I didn't know much about Thea initially, except that it comes in lovely floral prints. I picked up one in my normal Panache sister size of 30DD in the Ivory Floral colorway, which is reminiscent of vintage botanical sketches and is quite unique. I was surprised to find that this bra is super comfortable and feels very much like a Cleo. However, this bra is sadly designed for FOT shapes, as the center of the cup is a bit high and projected, and the upper cup is almost shelf-like, meaning that it attaches to the bottom cup almost perpendicularly rather than at a gradual angle. While the wires and bottom cup fit me quite well, there's wrinkles in the upper cup that foam pads could not even smooth out as I just don't have the fullness required to fill it out.

This bra reminds me very much of several Cleo styles I've tried: Minnie, Ellis, and Kayla. All of these styles have a nice, firm tricot-lined printed fabric lower cup that feels really supportive and gives a great rounded shape. However, the fun stops there. The upper lace cup is made from double lined embroidered mesh with stabilizing elastic at the upper edge, but it feels quite firm though it does stretch a bit. Minnie has a very rigid upper cup, Ellis has a mesh embroidered upper cup with a bit of flexibility, and Kayla has a very stretchy and soft upper cup. This upper cup functions similarly to a cross between Minnie and Ellis' upper cups in terms of flexibility. If these styles work for you, chances are that you will love Thea.

I found the band to feel pretty TTS and relatively firm, so this sister size felt like a decent fit. The band is plain, solid powermesh, and there is a gentle leotard back. The elastic used is nicely textured for visual interest. The printed fabric is used throughout the cups and the cradle, and the center gore has a two tone pink and blue bow. I feel that the bow doesn't quite match the design of the rest of the bra, which is more vintage elegant, but the bow reads quite pop. Other than the fit mismatch, this is my only critique about this bra. I think it's a really well made bra and would recommend it to the right FOT shapes that can wear similar Cleo styles!

Ivory Floral colorway

Updated on May 29, 2020 Flag this

• 1

  Excellent review--thank you!

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