That leopard print bra is a Love Claudette one. Love them.
So I watched episodes 4 and 5 of Double Divas over the weekend, and I’m sorry to say, things weren’t much better (I know, I know..fool me twice, right?). In fact, there was a whole lot of wrong this week.
Let’s start off with the worst of the worst, Cynthia’s nursing bra fiasco. Towards the beginning of the episode, a nursing mom enters the store. She’s young, a former cheerleader, and wants to find a pretty nursing bra to replace the plain beige one she’s been wearing. All good, right? There are several amazing maternity and nursing bra lines out there, so it should be nothing to fit this particular client into one and send her on her merry way, yes?
No.
Instead, Cynthia decides to ‘revolutionize the nursing bra.’ How, you ask? By taking a regular bra, cutting out the tips, and sticking a couple of nursing pads in (she didn’t know nursing bras needed pads in them, by the way). Not only was the final result wildly, wildly unattractive, it wasn’t even vaguely original. Open tip bras are not a new invention, and they’re certainly not a ‘million dollar idea.’ And quite frankly, if this is the extent of Cynthia’s design aesthetic, I wouldn’t even call her a designer. This was a farce.
Not a maternity bra.
In so many words, I’m annoyed that an opportunity to impart some real bra advice to millions of women was instead used to perpetuate the myth that there are no beautiful, attractive maternity and nursing bras out there. Double Divas committed the cardinal sin of a lingerie boutique…instead of directing a customer to a place that could better serve her, they shoe-horned her into something that didn’t even fit. And now, millions of women are still under the mistaken belief that pretty maternity bras are like unicorns – everyone’s heard of them, but no one’s ever seen one. Not okay.
While that was the worst scene of the night, my second least-favorite scene came pretty close. While Cynthia and Molly are at a pin-up shoot (more on that later), Loren is running the store. But because it’s Loren and because this is TV and because bras and panties aren’t enough of a sensation, she can’t just wear clothes while she’s there. She has to wear a costume. As I mentioned in last week’s review, lingerie has enough of a stigma attached to it; there’s no need to add more. And heaven forbid people around the country start to think their local neighborhood lingerie boutique should greet them at the door in full circus or dominatrix gear. In a show that’s full of tacky moments, this was the tackiest.
This is blurry, and I don’t even care.
But even worse, Loren doesn’t have the slightest idea about how to fit a customer. Now, I’m no bra fitting expert. I can’t look at you and tell your exact band and cup size, but I can tell when a measurement is way off. And there is no way your 4’11″, 92 pound customer wears a 30 band bra. As a point of comparison, I’m a 34 band (with a 30″ ribcage measurement), and I’m a whole 9 inches taller and 80 pounds heavier than the client was. I have a hard time believing she was anything more than a 28 (she was probably closer to a 26). And the fact that everything in the store was too big for her showed. So, once again, instead of directing a customer to a place that could better serve her, they shoe-horned her into something that didn’t even fit. Not okay.
Molly makes a fantastic pinup.
Now, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about what I didn’t like. Here’s what I did like. I liked when Loren’s Mom came in for a bra fitting after her double mastectomy. Molly and Cynthia put her in a piece that made her comfortable and confident and pretty. I liked when a 7 months pregnant client came in to find lingerie for her honeymoon and Cynthia put her into a great lingerie dress that fit and flattered her (and also offered to take up the band, because Cynthia is a seamstress not a designer). I liked when a professional female body builder came to the store nearly in tears because she hadn’t been able to find lingerie that came anywhere close to fitting her and Molly and Cynthia found a fierce and sexy set that complemented her gorgeous physique. And I liked when Molly did a fabulous and glamorous pinup shoot. Because yay pinups!
Basically, just like last week, I like everything that involves Molly and Cynthia helping clients and I pretty much dislike everything that isn’t that. Loren needs to go; she’s a disgrace to lingerie boutiques everywhere. And Cynthia needs to give up her design dreams and delusions of ‘million dollar ideas.’ And if the show got rid of that, it’d actually be a good show. But that’s the sad part. Because I have a feeling they won’t.
Did you see last week’s episodes? What did you think? Any plans to keep watching the show?
So disappointed they didn’t take the opportunity to show off some of the FABULOUS nursing bras out there.
Cora, I can’t tell you how many women have searched “double divas” and it led them to my review. Some women even thought that I was Molly and Cynthia and asked me for a fitting, praising me for bringing lingerie to bigger women, etc.
Honestly, I was sad that there are women that think that this show is soooo great. Yes, when you take away all the distractions, Molly and Cynthia really care about their customers. But it takes so much to get to the genuine helpfulness that it’s not really worth.
And really? They couldn’t show her the gorgeous nursing bras by Panache, or even Hot Milk?!
I was really looking forward to this show because…lingerie! I watched 3 episodes and was very disappointed. As you said there are some good moments, but they are few and far between. I expected something classier. Will not be watching anymore.
My friend saw these before me and sent me a text about how Cynthia was going to make a sexy nursing bra. I simply replied that those already exist. She showed surprise (neither of us have had kids) and I told her to look up HotMilk.
I do love when they are working with the customers and they really go out of their way to find something that will fit and flatter them. I so far cannot stand the “million dollar ideas,” and if Loren tried to help me at a store, I would probably just leave. She annoys the hell outta me.
I’ll probably continue to check out the show from time to time to get my fix of pretty bras, and I would be tempted to go to their store if I were in the area, but you won’t see me telling everyone to watch it.
Ugh, ugh, ugh to the nursing bra situation! Admitidly there still is very little out there in the high end of the large cup market but there ARE pretty bras out there, especially for ladies with FF cups and under. That’s so disheartening!
There isn’t much bra 101 that can be given in the small amount of time the show airs, But while fitting a customer, they could tell her her underbust, and overbust measure by sight – although some customers may not want that public .
I think the seamstress of the two has potential, get rid of the novelty aspect of the show and you can get a more genuine and serious bra fitting, even including custom made bras.
I’ve not seen any show or even heard about anyone seriously giving a legitimate bra fitting to the woman with the worlds largest breasts, but Cynthia did. There was some quading at the top, but now she has a bra she can look at and make bigger cups so they fully cover her.
The problem with these shows is that 90% of them seem to think a winning formula is: ‘Someone does something outrageous, then Hilarity Ensues’
Your definition of outrageous and hilarity may vary widely from the producers’.
Yes, a sadly missed opportunity.
The petite customer faced the exact same problem that any petite customer faces when walking into a lingerie store. “OMFG you’re so tiny! We don’t carry that size but here’s a 32A because that’s the smallest thing we have!” In my experience, lingerie stores don’t actually want to be bothered to help petite clients; most of the time they think we don’t even need to be wearing a bra. Congrats to this show perpetuating the idea that petite customers aren’t worth it because they require too much work on the fitter’s part.
And that “maternity bra” is terrible.
And by “lingerie stores” I mean lingerie conglomerates places like Victoria’s Secret and Aerie, and the lingerie departments of big-name department stores. I’ve never had the opportunity to visit an independently owned lingerie boutique, and I would hope that those kind of places would provide better customer service.