This bra was the second (fairly correctly fitting) bra I ever bought. At the time I was fitted into it I had been fitted as a 32GG in the Panache Tango II balconette in a store quite recently, and still had some tissue at the sides of my ribcage from wearing the incorrect size since high school. I'm mentioning this because the subsequent tissue migration I experienced over the six months after I bought this bra came to affect how it fit me.
I'll start off by mentioning that it runs pretty tight in the band and cup. I'm definitely lucky that I prefer ... a firmer band, as otherwise this would have been unwearable. The fact that I filled the cups of the 32HH when I'd been sized at 32GG/H is also a testament to how small this is in the cup. I've heard this is the case with a lot of Bravissimo's own brand bras that are cut like this one. If anyone is interested in buying this one I'd probably recommend you go up a band from your normal size and keep the cup letter the same (eg. if you're a 30G, size up to a 32G). It was also rather horrible to break in. I'd worn it a couple of times since buying and made the catastrophic mistake of wearing it on a 20+ hour flight back to Australia from the UK. I don't think I have ever been so acutely aware of the fact that I was wearing a bra before. The underwires and band felt extremely tight and painful against my ribcage. (Additionally, the wires set off the metal detector at the airport.) I also experienced a lot of digging into my sternum due to the height of the gore. If you want/need a low gore my advice would definitely be to look elsewhere! However, once it was broken in I found the bra much more comfortable.
As far as appearance goes, I had purchased the bra in order to have something close to my skin tone to wear under white work shirts. The beige colourway isn't unattractive - it'd be good for anyone who dislikes yellow-toned beige. I will point out that the top embroidered section looks a lot sheerer in Bravissimo's product photos (especially in the black and the purple fashion colour currently out) than it is in real life. This isn't something to wear under short-sleeved or tank tops either - it does look like a 'lot of bra' once on, and is visible at the underarms any time I wear something lower under there. It also has very thick (but fully adjustable and comfortable) straps. I would call the strap placement on the wider side, although it wasn't a problem for me. For a more utilitarian sort of bra, Bravissimo seems to have put some effort into making it a little more appealing - the detailing they've given it prevents it from looking too frumpy.
Shape and support - this bra loses points in my book as I suspect many, many people would experience shape incompatibilities with it. If you have any kind of top fullness, give this one a miss. The bra has a four-part cup construction, using a side sling. On my fairly bottom-full shape, I get a lifted, natural sort of look - like the shape my boobs are without a bra, only better - but anyone top-full would get the dreaded squished-on-top triangle shape. (I suspect this is the source of the many reviews on Bravissimo's website saying that the bra gives 'pointy sandbag boobs'.) The source of this is the top embroidered section, which is made out of a firm mesh that has no give. I think also that this would be unlikely to work on someone petite or short-waisted - the underwires and also the wings come up fairly high on the sides (I occasionally still feel discomfort from it and I am relatively tall with a longer torso). It is however a very, very supportive bra and great for wearing to work and occasionally uni - I like to wear bras that I can run for the bus in - and looks OK under a t-shirt. I don't tend to wear this with anything super form-fitting though as I prefer to keep my 'round-shape' bras for that.
Final note about the shape - it's pretty wide but looks less east-west from the front than the Tango does (I think this is the four-part cup at work). The wide wires were great for me when I still had tissue at the sides of my ribcage and anything narrow definitely felt too small, but not so much now. My breasts sit almost completely on the front of my ribcage now and there is significant empty space at the side of the cup. Finally, although I've had my issues with it since undergoing shape changes, I'll note that Bravissimo has certainly made a sturdy bra in the Melrose. I was subjecting this to heavy use when it was only one of two or three bras I owned and still wear it occasionally for work, and it still gives the same level of support as when I first purchased it.
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Updated on Oct 17, 2014 Flag this