I have been trying a lot more Freyas in 28E/28F and haven't really been exploring Cleo's fashion styles outside of the ones I reviewed last year. For some reason many of them have not appealed to me, however the Piper Longline, with her brilliant cobalt fabric, has been intriguing for a while. I finally decided to try this, and the size available was 30DD, my sister size.

The appearance of this bra is lovely, with gorgeous cobalt lace making up the entirety of the bra. The lace design is floral with arabesques on mesh. As Cleo likes to add a touch of pop color, the center gore bow is bright lime green, as are the hooks in the back. The cups are a 4 piece construction with the bottom made of 3 vertical panels and the upper a horizontal piece made of double layer mesh, while the bottom cups are mesh-backed lace. I have rarely seen this construction from Cleo, but more often from Panache-- it is a bit similar to Panache Oriane. The back of the band is solid powermesh throughout, and there are strips of boning on each side connecting the front panel to the back. The front also has two seams for decorative purposes that don't have boning.

Despite being a 30 band, it actually measures pretty small. This felt comfortable but not snug, and I liked that it didn't put extra pressure on my ribcage and feel constricting to breathe. It was relatively easy to hook on my own because the band wasn't super tight, which is always my concern with longlines. When I tried a Freya longline in 30DD, the band was incredibly huge, so I was a bit surprised to see that the band on this style fit. There are 5 sets of hooks on this style, set in two rows. I would always prefer three rows of hooks on longlines instead of two, so this is a minor negative.

The main problem for me is that the cups overall are just a bit too small. I think this runs slightly small, though probably not an entire half cup. Overall there was just enough fabric in the cups, since the lace has a bit of stretch, but the wires were too narrow and short. The wires on this style feel closer to a 30D though the cup volume was pretty true to a 30DD. The wires have an average amount of flex as they did not dig in and become painful. This might be good for someone who needs small wires and more projection, provided that you order a size up. Other than the wire mismatch, I think this would suit a balanced shape best as the top is rather closed off.

Piper is a nice longline that's easy to put on and unique to look at. Since the cup construction is a bit different from most other Cleo offerings I have tried, I'd recommend not blind-buying this and making sure you have a chance to try it on.

Cobalt colorway

Updated on Sep 26, 2020 Flag this

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