The Lingerie Adventure in Dublin! Introduction!

Bra Shopping is my most beloved activity and I am on a mission to create a Dublin catalogue on them! I l love Dublin - it a beautiful, and handily one of the most compact cites in the world. You could walk from Ranelagh to Mary Street in an hour, easy. Most of these locations are really near each other and prices should always be compared. However, to my knowledge there is no real comprehensive list - with reviews and directions!
 
After giving a brief taster on the last two posts I have decided to go bra shopping so you don't have too! ... so get forwarding the funds to my PayPal Account!

I have catalogued them into North, Southside (i.e. which side of the river they are on - no this isn't a Southside prejudice to the Northside or whatever, it's for ease of cataloguing them... :) ) and Suburbs!

Note 1: I have yet to visit Peaches and Cream and Intimate Lingerie.

Note 2:

This list is not comprehensive (yet!) so expect updates!

Southside:

Bramora on Earlsfort Terrence - Review - Directions - Website
Peaches and Cream on South Anne Street - Review - Directions - Website
Marks and Spencers on Grafton Street - Review - Directions - Website
TK Maxx in the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre - Review - Directions - Website
Intimate Lingerie on Tara Street - Review - Directions - Website

Northside:

Debenhams in the Ilac Centre, Henry Street - Review - Directions - Website
Marks and Spencers on Mary Street - Review - Directions - Website
Arnotts on Henry Street - Review - Directions - Website
  
Suburbs:

Cupcakes Lingerie on Main Street, Ranelagh, D6 - Review - Directions - Website
Debenhams in the Frascati Centre, Blackrock, County Dublin - Review - Directions - Website

The Lingerie Adventure - Southside Part 1: Grafton Street

(Note: I wrote this several months ago before starting this blog and yes, most of the facts seem the same from checking these shops recently too!)

Today I decided to go less personal than a boutique and check out TK MAXX and Marks and Spencers.

Vital Stats:

Name: TK Maxx, Stephen's Green Shopping Centre
Location: Stephen's Green Shopping Centre - in through the front doors, up the stairs and on the left wall. Go in until until you see that the shop is shaped like a T. Go right along the wall. The lingerie is about 2 shelves back.
Website: http://www.ilac.ie/stores/debenhams/
Sizes Available: They have a surprisingly good collection, in fact I'd call it my secret. However, caps at FF. No 28s, just 30s and a very small bra rack.
Brands I noted (note too that I have strong bias towards full-bust): Selections will vary. A lot. As TK MAXX sells whatever the designers offload on them, don't hold out for a style you like in your size, it is completely lucky dip. Freya, Fantastie, Wonderbra, Mimi Holiday, Damaris, Parfait.
Ordering Service: Nope. If it's not in your size, you're stuck.
Price: Well, here is always a 30FF bra in there, usually for a 1 euro! Less than a tenner. By far the cheapest.
Fitting Service: Non-existent.
Summary: Okay, the tiniest size range and the best price... You could spot me as the confused girl grabbing the biggest bras she can see! I think wearing the one euro bras it on the tightest setting can be justified when it's that cheap, eh?  I saw Freya knickers in there today and a tiny bra, but sadly no 28GG/Hs marked down to a euro under the horrible old lady Triumph and gel padded numbers. I can live in hope! Also in the picture... that screen's long gone. Maybe I should take my own picture!


Name: Marks and Spencers, 15-20 Grafton Street.
Location: Just walk down Grafton St. It's unmissable!
Website: http://www.marksandspencer.ie/Grafton-St/STORE%2012%20Grafton%20St,en_IE,pg.html
Sizes Available: Meh... clearly stuck in the Plus 4 mentality. 28 bands have been phased out... 30A - 40G (They say GG, but they skip FF so ignore that. 30GGs are never there either. Urgh.)

Brands I noted (note too that I have strong bias towards full-bust): Their own brand selection.
Ordering Service: You can buy onlin with free in-store collection!
Price: Average. Between 20-30 - their sale rank has vanished recently though!
Fitting Service: The worst. AVOID. Keep your breasts away from them.
Summary: Utterly depressing people get fitted in there... *cough* me *cough* If you avoid all that their stuff isn't horrific. That said I loathe how they have such a large section of horrid minimiser style bras. Just stop.

As a bonus! (Aren't you so excited!)... I have decided to do a little review of Marks and Spencers!

As they have a full bust girl on their marketing campaign poster outside (Rosie Huntington-Whitley) and I have seen 28 backs in there in the past, I will be honest... I had to be a little optimistic.

I have to say I was surprised to see their Limited Collection (designed to fit into an extended outside of the ridiculous 34A - 36DD range people cram themselves into). I thought they had phased it out, as I was in their Blackrock Store. This time, however, they were without 28 backs. What a step back! But they do have a decent size range - 30-40 DD-GG (in reality to G as they don't stock FF).

I decided to try the largest size I could find that didn't have a band I could loop around me twice. So I decided on a 30G(FF) and a 32G(FF). I wasn't hopeful. I was hoping I'd find 28's marked down somewhere.

You may want to sit down for this bit.
Sitting comfortably?
It was a very pretty bra.
It was actually quite a (long list of adjectives here): a saucy, monochrome, leopard print, moulded plunge number. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of such bras but I have a friend who would die of happiness in such a sexy number, so I tried it on in spirit of her ways.

Here it is from their website. I should be the model (though I'd demand one made in a 30GG(G))! No need to Photoshop the cleavage like that. I actually looked good in it without need for electronic trickery! ;)

Well, she would have loved it. I don't do these bras because I'm not a cleavage or moulded girl and the fact they never fit me right, I have to say this was very successful. I had perfectly round breasts that seemed to hover. The low plunge shape still remained supportive (I wouldn't want to run it it, but I could walk) while giving me, yes, me, perfect cleavage. I loathe cleavage. It screams to me, horrible squashing bra. Well, that didn't happen in this bra. The breasts just touched, but didn't smoosh.

Over a t-shirt, I noticed that I had tiny quadboob in my left boob. However, this isn't a t-shirt bra. I think this bra is for vest tops and such numbers, though the fabric was visible through my yellow vest. I think it was look rather sassy under a black vest with a matching pattern. The straps were a tad worrisome as I'm a fan of wider straps, though they didn't dig into me.

I decided 24 euro was pretty good value, so I went out to ask if they had any 30GG(G) available, as I can't exactly purchase a bra that's that much bigger than my measurements. I wonder if this mythic 30GG (I couldn't find a single one in the shop) would have made the bra much more supportive. The women in the shop just suggested I go up a band size from a 32G(FF)... Serious madness. If they had half a chance I bet they'd squash me into white, matronly 34DD. This is why I'd rather support (terrible pun) boutiques that actually offer a decent fitting.

Their website doesn't mention the existence of this bra in 30GG(G) bra. Whether it's sold out or unavailable remains to be seen. Nonetheless, if you are a 30-40 DD-G cup, a large range of these sizes are accommodated in  in M & S Grafton Street. It didn't exactly set my soul on fire.

The Lingerie Adventure - Northside Part 1: Henry Street's Offerings Part 1

I love Henry Street - you know it's the finest shopping street in Dublin because you have to navigate through swaths of people to get anywhere in it. There is a true balance between (as Wikipedia phrases it) "the Ilac Shopping Centre [with its] many interesting and lower budget shops" (which is an odd thing to say it has an Debenhams!), and then just odd little spots like super extravagant Arnotts and the adorable fabric shop, Hickeys. Oh and it has loads of shoe shops. Not to mention the library in the Ilac Centre. And Iceland (also in the Ilac Centre). So to stop myself fawning over my beloved Ilac (I saw an ad for it on TV and squealed!).

The Ilac Centre also houses Debenhams, which I am going to crown the best place to shop for bras in Dublin.

Vital Stats/Dating Profile:

Name: Debenhams, Ilac Centre
Location: Henry Street
Website: http://www.ilac.ie/stores/debenhams/
Sizes Available: I have seen from 28A to 30J and I'm sure they have more! Loads of 28 backs (the only place I have seen them on shelves! Sadly, 28s but only to G.
Brands I noted (note too that I have strong bias towards full-bust): Gorgeous, Freya, Fantastie, Wonderbra, Gossard, Shock Absorber.
Ordering Service: Yes.
Price: Very cheap - some bras are 5 euro reduced. Many Gorgeous bras are 25 or so. Everything else is standard enough though they seem to have good sales!
Fitting Service: Dire. Avoid!
Summary: Heaven for DIY fitters... the staff have never tried to help me! I'm just tiny girl with the giant pile of giant bras. I think they know me in there. Oh er! Erm! Shout-out!

The store is beautifully located where you can see a the Spire dramatically in the background of the picture (stolen from GoogleMaps oh er!)... shame about the lingerie section being up three flights of stairs.

Name: Arnotts
Location: Henry Street (right across the street from the Ilac!)
Website: http://www.arnotts.ie/aspx/homepage.aspx
Sizes Available: I don't know much about the smaller sizes, but a lack of 28 bands, 30 bands are rare enough. Mainly larger bands, but there are larger cups. There were 36Js.
Ordering Service: Yes.
Brands I noted (note too that I have strong bias towards full-bust): Fantasie (so much Fantasie!), Freya, Panache, Shock Absorber, Simon Perle, Wacoal (I have never seen Wacoal until now!)
Price: Sadly, not competitive, about 45 euro for a Panache Andorra. Not shocking, but even with their sale on out of my budget. No 28 backs anyways.
Fitting Service: Seems okay - I overhead them fitting a 34D into a 30F and she sounded surprised that her straps weren't falling down. Sadly I can't personally vouch for it. On the whole it doesn't sound bad! :)
Summary: Expensive but a pretty store with brands I haven't spotted elsewhere in Dublin - sadly no Cleo or Masquerade.

What a luxurious shop - the changing rooms are a beautiful silvery grey and massive (with two giant mirrors), with a transparent chair. I think I'll take a picture next time! It screams luxury! Arnotts has changed its design since Google Maps' picture.

Their is another lingerie shop on Henry Street - Marks and Spencers. They also have a store on Grafton Street - which I will discuss next!

If I wrote an intro post it would look like this

What you actually need to know about me:

BRAS!!! *goes up a to lingerie shop's window and licks it*

Every time I walk past a beautiful specialist lingerie shop. I am so mad about bras and I look in the window and I ream off every full-bust bra they stock (sadly, I am less of an expert of their maternity range). My friends find my talent a tad disturbing so I have decided to bring my love to the internet.

I am saddened that through my year of adoration of bras and lingerie in general that I have came across there no Irish bra blogs. At least where I am based, Dublin, the retail sector, while expensive for a college student like me, is there and thriving.

I have seen blogs from Russia to Spain to Brasil and so many British blogs too. I am taking this into my own hands. I hope I can inject some 'craic' into bra knowledge and lingerie adoration. I don't want to keep my interest as something I cannot express. I am going to seriously ask the question Dougal posed: "how's your bra"? (I hope that didn't alienate half my readers right there).

Here are my aims:

1. Further bra fitting knowledge. (I am not going to post my own instructions, all I can say is take all measurements without a bra on and fuck everything you think you know about bra fitting)

2. Research into and analyse the Irish bra and general lingerie industry in Ireland, particular from a youthful perspective - all lovely lingerie is marketed to older women, while young women it's all beige foam domes!
 2.(a). My first project will be an assessment of bra shops on the North and South side of Dublin.

3. Post clothing and bra reviews.
 
For the sake of reference, at the time of posting my measurements are 5 foot 7, 38/27/35 - with 27 being both my waist and underbust. I am usually a 28GG bra - though sometimes I would need a 28H or a 26H. I would rather someone burn my skin than be shoved in 34DD hell.

Finally, I would like to say this is not a place for the following things:

1. Smut. Fuck off. I don't desire it.

2. Body snark - I am not too thin/not curvy enough, nor is anyone else. This is not a place for that. My readers should respected.

3. "You should be happy to have problems with bras". I will smother you with a bra if you say that. As you sleep.

4. Saying that your bra is okay as it is. Perhaps it is but I severely doubt you couldn't do better. Please keep an open mind. No one knows or cares what kind of bra you wear. A lot of I know think I'm small chested because I like covering them up and are surprised when I make jokes about giving other busty women boob-hi-fives! ;)

Yours,
Street