The Curvy Kate "Elegance"

I’m not listing this as a bra I hate.  I sort of do hate it, but I’m primarily baffled by it. I accept that there are certain styles in which no size will fit me, but I’ve never had a bra fit me so ODDLY as this one. Because of the lack of available reviews of this bra, I’ve decided to do a somewhat detailed one in hopes that it can help any prospective buyers decide whether it will fit them well.

I coveted the “Elegance” ever since I saw pictures of it in the Curvy Kate brochure. Pretty lace! Plunge! Molded! Satin! Not sold in hideous nude! I couldn’t wait to buy it, but at the time I didn’t have enough money.

Then, once I finally did have enough money, I got cold feet. It was full price, I normally don’t buy full price bras, and I couldn’t find any reviews of it online (even though I saw bloggers wearing it in various photos), which made me suspicious. But when I found it 40% off on Amazon with free shipping one-day shipping, I decided my moment had come. I ordered one in black and one in white in a 28J.

The bras arrived the next day and looked beautiful—when they weren’t on me. As soon as I put it on, this bra made me look like a goon. The first major problem was that my boobs just are not that far apart. So although it did give me some cleavage, it was a weird triangular cleavage—my boobs met at the top and then separated as the bra dragged them down and to the sides.

 The other big issue was that the cups of this bra are VERY shallow at the bottom. So, although the bra looked as though it should be big enough for me, almost half of the cup just rested on my ribcage, and my actual boobs were forced upwards into the small remaining portion of the cup. I suspect this is meant to help give more cleavage to people with wider-set boobs--for them, I think this bra would work better.

The third complaint I had about this bra, which alone wouldn’t have ruined it for me, is the shape it gives—not quite rounded, but pointing out to the sides a little. You can see it a bit better here:

I did think about keeping the Elegance and trying to alter the center gore so the cups would hopefully work better for me, but then I suddenly realized that the lace on the top of the cup makes it look a bit like a Venus fly trap was eating my boobs and I couldn’t quite get over that.

All this being said, though, the reason I don’t completely reject this bra is that I think it could fit some people well. I think people with wider-set boobs who want to create some cleavage (generally the opposite of what I want to do) will like it. I also think it will work better for people whose boobs are a bit less stubborn and can actually take the shape of a bra—those people may find they can fill out the bottom of the shallow cup well. Failing that, I guess I would recommend going up a cup size or two. (I think I would have needed to go up 3 or 4 cup sizes, and I was already in the biggest one they make.)