Empreinte Bras - A Close Up

A reader recently requested that I post some close-up photos of an Empreinte bra, so that she could more closely observe things like the lace, the closures and the shape. I opted to photo two of my Empreinte bras - the Lola and the Roxane. Both are black but are actually quite different.

The Lola is very structural, the Roxane quite lifted and yet more delicate. Both were remarkably difficult to photograph for a variety of reasons (um, maybe the sun could reveal itself just once in this fucking month??). The biggest challenge is that I can't adequately show the profile of inner cup projection of either bra without actually photographing them on me, which isn't going to happen, as you know. The lace simply deflates when not stretched by a breast of the appropriate dimensions.

Having said that, I hope these pics give a somewhat improved sense of how these bras are shaped.

Empreinte Lola

 In an effort to show cup depth - and the immediacy of that depth from the centre gore, I let the lace on the outer cups crumple...

Empreinte Roxane

You can see, with the Roxane, that the lace is much thinner. This is just one layer of incredibly delicate fabric. I'm amazed that it can hold anything up, in truth, but it performs admirably. I've heard that (fine) lace is deceptively strong and this definitely corroborates that perspective. The mesh ribboning at the top of the cup is particularly stunning, though it looks crappy unless it's stretched by the upper breast. It might be challenging on a very full-on-top breasts, though.

The Roxane, flat view

What I tried to show in this pic, and I'm not sure if it adequately does the trick, is how the band goes sharply up from the bottom of the cups. See how deep, but relatively narrow, the cup is by the quick and distinct latitudes between the wires at the bottom of the cups and the wing that starts just to the outside of each side cup. That's a very fast and rather extreme rise. But then, look at how the band (as you move to the closure edges of the bra) dips back down towards the original latitude of the under cups. It has to do this in fairly short order on a bra with a band that's less than 32". This is the 32 so it's not as pronounced as with the Lola (a 30). Alas, couldn't get a decent shot of that. This is the  shape that promotes utter band stability.

Over-exposure, anyone??

OK, the only shot of the Lola I could get that showed it's beautiful shape off was this one - glorious in all its over-exposure. This shot shows the profile of inner cup depth better than any of the others.

Do you see how these bras, though balconette in shape, actually provide a lot of coverage? That's the shape I call "full balconette", which can be very flattering on dense, heavy, more mature or post-child-feeding breasts because they give an extra element of support. They do so however, in a way that provides enough give in the upper cup for full-on-top breasts - based on the way the upper cup is cut. It's not a sharp angle from the top of the centre gore wires to the bow on the band. It's a broad curve that gets going right at the gore.

In fact, the depth of the cup is most notable at the part of the upper cup that meets the gore, which is why women with close set but full breasts are well-suited to this shape. Note: I suspect if your breasts are super full-on-top, this shape might still be limiting (which is why so many women with the FOT shape end up wearing half-cups or open and low balconettes).

A shot of the centre wire placement on the Lola

Finally, here's a pic to show the narrowness of the centre wires, not only at the top (where the bow is) but at the bottom, where the centre front moves towards the bottom cups. The first shot of the Roxane shows this feature as well. The top centre wires sit .75 inches from inner wire to inner wire. That's pretty narrow, in the scheme of things.

So, I hope this little photo-essay might be useful for y'all. Please do let me know and feel free to ask questions or for clarification about anything I've suggested here. Also, if you agree or disagree with my perspective - having tried either of these bras - I'd love to hear about it.

Very brief side note on sewing: I'm hot and heavy on the latter construction of the Burda jacket (today I make and insert the lining). I'm intensely engaged, too much so to discuss it until I finish today's work. I don't have enough perspective yet. But I've got pages of notes and thoughts and feelings and I'm happy with some things and fairly unhappy with others. Also I have a pretty interesting piece of new info for you - ooooh suspense. It's cool and I'll write about it soon. (PS: I didn't get a book deal or a TV show or a Craftsy class or a column in Threads - it's not that kind of exciting but it's fun nonetheless :-))