Monday 3 December 2012

Figuring out Ewa Michalak


EwaMichalak, worlds biggest size selection of bras. They even make sizes if they don’t have it. Their narrow wires are like an answer to so many busty womens bra-prayers. Their uplifted, centered shape is one of the most coveted looks. So it is no wonder, that finding your right EM size is of high priority for many!

In the dawn of time, I ordered a 36H CH Biszkopty bra from Ewa Michalak. I loved the lightly padded cup, the uplift, the shape… But  then I noticed something:
What is that?! Well, I soon learned that it was the “Orange-in-a-glass” effect! I’ve talked about it earlier when I had my “shape epiphany” (funny how I didn’t notice for so long, and now it seems so obvious… But I guess I needed to be closer to my size to have other fit issues than “too small”)
The bra is not big enough near the bottom to allow the boob, much like if you put an orange in a narrow glass: It’s not that the glass doesn’t have enough volume, it just the shape that isn’t compatible:
 (Was it reasonable that I was super surprised when nothing bra related came up when I searched for “orange in a glass”, or do I just forget that others don’t have bra-related connotations to everything? I even had to take this picture myself!)
Since then, the CH has become too small on me (as I mentioned in this post, my boobs have grown noticeably since last spring when my proper “bra journey” started), and the Orange in Glass has become ridiculous (because it is too small all over, it is even pulling more at the fabric near the bottom, making it flatter!) 
(Difficult to photograph, as the best angle to see it, would mean the camera was covering it, with my oh so stealthy pics-in-mirror-shots)
This would turn out to be quite the obstacle between me and Ewa Michalak.
I tried some PL's in 36H which were definitely too small cup/too big band, and returned them for PL Onyks and Carmen in 34JJ. I have since referred to these as “disaster bras”. The obviously have similar problems, but Carmen is made of a thinner, less stiff fabric, and it is therefore not as noticeable, so Onyks will have to take all the rap for this mess:
Despite 34JJ being my “larger cup volume” (I estimate that I am a 34J-JJ, and sometimes a 32band), it did create a whole lot of “orange in a glass”. Well, no harm, I thought. Wrong!
^That is what eventually happened. The gap was not stable enough to support either boob or bra, and it was bound to collapse under the weight at some point. When it did so, it made some ugly folds in the bottom of the cup, making the bra cup sit lower than the wire itself, dragging my boobs down with it (droopy boobies!), distorting the entire fit horribly (as also discussed in the Shape post)
Because of excessive wear of this bra, these folds have turned quite permanent, and therefore the problem just worsens, because now the folds have taken up more space than the gap originally did!
Here we have so pictures to prove the mess this bra is on me:

And here we see how that messes with the overall compatibility between me and the bra:
I saw  another example of orange-in-a-glass, and the same incompatibilities again in a CHP Brzoskwinka in 34HH, though had it been larger, I think it would overall be much better for my shape. (Took a chance with a non-returnable order, just to try it out) (Only took one side-shot before I put it up for sale, and the picture was super blurry, so you’ll have to take my word for it ;) )
I discussed this on Bratabase, and both me and MilkAndHoney compared which styles, CHCHP or PL we found the most bottom shallow. I felt like the PL was the most bottom-shallow, and CHP had the most volume, but she felt that CHP was the most shallow, and CH was the deepest! Hmm! I had already sold my CHP at this point, but she took a look at the bras, and concluded that *actually* CH goes out in the deepest angle from the wire, and PL the most shallow. So we concluded that whether the cup is too small at the bottom, can come as a result of different things in the overall compatibility  for example, the width of the bra overall, the width of the bottom if the wire etc. So many factors! It is not too difficult to see that you can't just pick bras of the rack and expect them to fit!

But, what to do when a bra is not compatible with your shape? You size up!
Here we have PL Cappuccino in 34K:
Now, I do think that this is technically too big, and some fitting issues associated with that comes into play: For example, it covers a lot of my armpit too (which is often the result of too big cup with too tight straps), and it is fuller coverage than I think was intended (I don’t mind though! My soft-ish boobs would appreciate the higher center gore promised to come in a future style, too!), and there can be slight gaping unless I am 100% scooped! But, what makes me confident that this is more like my EM size, rather than a smaller one, is the fact that I STILL get a bit of orange-in-glass:

But, I am quite happy with this bra! I am glad I have found something from EM that really does work for me, and I will continue to fine-tune my fit, because I really appreciate their shape, and I applaud EM for accommodating so many hard-to-get sizes! 

So, for me, EM is a really, really tricky business! But I feel like it is such a must have bra! When ever I’ve been wearing one, even my disaster bras, I get sort of disappointed by the shape of most other bras: I would do anything for that centered look, which so far I’ve found only EM to give!

On an unrelated note, I AM SELLING BRAS at Bratabase!!

7 comments:

  1. How did you find the sizing of the PL Capuccino compared to other PLs? I'm interested in the PL Amethyst, which is pretty much the same bra, but at my size, it will have to be an unreternable special order :-( so I'm waiting for people's opinions on the sizing...

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    1. Hmm, it's a little difficult to say, because I haven't really had others in the same size. But I'd say maybe it runs a little bigger than the Onyks (as in, I feel like this is more than one size bigger), and a similar to Carmen (feels like one size difference)... Since I find the Bella to run a little bigger than Black, I think it is likely that this one runs similar to Bella, and bigger than Black.
      I hope Curvy Wordy is going to review some of these new ones, she has tried so many now, that she ought to be able to answer this question more fully ;)

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    2. Thanks! That's helpful already.

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  2. hmm the wire looks stretched and distorted indicating the band being too tight. Have you tried a larger band and smaller cup?

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    1. Yes. Then the band is much too big and the cup too small. I wear all these on the tightest hook, because they arn't snug.
      On which one does the wire look distorted? The Onyks is distorted in all sorts of ways, due to the bad fit it has been through excessive wear.
      You can also see that the gore is not flat on any of these, which is usually due to too big band and/or too small cup.

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    2. Pic 3 and 5. Looks like its stretched, perhaps its just the angle or how the pic was taken. I have a lot of the same problems as you and was just wondering if banding up and cup size smaller would help.

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    3. I think it's a combination of angle and old worn out bras. In the pic of the CH bra, I am leaning back a bit, and I've had the bra since last spring (and worn it to death), and for the 5th pic, again, really worn out bra, but as you can see on pic 6, it's not as wide as it may look in that first picture of it.
      I used to wear bigger bands and smaller cups, which is why I have tried on 36H's in EM too, but I had many issues with those sizes, so I don't think that is the problem. EM has pretty stable wires too, so I think it'd be easier to feel if the band was so tight it stretched. In some of Bravissimos half cups and Cleos without full band, the wires do seem to distort, but they do it so easily, I don't know how you could wear a band snug not to support without pulling in the wire :/

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