The Curvy Kate "Emily"

As I mentioned in my last post, I ordered 1-3 cup sizes bigger than my normal Panache size in all the Curvy Kate styles I'm trying in an effort to eliminate the problems I'd had with shape and cutting in/quadraboob. The Emily looked to me like the one with the softest seam on top, and therefore the one that was most likely to fit me. I ordered it in a 28JJ and 28K (I usually wear 28HH in Panache).

I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the bra, as this lilac color had looked pretty dull to me online. It’s actually a combination of purplish blue and bluish blue, and the details are really attractive.

I have to say though, that it’s sort of “a lot of bra.” The cup came up higher than on the other styles in equivalent sizes. It was also made the same way as the Freya bras I lambasted in my earlier post—the sheer upper section was the part that got bigger and bigger, which I find very unflattering. A lot of this is due to the fact that the 28JJ and 28K were both too big--a 28J would be the right size for me in this style and would eliminate a lot of the issues I had.

First, the 28JJ. Sorry for the terrible photoshopping, but something about the cut of this bra was giving me a bit of nip-slip on one side only.

And here is the 28K. As you can see, it is so big on me that it is really not giving any lift.

I don’t like bras that come up this high, but the fit was better than my pessimistic expectations (in both the JJ and the K). Everything sat where it should and there was definitely no quadraboob so it was a start. The seam along the top of this bra is actually very stretchy, meaning the Emily is the most forgiving of the Curvy Kate bras I tried.

My main discovery, though, was that in order to get rid of the “sad”, down-pointing shape I’d gotten in Curvy Kate previously, I had to shorten the straps A LOT. This was most necessary in the Emily because I tried it in bigger sizes. Here it is with the straps shortened to a comfortable length:

Terrible! To get a better shape, I had to shorten the straps ALL the way, just as the model needed to the photo below.

It looks better on her than on me, by the way.

When I did this I could barely fit my arm through the hole, but it gave a pretty good shape under clothes. The shape wasn’t the best of the bras I tried, but it also wasn’t the worst.

If your boobs are full on top like mine, I would recommend you get this in what you consider your “regular” Curvy Kate size, or go up one cup size if you’re in between sizes and mostly wear Panache/Freya. The Emily fits me best in a 28J, as you can see here in my updated review.