Review: Cleo Neve 7196 T-Shirt Bra

Cleo Neve 7196. Image from Cleo.

Yes, readers, I know…. you have been searching my blog for a review of the Cleo Neve, which replaces the Cleo Jude.

Cleo Neve 7196. Image from Cleo.
Cleo Neve 7196. Image from Cleo.

I had the opportunity to try a Neve last week, and here’s my opinion: Neve is no Jude.

The Neve is a lovely bra which addresses some of the shape issues fitters and customers have been complaining about in the Cleo Jude – the feeling that your boobs are standing out at 90 degree angles on the outer edges of your chest and various other anomalies…unfortunately, those funky little fit issues were the exact reasons the Jude worked for me (and the Cleo Neve doesn’t).

Here’s my attempt to break down the differences.

cleo jude v neve

First, I think Cleo did the right thing by removing the contrasting lace trim on the Neve. I could see the contrasting trim color through some tops when I wore my Cleo Jude.

Second, there are size differences if you’re trying to convert from your Jude size to your Neve size. I tried a Cleo Neve in 36G (I’m usually a 38 band in Cleo), with an extender. My new “best” cup size in Cleo is 38FF/G. The Jude that I own is a 38E, which is admittedly too small for me now – I would need a 38F/FF in the Jude. The Neve was much too small in band and cup, even with the extender. I should have been able to wear the Neve in a 36G, with an extender, if the style fit my shape. I think I would have needed a 38GG in the Neve.

Third, there were several key shape differences between the styles. The first thing I thought once I put Neve on was “designed by Parfait” – super soft fabric, comfortable, and shallow. The cups are rounder and taller at top, and the wires are deeper and cups are shallower on the bottom. The Neve completely does away with Jude’s shape, which was compatible with my lower-full breasts.

In the graphic below, I overlaid the Cleo Neve over the Jude. You can see the slight upper cup shape difference and see the wrinkling in the bottom of the cups where the cups are shallower compared to the Jude.

Cleo Neve compared to Cleo Jude.
Cleo Neve compared to Cleo Jude.

For those of you hoping for a shallower, more up-and-center moulded t-shirt offering from Cleo…well, Neve may be your girl. If you were a Jude fan because she was a great moulded t-shirt bra for lower-full breasts, well, you may be disappointed and on the hunt for a new t-shirt bra.

The Cleo Neve is available in two continuity colors, black and nude. This season, it is also available in the gorgeous coral colorway. Sizes are available in 28D-38H (U.K).

Have you tried the Cleo Neve? Were you a Jude fan and now happy with the Neve?

 

 

6 Comment

  1. […] Note: If you are looking for a review of how the Cleo Jude compares to the Cleo Neve, click here to read it! […]

  2. Thanks for posting this review! Jude is a best-seller for the shop, and I am very worried about how the Neve still stack up for our customers. There are so few molded cup options in the Jude’s size range that I can’t afford to have a go-to become useless. Right now, we still have plenty of the Jude left, but I’ll be sweating a little when it comes time to totally replace them.

    1. I’m sure many will see Neve as an improvement but I see it as a loss. Jude was a rare bra for shapes like mine. I can’t wear other Panache mouldeds, and the closest I’ve gotten in any other brand/style involves spacer fabric.

  3. Oh wow, you’re the other person who can wear the Jude! You and Erica’s shoppers, I guess? I just scored one this month — it works for me despite significant upper fullness because I’m wide-set and fall very much outward, plus, tall of root so high wires are my friend. It’s an INCREDIBLY useful bra. I’m not exactly rich in plunges. I’d be stalking it more wholeheartedly but all the ones that pop up are always in hot pink or (mostly, and worse) purple leopard print and I cannot even with that s.

    1. I’d be stalking it too, except I’m at a very strange point boob size wise…I can’t tell if I actually got bigger, or if I finally figured out why so many bras weren’t fitting….or if I’m in some weird hormonal phase…

      I’m afraid to buy a contoured bra because they are THE MOST UNFORGIVING THINGS ON THE PLANET…

      1. Yeah. Nothing is simple. I just noticed the strictest and most authoritarian bra in my drawer (Cleo Melissa 34FF, so worth it, but I sister-size up and still: dang) is fitting me suspiciously comfortably right now. La la la.

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