If you owned a store that sold D+ bras, wouldn’t you want to tell your customers about the clothing companies that cater to them? I would, too, which is why last spring I sent Campbell & Kate coupons to over 140 lingerie stores and followed up with phone calls that took every ounce of courage I could muster. Only a minority of lingerie store owners seemed receptive, but I forced myself to keep calling. Then I reached Livi Rae. Molly Hopkins answered the phone and was more excited about my shirts than I was. She told me that she herself wore a 34HH, she couldn’t wait to hand out my coupons to her customers, maybe I could have a trunk show at their store some day, and by the way, they were working on a pilot for a Lifetime series called Double Divas.

I liked Molly so much from that exchange that I hoped I would like Double Divas, too. Certain tweets and Facebook comments made me nervous that I wouldn’t, and I avoided reading reviews by The Lingerie Addict and Fussy Busty because I wanted to form my own impression. Finally, on Friday night I had the chance to sit down and watch the first four episodes and sneak peek (thanks, Hulu!). Readers, I loved it. Is it perfect? No way. I may discuss valid criticisms of it in the future, but for now, I will only say that their employee Loren Schaffer is adorable but horrible. She actually told the camera, “Don’t get me wrong. Everybody deserves lingerie, but some people you’re like ‘Ewww gross!'”

Guess what kept me watching Double Divas until almost 3:00 on Saturday morning? Not the fitting advice because there’s hardly any. Not the interplay between the two best friend owners. Not even the customers. I kept my eyes glued to the screen to see what 34HH Molly would wear!

This is the top that caught my attention first. While wearing it, she explained that her goal is to be a model for her customers, for them to see her and think, “If she can look good with her boobs, so can I” (not the actual quote). From that frame forward, I was hooked. How often do we get to see an H+ woman in action on television in a way that doesn’t treat her like a ditzy sexpot? And what can we learn from her?

1. Attitude matters.

Molly evidences all three breast dressing attitudes I’ve mentioned before, but she tends to spend most of her time in either “see me” or “look at me” clothes like the one above. There’s only way to pull off the look above and the giant-flowers-spread-across-a-large-chest look below: with a lot of confidence.

 2. Beware of too much fabric.

We can all relate to the fact that Molly wears only knits directly over her chest. Many of the knits are voluminous, but she keeps them from looking like shapeless sacks with eye-catching colors and unique styles. However, Molly has a GREAT waist that tends to be forgotten under the baggy styles. Compare the top row of looks with the bottom.

Sometimes you just have to wear a big style that makes you happy, but I recommend doing so no more than 25% of the time. It’s a hypothesis that I haven’t yet tested, but I believe that wearing baggy clothes even half the time will leave an overall baggy impression with the people you see regularly. Case in point: my husband only lasted through two episodes of Double Divas, and Molly has the sort of figure he loves, but when I mentioned her great waist to him yesterday, he couldn’t remember it. “Really?” he said. “I thought she looked frumpy.”

3. Experiment with layers.

Molly’s outfit at the end of Episode 1 is my favorite so far. Here are my theories as to why it works, and I’d love to hear your ideas about it.

  1. The top layer doesn’t have a lot of shape, but because it’s see-through, you get an idea of her waist, and the fluid fabric helps.
  2. The bottom of the camisole acts as a buffer between the busy patterned top and pants.  (I wonder if we’re seeing the bottom of the same camisole that we see the top of under the brown-striped dress above?) I
  3. The eye-catching pants have an elongating effect because they keep the eye running the length of her body instead of stopping at her waist or camisole bottom.

 

 Not surprisingly, the only time Molly wears a woven shirt is as a jacket. I LOVE the zippered piece in the top left photo of the collage below, and I think it acts as an excellent “third piece” to a simple dress. I’m not a fan of the chest pockets in the others, however. As I learned through this blog, we can wear chest pockets, but they need to be proportional to our bust.

Also, when experimenting with layers, make sure they contribute to your look instead of detracting from it. For instance, the khaki shirt in the upper right photo hides all the hourglass benefits that Molly should be receiving from her fabulous wrap dress.

 

If you haven’t watched Double Divas yet, please keep your eye on Molly when you do. I want to hear what ideas she gives you for your wardrobe, and what suggestions you’d give for hers. I’m so pleased that we have an entire season of this to look forward to!