Bravissimo (Shop)

...chest, make sure you try Bravissimo at least once.


I think I first saw an advert for Bravissimo in a glossy women's magazine (something along the lines of Cosmopolitan) a few years back. I probably thought at the time "I'll look into that, it looks interesting", then didn't got round to it for ages.


Disillusioned with bras in most mainstream shops and catalogues (having been told once by an ...
...go smaller!"), I remembered the Bravissimo ad I'd seen and decided to investigate.


I started by looking on their website, which you can find at www.bravissimo.com, to find out if they had a shop anywhere near where I live in Sheffield, because I like to try before I buy without the faff of having to send things back. The nearest one to me is in Leeds.



Bravissimo have twenty shops listed on ... more

I'm not going to beat about the bush here. If you're a woman blessed with an ample chest, make sure you try Bravissimo at least once.

I think I first saw an advert for Bravissimo in a glossy women's magazine (something along the lines of Cosmopolitan) a few years back. I probably thought at the time "I'll look into that, it looks interesting", then didn't got round to it for ages.

Disillusioned with bras in most mainstream shops and catalogues (having been told once by an assistant in M&S "We don't do bras in YOUR cup size, you'll HAVE to go smaller!"), I remembered the Bravissimo ad I'd seen and decided to investigate.

I started by looking on their website, which you can find at www.bravissimo.com, to find out if they had a shop anywhere near where I live in Sheffield, because I like to try before I buy without the faff of having to send things back. The nearest one to me is in Leeds.

Bravissimo have twenty shops listed on their website at time of writing, in Aberdeen, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Chester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leamington Spa, Leeds (as I mentioned above), Liverpool, three in London (Covent Garden, Ealing and Oxford Circus), Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford and Solihull, so there may be one within a few miles of where you live.

I can honestly say that I have nothing but praise for their staff. They are so friendly and helpful. I also found that I'd been wearing the wrong size bra for ages - I'd thought I was a 40DD when actually I was a 38FF!

When you first go into one of their shops, unless you know EXACTLY what size you need, I would very strongly recommend having a fitting (which you need to book for) if you can spare the time. It's also a good thing to make sure you get fitted a couple of times a year if you can to ensure that your needs haven't changed since your last visit. Bad bra fittings can mean at the very least badly supported boobs and the "four boob effect" in clothes (I'm sure you know what I mean here - breast spillage over the tops of the cups, making you look like you have a strange deformity), to stretched breast ligaments and back pain. Also, you may see a nice bra from one manufacturer but need a totally different size to the one you thought you wanted. Like dress sizings, bra sizings can differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.

You need to ensure you can spare at least half an hour for a fitting. To be doubly sure, try not to go to a shop at a high demand time of year such as Christmas, or you may not get a fitting that day as they can get very busy. I've always been lucky enough to get a fitting on the day I visit though, with a maximum waiting time of about an hour, which has given me time to go and do other things I wanted to while I wait. Alternatively, you could always phone a store and book ahead.

During your fitting your assistant will check out by sight the bra you're wearing to see if you've got the right size on to start with. A well fitting bra shouldn't have straps that don't cut into your shoulders, a back that doesn't ride up, no gapes at the bottom of the cups and any underwires should lay along your breastbone without sitting to either side or being pushed away from your body at any point. Measurement is done by sight alone, so you are not bound up in tape measures at any point. All the staff are very well trained in fitting and seem to know by instinct what bras will fit you the best, even down to the differences in cup sizes amongst manufacturers. The fitters don't actually put the bras on you (or they never have in my case), but will help if you're having a problem getting things to go right and need a hand, such as to adjust a strap.

Bravissimo stock underwear from a large selection of maunfacturers such as Freya, Fantasie and Panache, although you may not get ones from your favourite manufacturer in the shop when you visit, depending on if it has been very popular - they only have a limited storage space after all! If you see one in the catalogue (when you've made a purchase you can be added to the catalogue mailing list, which comes out every few months) or on line but want to try it on in one of their shops I would recommend phoning the shop to ask if they've got that particular one in to save yourself a potentially wasted journey.

The company sell bras in cup sizes D to K and matching pants. They also sell sports bras, nursing bras, swimwear (one-pieces and bikinis), basques and wedding undies for that special day, and a few years ago they started selling clothes. Now I haven't bought any of their clothes as the price has always put me off, but I've seen them in their shops and the catalogue and they look nice and very well made. However, it's not standard dress sizing here either - blouse and jacket fittings go on your bust size (curvy, really curvy, super curvy), so if you want to buy clothing make sure you get a fitting for this as well.

At certain times of the year Bravissimo have sales. However, if there's something you know you want, you need to be very quick and snap it up because there's some really good bargains to be had and they sell really quickly.

I would also say at this point that it's a good idea to be sure how much you roughly want to spend. The last time I went I ended up going a bit mad and spent over £100 on four bras and two pairs of pants, but good bras don't come cheap so I wasn't complaining too much because I know they will last me.

I have to also add at this point that although I have rated their after-sales service as "good", I've never actually had to use it, although the shop assistant told me on my last visit that if items needed to be returned I could do this within 28 days, even if I'd taken the labels off (but as long as I took those back as well).

One other thing I'll mention is what I call the 'Jiggle Test'. This is a way that I use to judge how supportive a new bra will be and if it doesn't stand up to the Jiggle Test I don't buy it. Basically, all it consists of is standing in front of the fitting room mirror and jumping vigorously up and down a few times. If your boobs stay nicely anchored, you've no black eyes and they've not fallen out of the bra, you're on to a winner. If, while you're jumping it looks as though your boobs have a life of their own and want to escape, I'd say that the bra might not be supportive enough and you might have problems if you want to run for a bus!

In summary, I would say that I would recommend Bravissimo every time, so much so that I often feel like approaching strangers that are wearing badly fitting bras and telling them to go look (although I never do)!

I hope you've found this review helpful and informative. It's one that I've been meaning to write for ages as I've been using Bravissimo for about five years now, so feel qualified enough to be able to tell you how good I think they are.

The pictures included with this review are of the shop fronts of the Bravissimo shops in Leeds, which can be found in the Victoria Quarter, Edinburgh, at 20 Multrees Walk, Liverpool at 8 Bold Street, London, at 20 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden and Nottingham at 11 Pelham Street, to give you an idea of what you're looking for if you decide to go. 

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