This review is one which has been a long time coming! The strappy bra trend has been around for a long time, but full-bust brands have taken much longer to join the trend. However, brands seem to be getting bolder with these designs every season, with more and more strappy bras are being released all the time. I’ve owned quite a few of them, but this bra is, to me, the absolute ultimate strappy bra. Dear readers, allow me to introduce: the Ewa Michalak S Przeplatanki.

If you haven’t come across this bra before, you’re probably a bit confused – I mean, where are the straps? My darlings, the straps are detachable and fully customisable. This bra can take you from work to a night out with ease, with more possible looks than I can even imagine. But I’m getting ahead of myself! Let’s start with the basics. I tried out this bra in my usual size of 70K (UK 32K). As this is the Ewa Michalak S style, the fit and construction is extremely similar to my other 70K S bras, such as the S Turkusowe Kfiaty I reviewed recently. As such, I’ll try to keep the details about the base bra short!

The S Przeplatanki is entirely black, using a shimmery stretch satin for the outer cups, while the cups are lined with soft cotton. The cups are lightly padded, and the centre gore features two buttons, as well as a loop of satin cord. The satin cord is also found running down the centre of the straps, which are also edged with satin.

Like many S bras, the Przepletanki comes with removable pads to put in the pocket at the bottom of each cup, which is useful to even out asymmetry, to fill empty space if you’re between cup sizes, or just to give your cleavage a boost. Quickly summarising the technical stuff, I find this bra fits pretty much the same as my other 70K S bras: narrow/average-height wires, deep cups, narrow gore, projected lower, somewhat open-on-top. Again, if you’d like a more in-depth look at the fit, be sure to check out my previous S reviews!

The band fastens with three sets of hooks and eyes, and the straps are wide and padded for comfort. Unlike some of Ewa Michalak’s other plain black bras, the straps on this bra are not interchangeable. Additionally, as they are comfort straps, they are only half-adjustable. While this is not an issue for me personally, I imagine those who find they need to adjust their straps quite short may find that this means this bra won’t work for them.

Even before we get to the strappy aspect of this piece, this is one of my absolute favourite bras. It is incredibly comfortable, the fabrics are soft and not at all scratchy, and the fit is absolutely beautiful on me. It’s sexy and stunning, but the plain black colourway means it’s still very practical and versatile, which means I’ve found myself reaching for it day after day. I wear it all the time, whether or not I feel like wearing something strappy. And, on that note…

…Let’s start looking at what makes this bra really special. This bra has a number of additions which make it very customisable. The first is the centre gore, which (as I mentioned before) features two buttons and a loop of satin cord. It can either by worn with the cord looped around the buttons, or you can detach the cord and lift it up, enabling you to use the three loops and the two buttons to create a strappy look.

Next up, we have the straps. Each strap features a length of satin cord, which goes from the top of the cup to just over your shoulder. The cord is sewn down at roughly 1 inch increments, creating five loops on each strap.

There is a small metal ring on each side of the band fastening, which enables designs to continue onto your back. Also note that there are the metal rings connecting the straps to the band as well, meaning there are four attachment points in this area.

And finally, the bra comes with five lengths of strappy cord, all of which feature a small metal ring and a hook at each end. The longest cord also has an adjustable slider on one end, so you can make it shorter if you need to. I have colour-coded each piece of cord above, so I can demonstrate a few different looks I tried out below – hopefully this will make sense in a second!

And for a closer look, this is the hook/ring attachment used on each end of the cords. So, let’s get to some looks!

This is a basic look, using just the centre loop and a short length cord.

The framed cup is a classic harness look, and as expected, it’s easy with this bra, using a short length cord straight through the highest loop on the gore. Note that I didn’t fully attach the cord on the centre gore for this picture, which is why it’s slightly wonky!

A double framed-cup, using two lengths of cord through the centre loop. I didn’t do this for this look, but another tip for this bra: the longest cord is the only one which has an adjustable slider on it, but keep in mind that if you find a length of cord is slightly too long for what you want to do, you can wrap it round the loop multiple times to compensate.

This is one of my favourite simple looks, done using just the long cord, starting and ending at the same point.

You can thread the long cord through the centre and attach each end to the rings on the band, creating a basic V-shape harness.

From there, you can add as many cords at whichever points you like. Just to demonstrate, this look uses all of the other cords, threaded through the centre and attached on each side symmetrically. I generally prefer to stick to about three cords total for this look, but the great thing about this bra is that it’s entirely up to you and your taste!

So, now that you know the basics, here are a few of the fun shapes I tried out! The first is a pentagram, done using the long cord and the middle length cord. What I like about this look is that it’s higher up on your chest, so you don’t have to wear a particularly low cut top to show it off.

Another pentagram style, this time done upside-down, which means that it also results in a cup frame! This is my personal favorite of the two pentagram looks, and it’s done using both the longest and the shortest cords.

Finally, I decided to experiment and see if I could come up with something unusual using all five cords at once, and this is what I came up with! To get this look, you need to attach the cords to each other rather than just to the attachment points. I’ve noted which colours I’ve used on the diagram (see top left for the colour order), but if you do try to recreate this, you might find that you need to use different lengths at different times, to ensure that the hooks remain hidden behind your neck.

So, that’s the S Przeplatanki! Honestly, I am so, so in love with this bra. The looks I’ve shown above are just the beginning – there are so, so many more things you can do! Additionally, this bra has one of the biggest size ranges in the world, so if you’re a fan of strappy bras and have trouble finding one in your size, I would definitely recommend checking this one out. There is, however, one caveat: this bra retails at 269 PLN (before payment or shipping fees), which (at present) is approximately £52 or $69, so it is slightly more expensive in comparison to Ewa Michalak’s other bras. However, I know that personally, I would easily spend £20 on a good open-cup harness bra, so considering the huge number of different harness looks this bra offers, I think it is well worth the money!

What do you think of the S Przeplatanki? Are you a fan of strappy bras? What’s your favourite harness look? Let me know any thoughts in the comments below!

Bra: Ewa Michalak S Przeplantanki, size 70K. Large custom size range available. RRP 269zł (approx £52).
Briefs: Starline Monroe High Waist Knickers in Black (Discontinued), size M/L. Available in S-XL (Dual sizes), RRP £29.

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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.

Latest posts by Anna (see all)

• Nude Bras for Women of Colour in AW16 - August 26, 2016
• The Ultimate Strappy Bra: Review of the Ewa Michalak S Przeplatanki (70K) - August 2, 2016
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