“Betty” plunge bra in turquoise. 34 G-HH, 36-42 D-HH, 44 D-G, 46 D-DD. Matching brief M-4XL.
In discussing Elomi previously on the blog I’ve mentioned that for a while I kept forgetting I could wear the brand! I’ve only grown into their size range in the last year and a half or so, so even though Elomi has been a major player (or indeed, one of the only players) in the full-figure/full-bust market, they feel like a new brand to me! Their last few seasons have been particularly strong, even daring, from a design and style point of view, so I was eager to begin trying the different styles to find my best fit. I recently had the opportunity to visit Eveden’s New York City showroom (Eveden is the parent company for Freya, Fauve, Fantasie, Elomi, Huit, and Goddess), and I was able to choose a set to review. After seeing this vibrantly pretty turquoise “Betty” in person, I knew it was time to try Elomi.
[Note: while Eveden generously provided this set for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.]
Betty is one of Elomi’s continuity ranges: the bra, brief, thong, and babydoll are available year-round in black (I featured the babydoll in my 2013 Holiday Gift Guide), with seasonal colors like red, navy, and this lovely turquoise. Later this month they’ll introduce a very pretty blush pink version as an additional continuity color, at which point I plan to buy it immediately to wear as my personal “nude” bra. It’s fairly classic, as far as design goes: unpadded seamed mesh cups trimmed with embroidery, but the oversized roses and whimsical polka dots add a touch of sass and pep.
I requested a bra in the size I usually take in Eveden, Panache, and Bravissimo bras, plus briefs in my usual Panache size (I tend to size down in Freya and Bravissimo, as those brands’ knickers run large on me).
Appearance
“Betty” is a classic four-part seamed plunge bra, with a side panel for support and forward projection. It closes with three rows of three columns of hooks-and-eyes, and the straps are fully adjustable. The brief offers more coverage than some other Eveden briefs, rising to just below my navel. Both pieces are trimmed with fuchsia satin bows.
THIS COLOR, Y’ALL. It is luscious. I feel so, so pretty in it, and I can imagine it suiting women with a wide variety of complexions and hair colors. I love that the embroidery is a contrasting fuchsia, instead of pale pink or white: it’s much more striking, and in my personal case it’s more flattering.
Here you can really see the seams that go into shaping the cup.
Few Elomi bras are really designed to create or showcase cleavage, and this bra is no exception. It’s a plunge bra in the sense that the center gore is quite low and won’t show under a v-neck shirt or button-down, but it definitely downplays cleavage. I tend to prefer this as my personal style, so I’m very happy with it, but for women who prefer dizzying, dazzling cleavage, this may not be the bra for that.
Fit
I found my usual bra size was absolutely spot-on. The band feels firm, smooth, and secure on the loosest set of hooks, all my breast tissue is encased in the cups with no digging, and the center gore tacks beautifully. I do find, as a rule, that the wires on the Elomi bras I’ve tried are a bit wide for me, and they seem to angle back under my arms much more than is necessary. It’s not a fit deal-breaker, because the shape and support aren’t compromised, but I do notice it when I switch to an Elomi bra after wearing, say, a Panache Jasmine. I keep feeling like I want to tug the wires forward to the front of my body. The cups are surprisingly deep and offer a lot of projection for a plunge shape, which really delights me. My only fit complaint is that the embroidered edge of the cups is a bit rigid, so occasionally I find that by the end of the day I get a little bit of digging there (the wide wires pulling the cup back around my body don’t help, and they deter me from wanting to size up to fix the digging), but in general I get a secure, supportive fit with a surprising amount of uplift.
I’m glad I went with my “usual” size for the briefs, as they feel more true to the market than Freya’s. I love the higher rise: it’s insanely, wildly comfortable, and I find it more personally flattering. I will note that the briefs are ever-so-slightly roomy in the hips, which is good news for women who have fuller hips and rears than I do (my lower half is not nearly as curvaceous as my top half).
Comfort
From the first day I wore this bra I was hooked. It’s sturdy, supportive, pretty, and flattering. The wide straps don’t dig painfully at my shoulders, and the deep band provides stability while dispersing the weight of my fuller breasts across a greater surface area. I sometimes find that bras from Panache or Freya have a very rigid bottom edge to their bands, and they can really dig in and hurt as the day goes on. Betty’s band, by contrast, seems to stretch uniformly throughout, and it’s incredibly, incredibly comfortable. I do find, as I’ve heard others do too, that the bottom edge of the band curls up and flips over on itself as the day goes on, and there’s no amount of repositioning or fiddling I can do to get it to uncurl and lie flat. Some of that is just the fact that I have some extra fluff around my ribcage, but considering Elomi designs their bras for customers like me, I kind of want to tell them to look into it.
Overall, I can really see why Betty has been such a winner for Elomi. It’s a beautiful bra that gives great shape, plenty of lift, and lets me wear some super plunging necklines without compromising on bra fit. While I wish the wires weren’t quite as wide on the sides and that the embroidery wasn’t as prone to digging, I nevertheless highly recommend this bra for the full-figure/full-bust customer, and I can’t wait to add another color to my collection next year!
Betty is available at Figleaves, Nordstrom, Bare Necessities, Karnation Lingerie, Breakout Bras, Townshop, Big Girls Bras, and more.
For more reviews of “Betty”, check out these great bloggers!
Fuller Figure Fuller Bust
The Lingerie Addict
The Full-Figured Chest
Rock the Curves
Fussy Busty
Curvy Wordy
