Review: Elomi Carmen Plunge bra

Nutshell:  Yikes. Just...no.

I've tried several Elomi styles over the years, and each one was disappointing, if not downright awful, on me. The Abbi was probably the best of them: standard balcony shape, smooth fabric; but it had the same frumpy seam structure as all their balconettes, with an almost horizontal seam that gives a flattish shape and shows through most fabrics. The Betty - their iconic mesh plunge with the lovely retro rose embroidery - was the absolute worst; it's made of the harshest, scratchiest mesh I've yet encountered. The padded 1/2 cup is the only moderately successful shape I have found in the brand. 

All other styles suffer from almost ridiculously wide wires, but more than that, they have a construction I find obnoxious: a thick, rounded tubular construction that sounds like it'd be comfy - but isn't. The rounded shape actually causes the wires to dig into your body more than a flat wire would. Elomi also shows a complete preference for a full-on-bottom, wide-set shape. I know some ladies really like Elomi, and need this shape. I've not encountered any of them personally, however; the women I know who really need this size range are not fans of the brand. There is nothing universal about the Elomi shape, & they really only cater to one.

So why did I bother trying anything again but the 1/2 cup? Because it features stretch lace upper cups, which seemed very hopeful. And because I really need a plunge bra for the red velvet dress I'm wearing to my Elvis wedding in Vegas next month. This is not that bra. 

Beauty

 
It looks a lot prettier in their promo shots with a model of a much smaller cup size and FOB shape. On me, the whole frame reads as awkward. It's strangely narrow on top and splayed out at the bottom, giving a weird pyramid shape. And the lace pattern is not particularly appealing. Color me mehhh.

Fit

Gore.  This is the cause of 80% of the disastrousness of the fit. It is wiiide.  

Grand Canyon wide. It forces my boobs outward into a splayed, bizarrely pointing away from each other position - kinda the opposite of what a plunge bra should do. 

I may try taking in the bottom of the gore a full inch, but I'm not optimistic due to the fit issue that is responsible for the other 20% of fit suckage:

Cups.  The wonder and full-on-top friendliness that is stretch lace is completely negated by the fact that there is a thin, non-stretchy strip of plastic sewn into the top of the cup, about 1/2" in. Causing the cup to pull downward on my boobs, further pushing them into that dreadful splayed outward position:

 
Wires.  Awful, as described in the opening paragraphs. If anything, they're a tad wider than the balconettes, a good 2" wider than I need. I usually cannot tolerate too-wide wires because they irritate the sensitive skin on my sides and poke into my armpits because I am high-set, but some ladies are able to compromise and put up with extra-wide wires and so they can generally make UK brands work for them. Unfortunately, I can't. The only positive here is the profile shape:

When  Do I  Would Someone Else Wear It?  

If you happen to have the very specific shape this bra is designed for: ultra wide-set - with literally, a good 4 fingers of space between your boobs - and most of your tissue is on the bottom and far out to your sides, your boobs are naturally splayed and point outward, and you have narrow shoulders and want very inset straps, this could be a perfect - and hard to find - fit for your shape. 

Half my purpose in doing these reviews isn't just to find what fits me, but to give enough info so that ladies with shapes very different from mine can find what fits them. I always find it helpful to read reviews by full-on-bottoms, since I know if they love it....it won't work for me. ~=o)

Size:  40G

If anyone has a favorite seamed-to-lightly-padded plunge that is FOT friendly, please comment!

I meant to try Bravissimo Satine, but I'm out of time; I've nixed Tutti Rouge Jessica because of the rigid wires; & my 38G Freya Deco is too thickly padded - & just too much cleavage - under the stretch-velvet wrap dress I'm wearing to my wedding. Right now, I'm leaning toward Parfait Casey (great cleavage, but the shape on me isn't great, and it's not the most comfy), or, Natori Pure Allure (comfy, more subtle cleavage, but higher gore)