Made by Niki: String Soft Bra

Size: UK 8 / Material: Polymaide / Purchasable from: Made by Niki or eBay

Made by Niki was one of the first luxury, handmade, lingerie brands I knew of. Their most classic String design is released season after season, and is without a doubt one of the most avant-garde lingerie designs I have ever seen. However being small busted, and with the hefty price tag of £199 for the string playsuit, I never dared to take the risk in purchasing something I knew was not going to fit me. Fast forward to last weekend, I visited Odyssey Boutique in Edinburgh with my boyfriend and was delighted to see that they stocked Made by Niki's String playsuits. I was surprised to find that not only were the cups lined with soft mesh, the UK 10 also fit me relatively well across the bust and was only slightly loose around my waist and hips, and therefore concluded that the UK 8 would fit me perfectly. Since I'm quite low on funds at the moment, I settled for something more functional, the String soft bra from the S/S 2013 Renaissance collection. However to my disappointment, my trusty, and favourite, black colour was long sold out and I settled on pink (Barbie pink in fact), a colour that I have never liked nor picked out in my life, a colour that people who know me would be shocked to see me in, all because I sometimes like to feel a little more feminine in my lingerie, since this is something that would never come out in my outfits or style. Plus, the frilliness of this piece just made me want to go all out, full blown, girly.

And boy, was it pink. The pink is actually much more vibrant than depicted in photos and since this is a sample piece purchased from Made by Niki's eBay page, there are a few minor differences between this and what is sold on their official website. Firstly the clasp is in a gold-tone rather than silver, which I actually think matches the pink more, and second, the back elastic strap is detachable in that this bra can actually be separated into two pieces. In terms of how well this fit me, I was disappointed. Although the soft bra gives a nice rounded shape to my bust and there is no pointiness, for some reason, the UK 8 in this style was much more loose than the UK 10 bodysuit from the A/W 2013 Cascade collection, so much so that the elastic straps barely even stretch on the shortest adjustment. I don't know if this is because this is a sample piece or if it's just a matter of belonging to different collections, but this size inconsistency really annoyed me since I based my entire judgement on a UK 10 sizing. Luckily this is easily alterable and I just have to shorten the straps for it to fit me a lot better. Overall, this is a decent soft bra with a unique design and I only wish they came with matching underwear since I don't actually own anything else pink.

Rating: 6.5/10