One brand that I was very excited to see in person was Rochella! Rochella are an independent premium brand launching for SS16, founded by lingerie designer Karen Johnson. They aim to provide beautiful, high-quality lingerie for D-J cups, whilst also supporting a cause closer to Karen’s heart: gynaecological cancer research. As a survivor of one herself, Karen has committed to donate a percentage of all profits towards The Eve Appeal (the only gynaecological cancer research charity in the UK). And, of course, Rochella’s pieces are stunning.

With bras retailing for £59, suspender briefs for £46 and briefs for £30, they have a fairly mid-range price point – enough to be a bit of a splurge piece, but not so expensive as to make them unattainable. So, let’s take a look at Rochella SS16!

Rochella Tattoo Butterfly Bra and Brief

Possibly my favourite style of the collection, the Tattoo Butterfly! Many of Rochella’s styles feature illusion mesh for the upper cup, which should become invisible for all skin tones. Combined with the bold black embroidered detailing, this gives an almost tattoo effect against the skin, which is really gorgeous and striking. All of these bras feature a printed Italian satin for the outer cup, which is delightfully soft, stretchy and comfortable, and a soft, supportive lavender mesh for the inner lining. The soft lavender shade is a nod to the purple ribbon used for gynaecological cancer awareness, which serves as a reminder of the cause you’re supporting when you wear Rochella.

Rochella Minnie May Bra and Brief

Rochella have many elegant vintage-inspired pieces, and the Minnie May is definitely one of them. Again, this features a sheer upper with bold embroidery, but the purple mesh and magenta embroidery gives a very different (yet still gorgeous!) effect. Another detail all of Rochella’s bras feature is the small heart charm on the centre gore, stamped with a little R. Rochella’s heart charms, sliders, hooks and suspenders are all made with 18ct gold plating, a little detail which adds a lovely touch.

Rochella Gypsy Bra and Suspender Brief

This style is called Gypsy, featuring an ivory and rose pink floral over a black base. You can see the amount of detail that goes into every part of Rochella’s designs by looking at this style! All of Rochella’s briefs feature this lined keyhole detailing on the back, which I personally think gives an absolutely stunning touch. However, while the bra itself is probably another of my favourites in terms of appearance, it would be ignorant of me not to point out that (as I wrote about the Gossard bra of the same name) the naming of this bra is very distasteful. The design itself is lovely, but bra brands, please reconsider these kind of names!

Rochella Rosey Posey Bra and Brief

The Rosey Posey is another vintage-inspired design, featuring a picture-perfect rose print in ice cream shades of ivory, pale pink and raspberry red. This again uses scalloped sheer illusion mesh, embroidered with roses and swirls. The embroidery continues along the edge of the upper cup, giving an eyelash lace effect. All of Rochella’s bras use hook and eye fastenings made with a tactile soft microfibre, with 4 columns of eyes (rather than the usual 3) to give a longer lifespan and greater range of fit.

Rochella Pretty In Pink Polka Bra and Brief

The Pretty In Pink Polka is another of my favourites, featuring small black polka dots over an icy pink base. This is such a lovely, pin-up inspired style! You can also see the lavender lining a bit better in this picture. I think the lavender is a really lovely choice, as it seems to work really nicely under all of these different colours, as well as being beautiful in its own right.

Rochella Lucy Leopard Bra and Suspender Brief

Continuing with the vintage inspiration, Lucy Leopard! I adore pink and black together, and it turns out, I adore pink, black and leopard print together even more! The embroidered mesh used for the upper cup here is one of the bolder choices of the collection, featuring criss-cross detailing, thick black lines and opaque circles. This style is also available with a suspender brief, which features detachable suspenders and a light control powermesh, which gives smoothing and support whilst also keeping your stockings up.

Rochella Scarletta Bra and Brief

Finally, Scarletta! This features red lace print over a pale pink base, with floral embroidery across the upper cup. In the product images it appears to use a sheer white mesh, however, in person this seemed to use the illusion mesh shown above. The product description also describes it as an “invisible net”, so I think it’s safe to assume that it will be illusion mesh, not white. I love piping details, so I really like the bold red piping on the briefs and across the cups, as well as the red satin wire casings.

So, that’s the full collection! Overall I’m really excited about this brand. Their designs are so classic and beautiful, not to mention that launching up to a J cup straight off the bat is very rare, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where Rochella go from here. Rochella’s website states that all of their bras are available in 32-42 D-J, however, looking on individual product pages, the range appears to be 32-34 D-J, 36 D-HH, 38 D-H, 40 D-GG & 42 D-G, with briefs available in sizes 10-24. I am not sure if this is the complete size range or if some sizes (e.g. 38J) can be custom ordered, but for now, I would assume it’s just the sizes shown on the site (which is still a great range to launch with!).

What do you think of the Rochella SS16 collection? Any favourite pieces? Would you try them out? Let me know any thoughts in the comments below!

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Anna

Founder and main author of Bras and Body Image. Anna is a lingerie lover, feminist and maths student based in the UK, who hopes to someday cuddle every cat in the world.

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