Anyone who’s interested in lingerie and sustainable fashion can’t fail to have heard about Lara Intimates by now. Conceived in 2016 by two final year students studying BA (Hons) Fashion Contour at London College of Fashion, Lara is a brand committed to creating stylish comfortable underwear sustainably. Every bra and brief is made to order from reclaimed luxury surplus fabric in the central London studio that they created with the help of some very successful crowdfunding earlier this year.
During their Kickstarter campaign, I selected a set as my reward – the Delilah bra and high waist brief in blue – which arrived last month. I haven’t reviewed it yet because, when I went to their first fit party, I took the opportunity to try on some of their non-wired styles and ended up ordering myself a Wren bra in hot pink, which arrived this week. Thought it’d be best to give you a 2-for-1 review this time!
The thing that attracted me to the Delilah bra, when I was looking at all the Lara styles online, was the underwire and wide adjustable straps. Without having a chance to try before buying, I thought this would be my best chance of getting a good fit as I haven’t tried many non-wired bras before. After using their online size calculator, I went for a 32E bra and XL briefs – my hip measurement was slightly outside their size range, but I was hoping the fabric would have enough stretch that they’d still fit.
The straps on Delilah are set closer together than most of the bras I own, and the cups are wide yet shallow, so it took a little bit of wiggling around to get everything into position when I first put the bra on. The fabric is very soft and has a good amount of stretch (so the briefs fit!), but the double layer on the cups gives decent support even on a larger bust. Clearly, stretch fabric is never going to keep your boobs completely still if you’re jumping around, but this isn’t intended as a sports bra so I enjoyed the feeling of being a little less restricted than usual. The wide straps help keep everything in place without digging into my shoulders, which was a very nice feeling.
If you’re used to some full bust brands which use firm fabrics and give a high and forward-projected silhouette, the shape Delilah gives under clothes might be a little weird at first. However, I will definitely be enjoying wearing this light and airy feeling bra under many of the loose high-necked shirts in my winter wardrobe. The really telling thing is that I put another bra on straight after snapping this photo (as the close set straps showed under the wide necked top I was planning on wearing that day), and instantly wanted to switch back to the Lara bra. I used to think that my other bra was a comfy one, but it was amazing how different it was to Delilah.
The comfort of that underwired style meant that I was really excited to receive my Wren bra. I have one non-wired bra in my lingerie drawer, which is great for lazing around at home when you want a bit of support but comfort is key. However, that bra is an ugly pull-on style that can be tricky to wriggle into and has poorly finished seams on top of the shoulders which inevitably end up chafing. It was a cheap purchase to see if I had a use for a super comfy bra and so, with the answer being yes, I was keen to find something even more comfortable that I would enjoy wearing.
The Wren is so fantastically comfy that I forgot I was wearing it until people started replying to the photo I posted on Instagram stories! The underband is firm without being snug, the double layer gives support and nice subtle uplift on the cups, the wide sides smooth out any back rolls, and every seam is so perfectly finished that there’s not a single place where this bra irritates me. Not even the centre back fastening, which means this bra is so much easier to put on than my first adventure into going wire-free. I’ve been wearing it all day and it’s seriously happy-making – I tried the Delilah for a full-day test too, with similarly smiley results!
Lara Intimates bras may be more expensive than a lot of high street brands, but what price would you put on a stylish and comfortable well-fitting bra – that can be altered for you, if you order in person at one of their fit parties – and which is sustainably manufactured in the UK? Even if you’re not fussed about saving the planet or meeting the women who make your underwear, a bra this comfy if one you’ll wear a lot so the cost per wear will end up being much lower than you think. Personally, I think it’s money well spent.
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