Sunday 27 January 2013

Trying out Pepperbery!


I recently made a big order at the Pepperberry sale! I have only tried two pieces before (one reviewed here), but have heard in various reviews that they are a bit hit and miss.
Looking at the size chart, I could predict some issues right off the bat:
Standing up, with an Ewa Michalak bra, my full bust measurement is 121cm-123cm, which only the 18SDC can account for. Unfortunately, the choices of SDC are very limited (as in, there are 4 for 18SDC), so that wasn’t a real option for me, thus I had to stick with 18 Super Curvy.
Had my boobs fitted better into the size chart, I may have considered alternatives to the size 18: A lot of Pepperberry’s tops are fitted for an empire cut, and thus fitted more at the underbust rather than at the true waist. So though my waist of about 90cm/35.5" fits size 16/18, my underbust is about 85cm/33.5" loosely, and could therefore be 14/16. 
Now that I've tried a handful of PB tops, I think I would recommend others to go by the loose underbust, at least if they want a similar fit to what I seek:

I think it look’s best if the dress is fitted just under the boobs, and all the way to the waist. But, I am not all that smooth going from  my under bust to my waist, so I've tweaked my perception of a good fit a bit.

I’ve tried to illustrate below:

First, you see a simple paint version of my profile: Boobs, empire line, roll and then the rest of me. On the next doodle, you see how a high, fitted empire cut would look on me – it would be squeezed in between my boobs and that darn roll. I don’t think that ‘sharp angle’ would look good at all.
Next up, you see how most of the Pepperberry things seemed to fit me, to various degrees – the empire was still the aprox. same height, but instead of being at my breast root-to-underbust, it was at mid-underboob to top-belly. Which just made me look much more straight figured in profile than I am, both my shrinking my boobs, and adding to my underbust.
The last doodle is how I would prefer the fit to be - a pretty fitted, low-ish empire cut (actually, this height empire cut is what I often get if I buy regular sizes dresses with drop-waist! A little trick! ;) ) As you can see, this would indeed need a lot of boob-room, more than what I can fill, but never the less, that’s what I would want if I got to be super picky!
But, I don't think I get to be particular picky this time around!

Which brings us to the next issue – my bottom half! Which measures 125cm, so that is nowhere to be found in the size chart, which isn’t too odd since it’s aimed at ‘top heavy’. So this definitely ruled out sizing down, and also meant I had to look out for things less fitted at the bottom – hence why I was mostly looking at empire cuts!

Pepperberry has the option to search by shape, which they have 
labeled “Straight”, “balanced” and “shaped” – which roughly translates as “Straight”, “hourglass” and “pear” – though note that because boobs are accounted for in the curvy sizes, these body shapes refers to shoulders, waist and hips.  According to this, I was “shaped”. Filtering by shape, size, and curviness should then ideally mean I could just drop all the things I liked from that list into my shopping cart. But I wouldn’t quite say so – I am certain that a lot of the items suggested would definitely not fit a large bottom:
3% elastane, 0% and 1%. So it's not because they can even stretch that much!
So, I filtered by price instead (as it really indeed is very expensive!) and kept a critical eye on the shapes.

I chose these:
Crepe Button Detail Dress PD116 / Russet / 18 Super Curvy

Split Sleeve Chiffon Top PT108 / Cream / 18 Super Curvy

Slub Scoop Neck Top FK14 / Scarlet / 18 Really/Super Curvy

Leaf Print Tie Side Tunic PD114 / Navy Print / 18 Super Curvy

Bead Embellished Tunic PT113 / Ivory / 18 Super Curvy

¾ Sleeve Slub Lace Top PT104 / Burnt Red / 18 Really/Super Curvy
In the end, I only kept one! But, that is mostly due to the price. Some of these items had minor issues (a bit off on fit / not a lot of occasions to wear it) but nothing deal-breaking: But, when they cost the price of a luxery item, I think they should be held to a little higher standard, and I would therefor not keep something that I didn't feel like I would get my full moneys worth of use in. 


Overall, I do think they have some really, really lovely items, but I confirm a certain amount of inconsistency in sizing.

And that's all you're getting this time around! I promise to have a full review up within the next days :) 




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