I find it amusing that, in the context of this great experience, I have had my most wretched online lingerie shopping moment evah. Don't worry. I'm not traumatized. I'm actually a) so jaded by the last few months while b) so happy to be alive that I'm chalking it up to a bizarre, one-time event.
Here's what happened:
- For starters, I bought the wrong size in just about everything. This is a really good time to remind you that you should not extrapolate that your bra size has increased by wearing one new bra that's too small. (And on that topic, the Freya Nina Plunge - and its sister-colourway, the Roxanne) - have very short and narrow wires. Definitely go up a cup size.) Add to the mix that I have shrunk in circumference slightly over the fall, and the newly purchased bras were absurd.
- No prob. Usually, I'd just return the merchandise for replacement or refund and call it a day. Alas, this time I couldn't get myself to the post office due to sickness. So finally I sent my husband and kid. Hmmmm. The husband offloaded the task to the tween who managed to send everything back SURFACE shipping (?! do they even have this anymore?!) which can take 6 weeks and isn't traceable for 3 months. As luck would have it, 200 bucks of lingerie has not yet made its way back to Figleaves. Who knows when and if it will.
- I have to make peace with the fact that I may be out some money. Add to this my grave concern that, by the time the package gets back to Figleaves or I opt to call it a loss, the Freya Gem may be sold out in my size (how hideous would that be??), I finally opted to repurchase this item yesterday.
- What you should know is that Figleaves has been very accommodating under the circumstances. In numerous emails exchanges, they have agreed to honour my returns and replacements even though they've long past the required-by return date.
- Last night, I used the chat feature to sort out the new purchase. Note about Figleaves' chat feature: I love it. Not only am I the fastest typist in the land, but I'm too impatient to wait for email and (don't judge), despite having lived in England, I can't figure out how to call anyone there. The area code thing completely confuses me. The woman I texted with answered all of my questions and agreed to send me the new bra at the same discounted price as the one I bought originally. She even waived the shipping (as I would normally receive the replacement item with no extra shipping charge). Then she called me to get my info (couldn't do it online in light of the complex elements of the purchase). It was entirely pleasant given that I just spent another 26 pounds to get a bra I already own.
So, there you go. Perhaps the online shopping goddess wanted me to know what it's like to have a seriously disappointing lingerie-buying experience so that I can relate to those of you who remind me that it's not all kittens and flowers. I suspect it was just dumb luck. The kind that insulates you from further dumb luck for a long while going forward. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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I'm dying to know how the Gem fits, because I've been eyeing that one pretty hard. I'm tempted to buy it in multiple sizes and just see which one fits the best...sucks that it's so expensive to do that though!
ReplyDeleteB: I'll let you know as soon as it arrives. I really love this bra. I can't tell you how much I hope it fits. I'm trying to stay uninvested but you know how that goes :-)
DeleteI'm waiting on my return credit too (not figleaves) - but to add to the crummy experience of ordering two things that don't fit, yesterday I went to Nordstrom's Rack and they had the Cleo bra and undies I had ordered on their clearance rack - bra wasn't in my size but there were multiples of the undies in my size (not that it matters since I returned the bra; but due to Canadian policies had to keep the not-my-size-undies that I gambled on).
ReplyDeleteSo, on sizing, which I'm struggling to wrap my head around due to having so few options in my size in the first place. If a bra is said to run big in back & cup and you should size down - do you use the "sister" size or size both down or size the back down and therefore the cup is automatically sized down? I fear I can't even explain my confusion so maybe I should just ask you to elaborate with example sizes.
Oh, that sucks! OK, here's how the sizing one cup and one back size would go. Let's say you're a 32FF. If you size down one back size, that would put you into a 30G. Then, if you were to size down a cup size that would put you into a 30FF. So one cup and one back size down, in this instance, is the same cup size lettering and a smaller back size. When you go down a back size, the corollary cup size goes down in volume. That's why you have to go up a cup size when you go down a back size if you want to keep the same volume. Does this make sense?
DeleteYes that makes sense.
DeleteSo if a 32FF needed to go up a back size to keep cup volume the same you would need 34F*, but if back & cup ran small then 34FF?
*gah, I'm bad with the sequence of larger cup sizes. Also, what you said made sense, but then when I tried to do the same with sizing up it seems wrong.
Yup - you've totally got it. It does seem wrong, but that's how it works.
DeleteI had my replacement bra arrive this week. I bought Lucy from Flirtelle in silver. I liked Lucy, I thought the silver colour would wear under light colours well. I tried to order Eloise by Freya as well but the last bra in my size had a flaw so they couldn't sell it to me. Good service for catching that and letting me know, but I was in Florida at the time and really didn't have time to randomly pick another bra so I just asked for the rest to be refunded. I like my second Lucy but there is a small difference between this one and the black version. It is more noticable that my smaller breast is not filling the upper cup so the lace sort of floats above my skin. Better that than too small and digging in so I'm keeping it.
ReplyDeleteI read a review of that bra recently. Wish I could remember where! I often find that bras in different colours fit completely differently. I think it's because of how dark dyes affect fabric by shrinking it slightly. And also changing in other properties i.e. drape changes etc.
DeleteTrue. Shouldn't be surprising really. How often do we sew the same pattern multiple times and have exactly the same results?
DeleteOh dear! Am I the only one that had all successes? All my pieces fit beautifully. I'm absolutely thrilled with my purchases.
ReplyDelete