Asos: You Tried — Asos Fuller Bust Kendra Review in 28G

Oh, Asos. I understand you're a fashion brand. I understand this is your first foray into extended bra sizes. I understand your business is based on selling cheap items. I started with low expectations, but still, you disappoint me. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Asos for being one of the first cheap fashion brands to start selling these sizes, but that's one of the few positive things I can say in this review. So with that in mind, let's dive right in!

I ordered the ASOS FULLER BUST Kendra Underwire Bra for £20 (and free shipping). That's right, this bra costs £20 at full price which is pretty darn good. The sad thing is that you don't really get what you pay for here. There's a pale pink version of this bra (could be a nude colour for a few skin tones) and this black version. I thought the black had a bit more... classical charm to it so that's what I went for. The bra is sold in 28-38 DD-G, so clearly they were going for a full bust thing here instead of just tacking extra sizes on the end.

The bra arrived in a small plastic bag with its buddy in another bag (post coming soon! subscribe by email to see it as soon as it comes out (see how smooth that was? Man I'm great at this)), both inside a plastic envelope/bag thing. You know the type.

 I expected as such, but it did mean the foam cup was crumpled a bit. Fortunately it uncrumpled pretty much immediately.

Full disclosure: I can't tell if the creases by the gore are due to the packaging or due to the way the bra fits - this pic was took after I took the bra off

The Design:

I get what they're going for with the design. It's a bra with ambition. It's got the potential to be sleek and sexy but modern but interesting, and still wearable under clothes - all of this I dig.

However, when it arrived, the lace band on the cups was really wide and the way the band was attached to the bottom of the cup made it lose all of its charm somehow, though the design on the lace is quite nice - it even features oh-so-trendy eyelash lace!

The band is plain black mesh, the cup plain black satin-look fabric over the padding, so there's not much else to look at. I'm in two minds about the gold hardware. On the one hand, it does at least provide some splash of colour to the bra. On the other I'm generally not a fan of the black and gold look.

The Construction: 

Technical details: The bra is a three part padded and seamed cup with the high gore and cup construction typical of 'balconettes'. It's underwired and has plastic side boning. It is a full banded bra with  partially adjustable straps - the "strap" doesn't continue all the way down to the cup, the piece of elastic that surrounds the armpit area continuing up for a few cm. This elastic is pretty stretchy, so isn't very stable.

The fabrics feel quite cheap, particularly how flimsy the black mesh is, and how the lace is cut and attached. There are a couple of loose threads at the gore and the clasp, but not really anywhere else. Three hooks though! I like three hooked bands, they tend to be really stable.

The Fit: 

Oh boy. For starters, look how small those cups are! And they're so closed on top - both in height and construction.

The cups have basically no immediate depth at all, but there is more apex depth, which leads to a very pointy side profile.

Three fingers between my inframammary fold and wires!

There's also next to no depth in the centre, and lots of space at the sides. These in combination lead to spillage both in the centre and out the tops, but no support at all. This bra is the epitome of the dreaded boob hat. One thing's for sure, I don't feel sexy. Unless sexy means something different nowadays, like mildly uncomfortable.

The wires are actually pretty average to wide at 14.5cm, which means they're too wide for my narrow roots.

Oh, and one more thing:

Pockets for snacks... in my armpits... To be fair if I really shove my boob back into the cups (my nipples are close to escaping), they get filled somewhat, but they don't disappear.

Because the black mesh is so stretchy, this band runs loose, stretching to 29.5". It's too loose on my 25.5" underbust on the tightest hooks.

If I had to recommend this bra to someone, I would recommend it to someone who wears a snug-banded 30E/F with next to no immediate depth but short roots and apex fullness, also they should have a very prominent tail of spence or quite a lot of upper and outer fullness, and very little centre fullness.

Bratabase Measurements:

Overall: 

I'm sending this bra back with a Certificate of Participation enclosed.