I have been meaning to do this write up for an entire year now – I just ADORE this bra! The Kris Line Anabel Padded Balconette, size 28 J, Cappuccino colorway. It is an older model now, but you can still find it on BraStop and there might be a size or two available on Zulily!
I purchased this bra from Zulily in September 2016, after changing sizes (again!) while breastfeeding my second baby. I was so incredibly impressed! Not only was the fit and depth of the cups and height in the armsyce exactly right (and the center gore tacked!)…but the half padded cup was perfect for nursing! I simply slipped the strap off of my shoulder and fold the top of the cup down when I needed to nurse. I know that sounds cringe-worthy to treat a bra that way, and it certainly impacted the lifespan of this bra, but let me tell you. It was worth it to have something that fit beautifully and didn’t require fiddling with nursing hooks!
More about my experience with the Anabel later. Here are the photos! I took these in March 2017 after 6 months of wear. I love the delicate lace and the cute fairy charm on the center gore!
The detail on the cups is a print – I was worried this would stretch out or peel off over time. But it hasn’t! It still looks great.
Here you can see the wear on the hooks – I know it looks weird to have one hook stretched out. But that’s due to my body shape, all of my bras do this (more on that later). It was still comfortable to wear.
And the inside of the cups – excuse the pilling 🙂 The seam is smooth and the lace is soft. Not itchy at all.
I wore this bra while breastfeeding for about 6 months, but ever since I weaned my son in March 2017, the Anabel has still been my primary bra. I’ll dig up another bra once or twice a week, but since none of my other bras truly fit or are comfortable, I pretty much stick to the Anabel!
These photos were taken in June 2017. You can see that the seam is visible under a tight fitting shirt. This never bothered me too much…but I am also not very picky 🙂
And like I briefly mentioned above – here is a back view so you can see what I mean about my body stretching my bands in odd ways. The base of where my band sits is much narrower than the top! Which is why the top hook on my bras usually stretches more than the bottom. My ribcage is the narrowest point on my body, rather than my natural waist!
It wasn’t until very recently that my Anabel started to become very uncomfortable 🙁 The padding on the wires has worn thin, the band is stretched out, and I think my ribcage may have changed size along with my cups. I think this is actually a GREAT mark of the quality of this bra. Over the past year, I have:
- Worn this bra while nursing and stretching out the cups
- Worn almost every single day for a year, for multiple hours a day
- Accidentally machine washed AND dried it (I cried!! It’s never been 100% the same but it did turn out ok)
Other bras (including ones from top of the line companies!) have crumbled under the abuse I put them through, well before this point.
I really need to go shopping and get some new bras! Don’t you hate when you only own one bra that you really like, and then it suddenly doesn’t work for you anymore? With bodies that are constantly in flux and breasts that require well-engineered support (which comes at a price), I am sure we have all been in this position before. Drawers stuffed full of bras that once were our favorites but now never see the light of day! And if you shop online, there are also quite a few “this didn’t quite work but I forgot to return it in time” pieces in there as well. Time to purge my bras, donate to a good cause, and get a fresh fitting!
