Rigby and Peller

I am a 32H, have used Rigby & Peller for several years, pay between £80/£100 per bra. They last for years if looked after. I know that this is expensive, but as I wear a bra for 16+ hours a day, every day, they are worth every penny. They are extremely comfortable and because the fit is perfect your clothes look better. I actually see it as an economy because I do not have a drawer full of badly fitting uncomfortable bras bought on the off chance that they just might fit!!

Materials £1, expertise £304.

Don't know about the others but Prima Donna bras are designed in Belgium and made in Tunisia.

M & S are not true to size on sizing and measurement from store to store. Measured in my home town a few years ago at one size, I went into another M & S in another town in the sales 6 months later having lost 2 & a half stone to be told my bra size had gone up. I looked at her daft as i knew it wasnt true. She wasn't having it. Tried to tell me I couldn't have been as measured at an M & S. I told her where to go politely in the end, got dressed and walked out. Bought new bras from M & S in my home store and was measured by the woman who had measured me last in my home town. The sizing was a size smaller not a size bigger

Bravissimo do an excellent fitting service, also by eye. I can't compare it to R&P as I've never been there but I can't believe they provide anything that's worth three or four times Bravissimo prices.

Couple of years ago I tried the M&S fitting service, it was rubbish. The assistant said I might be a 36c or a 38B brought both for me to try on and neither was right, so now I buy what I think I need M&S have a terrible habit of discontinuing every bra that I have been happy with.

Hi Wilma - good question. I suppose the answer is fit and comfort which I haven't found elsewhere. I can only speak for Prima Donna bras (and I have no connections!) and find that they are 'constructed' and not simply bits of lace and fabric sewn together.

With so many bras, even when properly fitted, I can't wait to shed them at the first opportunity as they are so uncomfortable. With my first PD bra, I couldn't believe that I wasn't pulling and tugging and itching to take it off.

I never buy the matching pants and always have John Lewis plain ones in colours to match the bras so save cash there.

I have few 'must haves' in life these days but decent wine, coffee, soap and bras are my indulgences.

I always wanted to go there to be fitted but when it opened in Harrogate and I went in, it was very frightening, especially the prices! £150 etc. You can be measured at M&S.

I might add that most, if not ALL of the bras sold under the Prima Donna, Bravissimo, Fantasie and M&S labels (and probably a great many more) are manufactured in Sri Lanka.

I’ve been going there ( the Knightsbridge branch) for many years and wouldn’t go anywhere else for fitting. I don’t buy their own brand but Prima Donna who are brilliant if like me you have a seriously big bust. £70 - 80 but worth every penny. Improves the look of everything you wear over the bra.

That’s why hair cuts and bras are my top spending priorities - they’re always with you whatever clothes you wear.

Maggie

"Bare minimum" Love it!

Hi all. Me again. If anyone would like to contact the factory shop... and since my last visit, it looks like they've changed their name...

Wacoal Factory Shop.
Rothwell Road,
Desborough,
Northants.
NN14 2PG.

01536 761252

Give them a buzz because they have odd opening hours... and they'll check to see they've got your size.

They also do Freya and Fantasie.

Why are they so good ? Just extremely well made. Which is why they are so eye wateringly expensive in places like Harrods !

The factory shop has bargain bins too. Bras and knickers from £5, if you can find your size !

Good hunting !

radicalnan true! I tried one, only for stay at home days.
How can sizing you (Rigby and Peller) by eye rather than tape be good enough for a bespoke bra?Surely it needs both
Methods?

I think if she had just said that in such and such a year she received the Royal Warrant it would have been OK but I gather she wrote about fitting "half dressed Queen surrounded by corgis".

Lynn what do you think makes their bras different? What are the other brands getting wrong?

HOW much!! I bought two lovely t shirt bras at Matalan, they are a super fit and so comfortable.

Is it just Her Maj or all the Royal ladies using R&P?
I buy my bras from the supermarket and don't care if they don't last. some are more comfy than others, but I only have a D cup, so it isn't that critical.

I advise her Maj. not to buy the 'one size fits all' ones, I bought some, they give you one long boob, arm pit to armpit, like a draft excluder.

I think she drops names in the book, but no details. It's about June Kenton's life, not a 'tell all' book. Apparently she's led an interesting life. She broke the protocol by mentioning the Queen.

Agree with Nana - I had a R&P fitting and will always wear Prima Donna Bras now.

My daughter found an on-line source in Pontefract - can I name them - which has regular discounts on all stock. That is when I buy. I pay £65 -75.

I use 'Soak' to wash the bras and find they last well and look good so well worth the cost for the comfort.

With any other bras, I find myself tugging at them half way through the day.

I have used them once for a bra when I was a MOB, very good fitting service, problem is once you have got the bra you want the matching knicks - now they are expensive.

Was it a state secret that the Royals wear underwear?
I understand that there are no details in the book just the breaking of the Royal Warrant agreement not to use the Royals in advertising as mentioned before.

It's the fitting expertise that R&P are known for, especially in the original London shop. As a 42J, I would love to see what suggestions the assistant makes.

sue I have read so many similar comments about the service being worth every penny.

Rothwell definitely sounds good.

It is unfortunate for the company who bought it from the woman who caused the problem but I would be angry if I were famous and someone wrote a book detailing a bra fitting. It was a weird and disrespectful thing to do. She got £8m from the sale of the business so, unless she had run up a lot of debts, it wasn't about the money.
I never have much respect from people in close positions, like housekeepers or nannies, who write about the people they work for. It must be unpleasant to employ people in close positions and then have them betray you. It just seems like really bad manners.

Once you’ve had a R&P Bra you won’t want to go anywhere else. Ok they are expensive in my case approx £90 each, but they are so comfortable and give a really nice shape. If I had to choose between eating and a good fitting bra I know which one would win!