Review: Lascivious 'Anais' Peekaboo Bra And Ouvert Knickers

This set was purchased by The Lingerie Addict for the purpose of review.

Lascivious is a luxury British brand, renowned for their provocative and directional approach to lingerie. Naughty cutouts and sheer meshes are their design staples. The brand has featured quite heavily in my lingerie wardrobe in the past; I’ve previously reviewed their Midori bodysuit and Isla set. I hadn’t purchased anything from them in several years, but during their last sale the Anais set caught my eye with its layered lace and peekaboo cut outs.

I purchased the Anais bra and matching ouvert knicker in my usual sizes of 30D and M. The Anais set is no longer available directly from Lascivious but can be found in a number of the brand’s stockists. Nancy Meyer has the bra available in a limited size range of 32-36 B-D, retailing at $195. The ouvert knicker is no longer available but you can find a matching brief or thong in sizes S-L, retailing at $135.

Both pieces are made of a combination of delicate black lace and sheer black mesh. The lace doesn’t feel like a particularly expensive variety, but is pretty and graphic without being overly fussy. The bra is constructed with a three-piece cup, with the bottom half of the cup featuring a rigid mesh liner for support. The bra cradle is made of sheer mesh and leads into a cage-like strappy wing in the back, with a plastic bone on each side of the cradle for support and to prevent the bra from bunching up. All of the elastic has a satin finish and metal components in a silver tone. The matching ouvert knickers are crafted with cross-over front panels of lace and a back panel of sheer mesh with triangular cut outs at the waistline. These knickers are totally cut out at the front and offer very little coverage (I must admit that finding a way to photograph them was a little challenging!). The waist and leg edge are edged in a satin foldover elastic.

This set was made in the UK and overall the construction is good. Stitching is largely neat, accurate, and secure. However, there is one area where the stitching isn’t quite perfect, and this has unfortunate consequences for the fit of the garment. The top part of the cup is made of a single layer of lace and is finished with an overlocked stitch that has then been folded back and topstitched. Unfortunately during the overlock process, this top cup has become a little stretched out, resulting in the stitch line ruffling up. Another minor issue is that many areas of the ‘cage’ elastics have been lockstitched rather than bartacked (the latter being a type of very tight and secure stitch normally used to 'seal' elastic raw edges). Although this wouldn’t cause any immediate issues or problems with fit, I would worry in the long term that the stitches would break if the elastic is put under any pressure.

The bra fit comes up a little small. In most brands I tend to wear a 30D, but I found this bra to be particularly tight; I could only just do it up on the tightest hook and found it quite uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the cage back can cause some bulges when fitted so tightly. I also found the cup fit to be a little strange. Although the wire was a good fit for my breast root and tacked well at the centre front, the cups themselves had some issues. I found that the bottom half of the cup came up a little  small and would start to cut into my breast tissue from certain angles, whilst the top half of the cup was entirely too big and would hang loose. The latter issue I suspect isn’t so much an issue with the garment’s cut as the construction; as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the stitching on the lace appears to have been stretched out.

Fortunately, the knickers are true to size and have no real fit issues. The elastic and mesh have enough stretch to be skin tight but not cut in anywhere (which is a very common issue with cut out styles!). Even as a crotchless style, all the elastics used are very soft and the knickers are actually very comfortable to wear. I absolutely adore how unashamedly naughty they are; most ouvert styles just feature a subtle slit in the gusset, but these are wonderfully cheeky.

Overall, I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed with the Anais set. Although I love the aesthetic, I feel that the fit and construction issues with the bra have really let it down. With a brand like Lascivious that seems to specialise in fabrics like powermesh and elastic, you’re paying more for the design than exceptional fabric. Their ‘luxury’ comes from the branding and aesthetic appeal of their designs. Consequently, I would expect to see small construction details to be much tighter in their execution.

Readers: Have you ever tried Lascivious? What do you think of ‘peekaboo’ style lingerie?