I apologize, friends, for taking a few weeks off. Entirely unintentional. Work was getting the best of me! (Or worst of me??)

I have lots of things to review for you, of course. The first is the dramatic Fantasie Francesca longline, which is from last season, and which is likely on sale if you can find it now! I ended up buying it for about $60 in February. Expensive, but a big improvement over its whopping U.S. retail price of around $100. Whoa there, Fantasie!

I had been obsessed with this longline ever since I first glimpsed it in the season previews. It took forever for me to finally get my hands on it though. I think I was unconsciously testing how long I could go without having it. At one point, I think I even felt peace about NOT getting this bra! Victory for my wallet! Alas, the victory was short-lived.

Here is Francesca:

Appearance wise, just ravishing. I love the blue and black, the curly lace along the cups, and the embroidered leaves and the fan- like design. Are they fans? I honestly have no idea – but it seems antique and I like it! I also love that the longline part is a see-through mesh.





Though I must say that for a $100 retail bra, the back of the bra is very disappointing. Totally black, totally plain. What’s with that?

I had great hopes regarding the fit of this bra. I am a big fan of Fantasie’s other padded half cups, Mae and Ivana. I was hoping Francesca would fit like Ivana with a longline tacked on!



But that is not quite the case. The difference in fit may be in part due to the fact that I went up a cup size in Francesca, but I don’t think that’s all of it. I think the bra is generally wider and more shallow.

While the actual numerical width of the wires (measured from top of wire straight across to top of the gore) aren’t all too different from my Comexim halfcup in a comparable size, I have realized that how wide a bra feels has other factors that contribute to it. One of those factors is how wide the entire cup is, from top to bottom. It may, for example, be wide if you measure starting at the top of the wire, but as the wire travels towards the bottom of the cups it narrows quickly. Comexim halfcups do so more than this Fantasie halfcup. The bottom of the cups for Francesca are wider.



Another factor that contributes to a bra feeling wide is how wide the central gore is. If a central gore is wider, a bra with wires of a certain measurement will have its side wires end closer to your underarms (and hence may go further from where your root ends), than a bra with the same wire width measurement and a narrower gore. For this very reason – width of gore – Francesca’s wires end up being further from the sides of my roots than Comexim’s comparably wide wires. In the photo above, you can definitely see the width of the gore of Francesca.

So, the bra is a bit wide for me, but the more essential problem for me is the bra’s shallowness. Apparently it’s hard to make a non-shallow longline? Comexim longlines tend to end up that way too!



You can see in the photo above that there is empty space at the bottom of the cup, because the bottom is too shallow for my boobs to fit down there.

You can also see from the side view how the wires are pretty wide across most of the cup. Also, how the band rides up in back a little. Standard loose Fantasie 30 band! The slight riding up of a longline band doesn’t bother me as much as a regular band would, however. The wider band is pretty sturdy, and the bra doesn’t feel like it is going anywhere!



Despite these fit problems, Francesca won over my heart, and she’s here to stay.

The cups fit rather nicely, I generally like how my boobs look in it, and I think Francesca is rather unique!

Though I don’t have a photo today, I might also comment on Francesca under a shirt. Under a tighter, thinner shirt, you will of course have some obvious vertical seams showing in the front, and the thick longline band is actually more evident than I want it to be in the back (probably only because I am not used to seeing longline bands through a shirt!). As far as silhouette goes, because the bra is shallower, the side view is minimal (although round, as the photos show), and the front view is wider (more hourglassy).



The bra is actually fairly comfortable. Longlines take a bit to get used to (they aren’t everyday type bras for me, but more for something a little sweet and special), but nothing is poking oddly in this one. The band wrinkles a little when moving around (as evident in the above photo) but it doesn’t flip up.

The lighting in the above photo really brings out the colors and textures. Quite lovely!

Give Francesca a try if you can find one at a good price – especially if you’re not too projected or if you’re slightly wide-set. I didn’t mention above, but it should be fairly evident from the pictures that there is some good room for upper fullness/tall roots at the top of the cups. Fantasie halfcups (and most halfcups, for that matter) are pretty good for that!