Cleo "Rihanna" Review

I’m not really in the market to buy anymore bras right now because I already have so many—in fact, I’m probably going to be looking to sell the ones I don’t often wear. But there was one bra that, when I saw it was finally available, I wasn’t going to miss out on. That’s the Cleo Rihanna.

This mystery bra has popped up in a few places (like Undercover Lingerista's post here) but I never heard much about it and I was beginning to think that it wasn’t going to be produced at all. Then I saw it was available at Breakout Bras, although apparently nowhere else, but unfortunately the price was way beyond my price range. More recently, the Rihanna has finally started appearing for sale in a few more places, including Amazon.co.uk and eBay, where I found mine. They all seem to be on sale now so I’m not sure where/when/if the Rihanna was posted for normal sale.

Because this bra is the same as the Sadie (reviewed here) and Jude (sixth bra down in this post), I got my normal size for this brand and cut—30H. (I wear 30HH in Curvy Kate and either 30HH or 30H in most Freya and Panache, though I fit a 30GG Deco, and a 30H in most Cleo bras.)

I just love this bra. It’s such an unusual color combination and pattern. I’d wanted a bra from the Jude family for ages but I was holding out for something I was really in love with. I wasn’t a fan of the orange color of the Sadie…

...I don't like the combination of blue and pink, found in the Ellie...

…and I’m sick to death of floral patterns as found in the Poppy, etc.

But the Rihanna has this weird, awesome pattern that isn’t like anything else I’ve seen. It’s somewhere in between a 'tribal' pattern, a geometric pattern, and a watercolor design. It’s definitely eye-catching, and I like the refreshing color combination.

The shape from the side is the same shape you saw in my Sadie and Jude reviews. Round but a bit low, relaxed and casual. It’s definitely not the best shape out there but it’s the furthest you can get from pointy. In some clothes this bra makes my boobs look bigger, but in most, it makes them look smaller because the apex of the cup is close to the chest (it doesn’t have much depth). This is bad for people who need a lot of depth in the cup, great for people who want a round shape without much forward projection.

You can also see that the underwires are pretty narrow and are coming close to sitting on my breast tissue. I actually wish they were wider, but I know I’m firmly in the minority on this point and most people prefer narrower underwires.

The center gore sits SUPER FLAT on my chest. What a relief! I’ve found a lot of vertical-seam bras, especially Curvy Kate’s Showgirl bras that I wrote about here, just never really sit flat in the gore, so they feel as though they are constantly floating around and slipping. This bra sits firmly in the same place for hours.

This bra has the same vertical seam pattern I was talking about in my post about the Masquerade Delphi. As usual, this seam pattern brings with it a lot of open space in the top of the cup. This is great for those with full-on-top boobs and can be awkward for those without a lot of volume in the top because there can be some gaping or a “collapsed” shape above where the cup ends.

All these points add up to a bra that’s perfect for some shapes and best avoided for others. But if you do fall into this bra’s target shape, I’d recommend the Rihanna. It’s so weird and cute that it really gives my mood a boost every time I put it on. It’s a much better fit for me than the Curvy Kate Showgirl bras that I have to constantly keep readjusting and so, in a lot of ways, the Rihanna accomplishes what the Showgirl bras can’t.