This is a bit of a stupid question, coming from someone who has owned a PL Onyks for a couple of months, having posted a fitting help request about it, and thinking she got it all figured out, but here goes:
So, I have a PL Onyks and although I love the feel, shape and support this bra gives, I'm just ... not entirely happy about it. Because I don't think it fits me that well (I also think I'm just not really the 'plunge-y' type, but that is another question). The cup edges gap like crazy yet I simultaneously seem to spill towards the centre. I also get quite some diagonal 'pulling' wrinkling from the bottom front of the cups up and out towards the apex of the cup. "PL is just not my cup of tea", I told myself: my breasts are too 'soft' for the low centre gore and the cups come up too high on my very short upper torso.
Then I saw the blog posts by Windiegardie who reviewed the PL Onyks twice (and several other PL's as well) and comparing her notes I noticed something: the cups on her PL Onyks cover much more of her chest than the cups on my PL Onyks. Then, yesterday, it was I think, someone mentioned that the straps on PL should be tightened a lot to make the cups sit nice and flush. Now, I've been wearing my PL Onyks with the comfort straps at their tightest, because I found the regular straps also included in the package way too uncomfortable (really, they simply cut into my skin -- anyone else has that problem?). The comfort straps are only partly adjustable, but I THOUGHT they were tight enough. This misconception is probably a relic of my years of wearing 32 bands: the only thing I could do to not having those ride up like crazy was have the straps as loose as possible (which meant straps often just falling off my shoulders and cups that offered nigh to no support, let alone shape). Anyway, I now realise they probably weren't even close to tight enough: I finally managed to sew up another pair of detachable straps (scavenged from my poor 65E HM Gold that was too large for me) and tried the PL Onyks on again with, what I now assume, 'properly' tightened straps and the difference is, well, striking: instead of gently spilling towards the centre, I'm now outright quadboobing (my breasts are also slightly full at the moment, but still). All the way up near the straps the cups are STILL not entirely flush against my body, but otherwise they seem to stay put much better.
When I posted my fitting help request someone already mentioned that instead of too large, the cups of the 65E looked too small on me. I brushed that aside because at the time I was very new to the game and all I could see was major gapping. Gapping = excess space, right? Plus, 'big' breasts (as in > AA/A cup) are still not exactly part of my body image, so yeah, disbelieve might have also factored into my reaction, blissfully ignoring the fact that I've often seen it mentioned that people have to size up in PL ...
Anyway, I'm a bit curious now as to whether I was just totally wrong in my assessment of the PL's suitability for my shape and if I should perhaps give it another chance ... ? The wires in the 65E are only barely wide enough, possibly slightly too narrow even, and don't come up very high -- I can easily do with wider and longer wires. So, what should I try next? 65F? I'm about to send a CHP on its return journey, so I can just as well exchange it for something else ...
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Shared on Dec 03, 2012 Flag this
Yes, Freya bands run loose. Fantasie on me runs one size tight in the band and a size small in the cup. So my normal 34F in fantasie needs to be a 36F ... I think. Like you, I've stuck to a few brands I know. Chantelle, Panache (my fav) & Freya. Curvy Kate fits me like panache in the soft cup styles. Showgirl line is a different story - need to up the cup size by at least one & the bands are stretchy (not as bad as Freya though). HTH
Yes, you are exactly right! Freya does run loose in the band. I am a 30GG in Panache balconette styles (30HH in full cup), and in Freya I can wear a 28H. Not all styles come in 28 bands, so I often settle for the 30 and just wear it on the tightest hook. If it really bothers you, just take it to a seamstress and have her alter it. In Curvy Kate I find the bands run loose on some styles, like the Showgirl series, but not in others like in the Romance line. I find their cups run true to size, as I am a 30H, which is what the bra calculators have me at. I ordered a tankini in 28HH, so let's see how this fits; it will arrive soon! I do think Panache's balconette cups run small, though.
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