It was the first Arabella bra I bought, and I went for my chart size, 32E. In some aspects it is ok for my measurements, but I need wider wires and Arabellas have narrow underwires. The outer ends of underwires end on breast tissue and they are also too low, so it doesn't look good and doesn't feel quite comfortable. It's not obvious at first, but after a while I can feel the wires digging into my body. I later tried different sizes and found out that 30FF is much better for me, because the wires are wider. I decided to keep this bra, because it's wearable, though ... not perfect and I wouldn't wear it for a long day of work etc., but it's ok for some uses.
I guess the chart size is perfect for people with narrow roots of breasts and women who need wider wires should try a different size, like me. I tried on Lyla bra in the same size and it's exactly the same in size and fit.
Look:
It's beautiful. I adore Arabellas and this is one of best colours. It's pale shell pink combined with pale teal details. On paler skin tones it looks almost invisible in some light and the teal details look like glued on. I guess on darker tones the pale pink gives a nice contrast. It doesn't work like an ordinary nude bra, because it's too sheer. If your nipples are positioned right under where the seams meet, they will be less visible, but still not enough to be worn under translucent clothes. Maybe it would work for women with nipple colour similar to skin shade. I also have an Arabella in Cassis and it's better in disguising nipples, due to darker colour.
Comfort and hold:
It's very comfortable and great for summer. This size isn't 100% comfortable for me, but 30FF is, so I consider this model to be perfectly comfortable. It provides great support and hold, though it creates rather natural shape. With narrower wires it gives me more protruding shape, with wider ones it's more natural.
I'm keeping this bra, because it's so pretty and I can actually wear it, even though it's not perfect, but I have another one I bought before I realised I need 30FF. So I would like to exchange one Arabella 32E in Oyster for another Arabella in 30FF.
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Updated on Aug 07, 2012 Flag this
You could try to go down a band size, and maybe a cup up, but in the way that you end up with the same cup volume but wider wire. I managed to do that, somewhat incidentally - instead of 32E I wear 30FF. At first I thought about 32F, but it turned out they have the same wires, just deeper cups. I guess you could try 32E or F.
Also, Arabella is not a real plunge, it's something between balconette and plunge, so yeah - it's not supposed to show as much as for example Deco or Retro. Another thing with Arabellas is that they have unnecessary ribbon sewn at the edge of the cups (underneath). Those ribbons are not elastic and often too short and they make the edge of cup to dig in even if the cup is ok. There is a simple solution, it can be removed with no harm for the bra, you just have to undo the seams from that ribbon. The cups lay much better after that and some people claim that the embroidery look better, too.