Many women (and men) fall in love with the shape and look that demi and balconette bras can create. Their objective is to expose your upper breast tissue for sexy full cleavage and give a mounding effect to your upper chest that is a sign of youth.  Unfortunately, this bra style, that comes with wide-set straps, is not right for every woman to wear. Oh, and demi bras and balconette bras are one and the same.

Demi bras look best on women with average to small bust sizes and whose upper breasts are rather full. If full coverage bras leave your cups half empty or cause a wrinkled look, then demi styles might also be an answer because the small cup shape is more forgiving of a woman with less breast tissue.

If you love the demi look but want more coverage, go for a semi-demi cup bra. This is a great solution for women with large areolas that might peek out in traditional demi cups.

If you’re hunting for a great demi bra, I recommend Le Mystere Francesca, Chantelle Icone 3855, Cosabella SN1171 and La Perla 901634.

For full-busted women, demi bras can actually give you an overflowing look or cause an unflattering indentation at the upper breast so I recommend avoiding this style altogether. Keep in mind that Fantasie, Elomi and Freya brands call their bra styles with a low front or sweetheart neckline a balcony bra, but these are not true demi styles. These brands specialize in bras for full-busted women for the very best fit and support.

Finally, if you have issues with your straps falling off your shoulders, a demi or balconette bra is simply going to exacerbate this – this bra style always comes with wide-set straps.

If you are not a candidate for this type of bra, take heart.  You can still look sexy in other styles such as plunge bras, pretty lacy styles, and the ever-popular sheer bras.  There’s more than one way to do sexy.

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Fantasie makes terrific full-busted bras.  So, naturally, when they showed me a new bra that will be coming this fall, I became very excited. 

 The new Fantasie bra is called Esme.  It is their next generation of a t-shirt bra.  Currently their Fantasie Smoothing T-shirt bra 4510 and their Fantasie Molded Smooth Cup bra 4500 have been  "go to" t-shirt bras for many successful years.  And if you own one, you know that both run a little large in the cups. Well, Fantasie has listened to their customer and come up with this new Esme solution.

The Esme uses a new molded shape to the cups.  Though the molded fabric has stripe detailing, it still provides a smooth line under clothing.  The straps have also been brought inward and are what is called "center pull" so that the lift from the straps comes at the breast apex rather than on the shoulders.  This also reduces strap slippage. 

 When comparing the Esme to the 4500 and 4510, I instantly saw that the cups are more paired down for a lighter look on the body.  The cups are also light and thin to keep volume to a minimum.

 So, look for this new Fantasie Esme at HerRoom in the coming months.  I think you will love both the look and the fit.

Find Fantasie lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties

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The French brand Huit (pronounced "wheat" and French for the number eight) was in the clutches of bankruptcy. But no more!  Eveden, the company that brings us Goddess, Freya, Fantasie, and Elomi bought it.  Tracy Lewis, Chief Executive of Eveden came from the UK and visited me in our Dallas office just before Thanksgiving.  She shared with me Eveden’s plans for the Huit brand.

By way of background, Huit is a very proud French brand and even includes ‘Paris’ on its label.  Traditionally, it has been sold in better boutiques across the United States.  HerRoom has also been fortunate enough to carry the brand for many years.  The essence of the Huit brand is that it is stylish yet effortless, with hip colors.  A premium brand, Huit focuses a lot on being fashionable.  Therefore, less than 30% of the Huit products were ever basics.  Most were fashion and one-time designs.  The brand serviced the 32-38, A to D cup customer.

So, why did Eveden buy Huit?  Tracy explained that it was an excellent expansion opportunity.  Eveden brands have always been for full-figured women, so this was a very exciting chance to buy a well-known name brand that fits the average size woman.  And, there are no plans to take Huit into the full-figure market. 

What also impressed me was Tracy’s comment that Eveden retained the current Huit designers in France.  Eveden really wants to keep and maintain the special qualities the Huit brand has had for years.  Huit has also been a swimwear manufacturer, making swimwear with cup sizing.  Eveden absolutely intends to continue the swimwear line as well.

The re-launch is planned for this coming February with new photography.  And, there are plans to add 30 band sizes and take the cup sizing up to DD. Of special note, Tracy said to pay attention to the Cupcake Collection. The plan is to expand this further.  HerRoom already carries this collection, and I’m crazy about how terrific it looks.

Three cheers for keeping a fabulous lingerie brand alive and moving forward.

Huit Cupcake Bandeau Strapless Bra	Huit Cupcake Full  Cup Balconnet Bra	Huit Cupcake Magic Air Pushup Bra

Find Huit lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties

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Since we deal with lingerie manufacturers, my buyers were delighted to see that several of the ones we work with are now taking their expertise in bra manufacturing to the swimwear arena.  But, they have also sized the swimsuits the same way they size bras.  A simple idea, but what a difference it makes.

Right now, HerRoom has a great collection of bra-sized swimwear on our site — specifically, Freya and Fantasie swimwear. We found a fabulous F cup model, and made a video fashion show to show you how great the full figure women can look on the beach or by the pool.  Oh, and the swim suits from these two brands go up to an H cup in many of the styles.

Below is our video. Sit back, enjoy, and be surprised by how great swimwear will now look on you.  It’s actually fun to buy a bathing suit!

Find bathing suits at HerRoom in these departments:
Swimwear

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I meet regularly with various lingerie manufacturer representatives.  It’s always interesting though, when I meet with manufacturers who are not based in the United States.  For example, Chantelle, Fantasie of England, and Panache are all designed in Europe.  Without a doubt, European women have different taste and preferences when it comes to bras and lingerie.

The first curious comment from these manufacturers is that women from the UK have considerably larger breast sizes.  The average cup size is a D rather than the C in the US.  Now, their band size is not unusual – UK women are in good shape from all their walking.  But, in general, a British woman has larger breasts.

European women buy lots of white and ivory underwear.  The concept of nude underwear has either not caught on, or they dismiss it.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, European women are very accustomed to hand-washing their lingerie and then putting it up to dry.  US women have more washers and dryers than European women.  Truly white undergarments are a sign of them being clean.  If they get a little dingy, you bleach them or throw them out.  If you have nude colored underwear, there is no gauge as to whether or not it’s getting dingy.  The color ivory to European women is considered their version of nude.  It can still look clean, but has enough cream to better match their skin tone.

Now, having said this, European women are big purchasers of lingerie in wild colors – purple, red, citrus, chartreuse.  And they don’t care if it shows under their clothing.  American women buy very little lingerie that is colored.  In fact, colored lingerie makes up less than 8% of lingerie sales in the United States.  American women buy mostly nude and black bras and panties.  You will see beautiful colored lingerie in US department stores, but it’s really put in there just to show some contrast and keep the department from looking like a sea of nude.  Chances are if you like a colored piece of lingerie, hold off buying because it will be on sale shortly.

American women are obsessed with seamless, contoured and invisible underwear.  We don’t want anyone to see any sign of lingerie under any of our clothing.  We are on a constant quest for that lingerie item that won’t show.  European women, by contrast, could care less.  Let there be seams showing, let their lace show through, who cares if someone sees a panty line?  European women love buying pretty lacy and expensive lingerie and don’t care if it shows or not.

Viva la Difference!

Check out lingerie essentials in HerRoom’s Complete Lingerie Wardrobe.

Find Chantelle lingerie at HerRoom

Find Fantasie lingerieat HerRoom

Find Panache lingerie at HerRoom

Bras
Panties