Can bralette equal support? That is a question I have been asking myself a lot since I started to consider wearing this type of garments.
Bralettes are soft, comfy, they make us feel… Hum… Free? Can we say that they basically are the equivalent for PJs in the underwear world?
For me, during a long time a bralette, also called brassière in French, was a bra for little girls and teens. I also associated it to small bust lingerie.

**These garments have been gifted to me by Large Cup Lingerie for the purpose of a review, all thoughts and opinions are mine.**

However, last year, I started noticing independent designers saying they could make proper bralettes for full busted ladies. Of course made-to-measurements stuff are rarely cheap. And then Freya launched the Fancies collection. Bras, bralettes and chemises in plenty of colorways. All the garments seemed to be made in order to be practical but still cute. The bralettes especially were supposed to provide the same support as bras for full busted ladies.

According to Sweet Nothing’s review, the size range covered by this bralette should go from 28B to 38HH.  Cha, the owner of LCL was kind enough to send me these bralettes (navy) and chemises (black) in size Small (supposed to fit 28 E-FF, 30 D-F, 32 C-DD, 34 B-D, 36B) and Medium ( 28 G-GG, 30 FF-G, 32 E-FF, 34 DD-F, 36 C-E, 38 B-D). Note that I am a small 30GG at the time. So technically none of these sizes should have fitted. But guess what? Both of them did!

FIT

First off, it seems that bralettes, although they don’t give “uplift”, make the breasts look smaller than bras do. Maybe because they don’t really allow projection. They can actually “hold” the breasts but the shape and support they give really depend on the way they are sewn.

My breasts are in between sizes (as usual) in this range. Apparently, the Small isn’t deep enough for me even though it is quite right in the band and the Medium would be alright in the cup but the band is too large. However, sizing-wise there are some differences between the chemise and the bralette.

Well, when I received the garments about 1,5 month ago, the bralette in Small wouldn’t even pass my breasts. At least it didn’t seem to, but the Medium fitted like a dream. That said, the chemise in Medium was way too large in the band and fitted large in the cup too. For this one, the Small was a better choice. So in these pictures I am wearing the bralette in Medium and the chemise in Small.

However, it seems that holidays make me lose weight (I guess eating only cereals, apples and almond milk because of lazyness doesn’t help) and now, the bralette in Small although it is too tight in the cup, can “contain” my breasts. I would easily fall out of this one, though. Note also that the straps are fully-adjustable in both pieces.

I think these bralettes and chemise would fit better full on bottom women. Indeed, I heard that some people experienced their breasts to get out of the bralette during their sleep which never happened to me and I have worn it a lot (as you can see by the crumpled fabrics on the third picture ^^’ ). Also, I feel like the big difference between these two garments is the support they provide.

The bralette seems to be made to be supportive but the chemise is bigger under the breasts even in the size Small. I imagine that the support is considered as less important with a chemise as you mainly need to be comfortable to sleep.

To be honest, I couldn’t go out with this bralette but it is not because I would not feel secure, it would be more because of the shape it gives to my breasts. It is almost like it flattens them (not in a painful way, though). Though, I guess that is also how it provides support.

In fact, I am very happy to wear it all day long. It is like a supportive cropped top so I can just lounge around in my apartment without shirt and without looking naked. That said, it is not the same feeling as a bra because my breasts will always meet each other at the middle at some point. They aren’t squeezed, though!

I also enjoy the chemise design. I first thought it wasn’t that pretty but then I saw it in real life and I really liked the difference of opacity between the different parts of this piece! Also the lovely lace at the sides makes it definitely prettier and more elegant in the way it falls. The little bow at the junction of the lace (on both of these pieces) has tiny white polka dots which is an adorable detail here.

For me, the black and navy were the prettier colors (but y’all should know I mostly wear black and navy blue so I might not be the best opinion to listen to on this x)). Nevertheless I am happy to see that Freya made these garments in a lot of colorways and also at an affordable price so it is easy to own several of them or to replace them if they get damaged.

Tell me your thoughts about bralettes? Did you find one that was satisfying? Have you ever tried the Fancies collection?

Sending love, as always,

xoxo Wen