard to get off and on. I liked the idea of Bravissimo’s sleep tanks with built-in bras, but they cost more than I can afford to dedicate to sleepwear (and are very rare to find on eBay.) I also considered Panache’s maternity support bras, but again, cost was an issue as well as fit.
So, I started thinking about camisoles with shelf bras. These aren’t a great option for ladies with large breasts: they just generally don’t have enough room in them, and the bras certainly aren’t suitable for regular use. But, I thought I might be able to find something that could work for busty sleepwear. I first tried on the camis at Old Navy, and found them to be of very poor quality: the fabric is very thin, the straps too stretchy. I looked in the athletic department at Target, where there are tanks with built-in bras, but they were all pretty small-cupped. In the end, I got lucky at Nordstrom Rack.
Nordstrom Rack, in case you aren’t aware, is the discount arm of Nordstrom. They carry a lot of the same things Nordstrom does, and some things Nordstrom doesn’t. The Rack is actually a great place to shop for bras; I got my Fantasie Lynsey there for less than $30. They also have great deals on SHOES . . . Ahem, where was I? Yes, camisoles. Nordstrom Rack carries a line of lingerie called “St. Eve.” Back in the 90s I used to see St. Eve at places like Marshall’s, but they have seriously revamped their line since then, and the quality is much improved. They now make very robust shelf-bra camis: the straps are strong and not too stretchy, and the fabric is thick. I have heard really good things about St. Eve underpants, too.
Obviously, this is not me.
It turns out that the St. Eve camisoles are great for sleepwear. I like them in medium; I found that while I fit into a small, the smalls are shorter than mediums, and I like the tops to be long so they don’t ride up. A large was too roomy in the bust, and therefore not as supportive as I like. And these camis are surprisingly supportive! They hold my boobs close to my chest and keep them pretty still. They do give a little bit of lift, but mostly they give support, and as we learned from Astrid in this post, support and lift are not the same thing. In a day to day bra, I want support and lift, but in a sleep bra, I want support overall. These camis are actually supportive enough for lounging around the house. (My only complaint is that the straps do cut into my shoulders if I am wearing them while upright, and as I have tender shoulders, this is not fun. It isn’t always painful, but when it is, it really hurts. ) Yes, they do give a kind of mono-boob appearance, but if I’m just making breakfast or getting ready for bed, I don’t mind.
Also great for my pocketbook: St. Eve camis are $6-$7 at Nordstrom Rack. So I could afford to buy a bunch of them in a rainbow of colors, and I did. I’ve been wearing them every night for more than a year now, and I’m still pleased. So, I definitely recommend these as sleepwear for someone on a budget.
I would still love to try Bravissimo’s sleep tanks: they are so well-reviewed and look so comfy! But until I can afford those, these St. Eve camis are a good solution.
I’ve just had a look at Panache Superbra’s upcoming A/W 2013 collection, and I am thrilled!
For years, I thought I was a person who just couldn’t wear Panache lingerie. For most of Panache’s history, it seems they’ve focused on wide, shallow cups and wide center gores. I tried a few Panache bras early on (such as the Tango and the Eliza, neither of which worked out for me) and kind of gave up. Eventually I found the Cleo Sasha, which was a good fit but had features I didn’t like (narrow straps, narrow band, and very flimsy underwire casing.) I learned that there were a few Panache bras I could wear, but not a lot of them.
When Panache released the Andorra, I was smitten. Here was a bra that fit me better than any I had yet encountered (although Empreinte bras had this honor a few years ago, my breasts grew and I sized out of Empreinte, so by “me” I mean “my current breasts”.) Instead of wide, shallow cups, I had narrower cups with a lot of height, giving me a great deal of support and lift, a natural (not too round) shape, and an inner sling helping to move my boobs forward. Plus, although it is classed as a “full cup”, the fit is more like a balconet. The Andorra has its own share of problems: too-narrow straps being my only major complaint, but for awhile, it has been my favorite bra.
I also like the, Panache Emily, a continuity style that Panache doesn’t seem to give much attention to. It’s another narrow style with side support panels, made with really high-quality fabrics, and I love it, but the rumor is that Emily has been discontinued. So I sadly figured there was not much hope for me in the Superbra range.
Then I saw A/W 2013, and Panache, you may have really come through for me!
The A/W 2013 collection from Panache Superbra has not one, but several new models with side support, 4-part cups! These include the Jasmine, which Panache introduced in 2012, in an absolutely scrumptious champagne pink print:
Panache Superbra Jasmine, pic courtesy Stanikomania.pl
I’m thrilled that Panache has begun using prints in their bras, but so far they haven’t had many prints that I found at all attractive. This print, on the other hand, is classic and elegant, and features one of my favorite shades of pink.
The new Envy, which frankly looks as though it is cut just like the Emily, even down to the internal stitching:
Panache Superbra Envy, photo courtesy Stanikomania.pl.
The Envy is coming in nude and black, which also makes it appear to be a replacement for Emily. However, we also have the Dahlia, which looks like a mesh version of the Emily, and is coming in white and black.
Panache Superbra Dahlia, photo courtesy Stanikomania.pl.
The Clara looks very different; it has a very retro, 1920s look to it, and a new, peculiar cut: a 4-part cup with what looks like a side support panel, but only in the top of the cup:
Panache Superbra Clara, courtesy Stanikomania.pl.
But then, it has a hidden side sling on the inside!
Panache Superbra Clara, courtesy Stanikomania.pl.
And then, my beloved Andorra, in a dark red that Panache calls “spice”:
Panache Superbra Andorra, pic by Stanikomania.pl on flickr.
It’s great, from my POV, to see that Panache is expanding their line to include bras that might fit me! I love Panache’s bands and strong underwires, so making their bras in shapes that work for my body is in my opinion a great step, and one that will win my loyalty as a collector. As a person who has a hard time finding well-fitting bras in general, seeing these models come down the runway makes me feel very optimistic. . . even though I must wait until fall to get my hands on these lovelies.
Of course, these aren’t the only new, gorgeous bras that Panache has in store for Autumn, these are just the side support models! I strongly suggest checking out this set by Stanikomania, it has many photos of the full collection. All the photos in this entry came from Stanikomania, a Polish-language bra blog that I highly recommend, and are used with their permission.
I have naturally curly hair that tends to be dry. I also live for most of the year in a dry climate. It can really wreak havoc on my hair. Hot oiling my hair is a great way to treat and protect it, but I don’t do it often enough. It does take some pre-planning, so often I think I don’t have time.
A few weeks ago, though, my hair had become really dry. I could see that it was on the edge of breaking. So, I had to make some time for hot oil. I wrote up my process and thought to share it here!
First of all, don’t buy a hot oil treatment at the grocery store, drugstore, or beauty supply. Those treatments have only a small fraction of oil, usually mineral oil, and include emulsifiers, scents, and other chemicals that you don’t need on your hair. And frankly, they are not as effective as using a natural oil.
I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil for my hair. I usually buy a lower grade of oil than I would use to cook with (I’m pretty picky about the EVOO that I eat; I usually stick with Star or Colavita brand oils, and I like a fruity, piquant oil for eating. Such oils can be pricey, and my hair doesn’t care how the oil tastes, so go with cheap here.) EVOO is rich in vitamin E and Omega-9 and omega-6 fatty acids. It isn’t just moisturizing, it is also strengthening and protective. EVOO molecules can actually penetrate the hair shaft, and stay there for awhile. Again, commercial hot-oil products have mostly mineral oil and additives that aren’t great for the hair. Extra-virgin olive oil is a much better choice.
Some people like using coconut oil in their hair, and I do too. But as my hair is very dry, I find coconut oil is better for daytime use, like to massage into the ends at bedtime, or on a dry day, or to use as a leave-in treatment (if you like something pre-made, this is a really good leave-in conditioner with coconut oil.) Coconut oil has smaller molecules than olive, and in my experience it just isn’t heavy enough to be a good hot oil treatment. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
So, cheap EVOO. I buy a big bottle of it to keep in the bathroom: it’s good for dry hair, dry skin (especially heels and elbows) body scrubs, etc. I use a squirt bottle to apply it, the same kind I use to apply hair color. Basically, a plastic bottle with a narrow nozzle. I put the nozzle near my scalp, under my hair, and start squirting small amounts and rubbing them into my scalp and through my hair. Once my scalp is covered, I run my hands through my hair from the roots to the ends a few times, to spread oil outward. Then I start applying oil to the lengths. I basically squirt a little on, then use my other hand to rub that in and down the hairs, repeat, etc, until my hair is saturated from root to ends. You want to do this cautiously and slowly because you don’t want to put on too much and have it running down your neck and face.
If your hair is dry like mine, you will find that it starts soaking up the oil immediately, so basically keep applying oil until the hairs have soaked up as much as they can and are coated. If your hair is still soaking up the oil, keep applying more, until you have a thick coating of oil.
Once your head is coated in oil, you want to keep the oil there and also seal in heat. I use a plastic grocery bag or a cheap plastic shower cap to cover my hair. Then on top of that I like to use a heat cap. A heat cap is like an electric blanket for your head: you plug it in, it gets warm. These are great for deep conditioning, hot oil treatments, and hair color. I’ve had mine for ten years and it still works very well, so I think this is a good investment if you are into hair care.
If you don’t have a heat cap, you can put a thick towel in the microwave to warm it up, then wrap it around your head. The initial heat will warm the oil and the towel will help to insulate it. This isn’t as effective as a heat cap, but it’s better than nothing. Once my head is wrapped and warm, I usually sit around and do homework, or read, or watch a movie, etc, for a few hours. I’ve even slept in it before.
I usually hot oil in the evening so I can go to bed afterward and let my hair rest and let the oil bond with it. After a few hours of heat, I take a shower and wash my hair. When I rinse out the shampoo, my hair sometimes feels a little heavy, almost rubbery. That is normal and will be gone by morning. After washing, I condition as usual. (I alternate between an extra-deep conditioner and a regular conditioner for dry/curly hair; after hot oil I will usually use the lighter conditioner.) Then I squeeze my hair in a towel, wrap it in said towel for a little while so it can dry a bit, and then I go to bed.
Overnight the hair will dry and the oil will bond with the hair (think of it like an oil stain on a shirt: if you let it sit for awhile it will stain permanently, or at least be really hard to get out. That really is molecular bonding!) And in the morning, I wake up with really soft, healthy, great-looking hair. Hot oil helps enhance my curls and make my hair more manageable. It really is like night and day. Every time I do it I think “Wow, I should do this more often!” And really, I should.
I hope this write-up helps someone with dry hair to have the hair they want 
Shortly after I posted about my desire for wider bra bands, I ran into this petition. The petition is asking Cleo (Panache’s “younger” aka cheaper line) to please add wider bands to their larger cup sizes. I hope you will sign it! If Cleo responds favorably, it would make life a lot better for ladies like me.
Being a woman of a particular shape, I have a very hard time finding bras that fit. My needs are specific and bras that fit my shape are relatively rare, even in the big bust brands. So sometimes, I buy bras and wear them even if they aren’t perfect; sometimes, I have to settle for “close enough.”
That’s the way I feel about Cleo and Masquerade bras. Both of these brands are from Panache, Cleo being the “younger” (read: cheaper) brand and Masquerade being the high-end brand. Unlike Panache Superbra, Masquerade and Cleo sometimes offer bras with narrow wires and relatively open tops, two things I need in a bra. Unfortunately, for some reason I can’t understand, both brands choose to make bras that fasten with only two hooks in the back. And that’s all they make. No three-hook bands to be found.
I honestly can’t understand why they have made this choice. Large busts need wider bands to stabilize them. In a two-hook band, I find that my bra is more likely to slip down a little in front during the day, and I also find it much less comfortable. A narrow band concentrates force in a narrow area, which can be painful; a wider band distributes force over a wider area, making it more comfortable and less “cutting”. So WHY would a big bust brand insist on such narrow bands? I could see having narrow bands in smaller cup sizes, but in a larger one, it’s poor design.
I can even understand, a little bit, why they would make only narr0w bands in Cleo: Cleo has much lower quality in general than other Panache brands. But Masquerade? This is supposed to be a high-end lingerie line and they can’t spring for a wider band?
Some of my Fantasie bras also have only two hooks: the Savannah and the Simone. I honestly don’t understand why Fantasie chose to put only two hooks on these bras, but bras like Sylvie and Lynsey have three (which makes them much more comfortable and supportive.) With Fantasie, the decision seems to be very arbitrary. I would much, much rather that the Savannah and Simone (both of which are gorgeous bras) had wider bands with three hooks.
My Effuniak (Ewa Michalak) unpadded half-cup has only two hooks in the back, in addition to having the narrowest band I’ve ever seen two hooks on. (Seriously, it is super-narrow. I’ve seen wider bra straps.) It cuts in terribly as a result and is not very supportive.
Back when I was wearing the wrong size and used to buy bras at Cacique, one thing I loved was that their bras had very wide bands. It made them very comfortable and supportive, even without underwires. If an inexpensive mass-market brand who sells bras for $20 can afford to put wider bands on their bras, the higher-end brands should do it too.
I still buy bras with only two hooks because, well, I don’t have a lot of choices! Every bra is a trade-off, I guess.
Do you prefer wide or narrow bands? What trade-offs do you make in bra-shopping?
