The Jeunique J31 is a wireless bra with a 2-piece outer cup with a horizontal seam and an inner 'banderin' construction (this is what the manufacturers call it). It has fully adjustable straps, nursing clips on the straps and an inner sling as found in nursing bras. In this size it fastens with 3 rows of 5 columns of hooks.

I've really wanted to get my hands on one of these bras for years, but it seemed like every time I checked Ebay, cup sizes which would be at all close to my own or a sister size were all listed at like $90 USD or the postage to ... Australia would cost twice as much as sellers were asking for the bra. I was really thrilled to be able to purchase this from a Bratabase user for a better price as it provides support in a way which is so different from a conventional bra and I wanted to see how well it managed a very large bust.

Jeunique is a company which made bras based on patterns which were common in the 50s & 60s. Most of the bras around today seem to be old dead stock. My bra is tagged 1995, but it's definitely like new in terms of the material quality. Make no mistake about it, this is a very retro look! It reminds me a lot of the bra which I sewed myself 28M - Unknown Brand » Brabratory (42) although my construction was not nearly as strong and I used a vertical 2-part cup.

The J31 is the beige colourway, as each colourway made from Jeunique has its own model number. The lace and powernet is a medium beige with a warm tone. The cups are lined with a stabilising net underneath the lace. The straps and hooks are a slightly ligher beige. The nursing clips are beige plastic. There's a little embroidered floral decoration stitched on the top of the 'gore' area.

The banderin is super intriguing. It's a layer of very thick material which feels rather like plastic and comes about half-way up the bra. A retailer website said 'the banderin is made of an aerated plastic material with soft material on each side' but the actual bra care tag says '100% nylon lycra spandex' so I'm not entirely sure what it's made of. It's not like anything which I've seen before. This serves the purpose of shoring up the bottom and side of the cup and lifting the breasts to fill the full projection of the bra.

The lower part of the band is covered with fairly wide plush-backed elastic which has been folded over (about 1.5cm height on either side of the band) which creates a wide firm band area to sit flat against the chest. The top of the band has the regular sort of plush-backed lingerie elastic.

Onto the interesting part; the fit! I'm surprised about how much I really like some of the features of this bra which I was fully expecting to be mostly a curiosity, but it's not all positive. I picked this size 36KK based on the cup depth alone owing to lack of other info and knew that if I was happy with it I'd need to take in the band and perhaps make other alterations to better fit my frame size. The band on mine stretches to about 93cm (~37") which is pretty standard for a 36 band I think. It's much too big for me, but I can assess the cup fit if the bra is worn on the tightest hook. As this is a well-designed full cup bra, the straps are in a position where they stay on my shoulders comfortably. I repeat, the straps are in a position where they stay on my shoulders comfortably. Bras don't do that in my size range, especially as I am mostly obliged to sister size to get the cup volume I need. I think that I underestimated cup size a little, and may do better one cup size down, but some of that may just be that there's too much cup height, which is normal for my very short breast roots. It's actually pretty good guessing from numbers alone, though it's hard for me to tell exactly how the bra should fit as it's so unlike other bras I've tried. The straps also don't adjust short enough for my very small frame and high-set breasts, but on the plus side, the height of the bra cup at the side has been shaped well enough to not cut into my armpit. The cups are unfortunately too wide for me and I get quite a bit of gapping at the sides as the support there is very inflexible.

Putting the bra on involves a bit of leaning forward and wiggling plus a generous scoop to get everything lifted by the banderin and the apex of the cup filled. Once everything is in position though, it seems to stay there. Wearing this, I get simply phenomenal bust projection. To put this into perspective, I have a bust perimeter of about 107cm (42") wearing an Ewa Michalak FB, and this bra gives me a perimeter of about 118cm (46.5")! It's super pointy and amazing. I don't know if I have any clothes I can really wear it under because of this bar pajamas, and I don't know if I'd want to wear it out of the house even if I did, but I know that I'd definitely be ready for a 1950s dress-up party. I'm not sure that my husband can deal with this bra, he's clearly not as open to historical fashion trends as myself. https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt=":D" /> The bottom of the cup doesn't wrinkle at all thanks to the banderin, and it also makes the centre of the bra sit very close to the chest (it doesn't tack since it's wireless, but it's not floating halfway off my chest either). I think in many regards, this bra is better at actual support than anything else which I've tried. The banderin feature is extremely effective and far more comfortable than underwires, which tend to dig in owing to the sheer weight of my breasts. I'm planning to perform some alterations on the bra so that it fits a little better and will add more notes to this review then.

Or if you don't want to read the whole review, a quick list of pros and cons

Pros
~Excellent support
~Straps are well positioned
~The shape!

Cons
~Lace looks (and well is) very dated
~High coverage won't work well with many modern outfits
~The shape!
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Updated on Mar 07, 2016 Flag this

Didn't write a review

This bra is not owned any more

Added on Feb 03, 2016