Ellis: the Cleo that broke my heart

The Cleo Ellis has perhaps my favorite pattern of all time. Lush roses on a pale pink background and embroidered roses across a deeper pink mesh upper cup. Unapologetically girly. It's like wrapping your boobs in a garden. Thorns included.

 Fit

Cups: Ellis is a good technical fit on me. The cups are very deep and projected, and the wires are quite narrow.

Which results in great tacking. The gore looks wide from this angle, but isn't.

The cups run large - I can actually drop from a GG to a G - and are extremely full-on-top friendly. This is one of the few UK styles that actually accommodates both my upper fullness and projection.



Wires:  They are very narrow for a UK bra; more narrow than Ewa Michalak; but wider than Comexim.

The edges of the wires follow my own shape pretty well.  They are slightly higher than I prefer, but much lower than Panache wires, which I consider a form of torture. The wires are on the rigid side, which is not a plus for me.

Band.  Very flawed. Incredibly tight - I actually have to wear an extender with this one. Also very narrow: only 2-hooks, and they are spaced quite  close together. 

Instead of firm anchored support, you are, at best, always very aware of the band; at worst, you get a feeling of cutting in.

Shape

It gives that trademark Cleo shape: perfectly round - very jacked up - orbs. 

There's a little of my left boob sneaking in from the side, but if you ignore that, you can see the perfect orb-like shape, and that my boobs are hoisted practically to my collarbone.

I like a rounded shape, but Cleo is a little over the top for me. Literally. Many fitting tops simply won't fit over this shape, and stretchy knits will form a boob-tent. 

Comfort

There just...isn't any. Ellis is gorgeous. And she fits me very well. Yet she is the perfect example of a bra that is a good technical fit, has a beautiful aesthetic - and is simply not comfortable enough for me to enjoy wearing. Or even to put up with wearing. She is not hideously uncomfortable (like that accursed Paramour, or a stabby-wired Panache) but just moderately, constantly, relentlessly less than comfortable.

When Do I Wear It?

I don't, really. A year ago, I wore her for periods of 4 hours or less, with lower-cut, fitted dresses. They had to be stretchy, and with a defined underbust for the shape to work. This was my last attempt at Cleo. (My first was the disastrous Lucy, before I realized the huge importance of being FOT as regards to fit.)
Size: 38G  (runs a full cup large, and a band size small)