Japanese Lingerie Review: Body Rescue x Shirohato Antique Rose High-Sided Demi Bra and Panties

Note: This lingerie was purchased for me by The Lingerie Addict. All opinions are my own.

One of my first lingerie shopping experiences was at Kaori's Closet Tokyo in NYC. A sweet little boutique on Houston, Kaori's Closet offered fancifully-decorated Japanese lingerie, otherwise unavailable in the US, and pretty loungewear from international indie lines.

With bras covered in engineered floral embroidery, 3D lace appliques, textured elastics, and perfectly-placed rhinestones, the shop was overtly girly and definitely over-the-top.

Compared to the t-shirt bras I was used to seeing at places like Aerie and Victoria's Secret, it was heaven. This lingerie was as twee as the clothing I wore everyday. In other words, it was my ideal store.

Aside from being gloriously-designed and over-embellished, Japanese bras are known for their extreme push-up qualities. These are the bras I wore when my cup size shrank during half-marathon training and I felt self-conscious. The globular, round breast shape, popular with American push-up bras, isn't what you'll get with Japanese bras.

The look is more front facing, sort of like an inverted triangle, with most of the support coming from the lower outside corners of your breasts. This gives a narrow silhouette with no tissue spilling off to the sides. You'll often find multiple layers of permanent and removable padding in core sizes. In bigger sizes, you'll get hyper-projection and strong structure on the outer sides of cups (and usually removable pads, too).

Basically, if you want a bra that makes your boobs look like a literal flower garden and gives you tons of cleavage in a regular t-shirt, Japanese lingerie is the lingerie for you!

I didn't know ready-to-wear lingerie could look like this and I certainly didn't know lingerie like this could fit me. But surprisingly, the first bra I purchased at Kaori's Closet was an 80G, or a 36F/36DDD in US sizes. It's woefully too big on me now, but it was a shocking revelation I could actually fit into these super-fancy Japanese bras.

A through C cups definitely have more variety available to them in the Japanese bra market, but bigger cups aren't totally left out like I expected! So I became a regular, and Kaori's Closet later became she and reverie's first stockist in NYC.

When the shop closed a few years ago, I was heartbroken. I spent $250 on $1000 worth of clearance lingerie and said my goodbyes. I know how hard it is to shop online from Japan when you're in the States so I assumed I wouldn't be able to find the over-the-top styles I had grown to love anywhere on the internet. I figured that was it for my Japanese lingerie collection.

After a few years, while growing restless and bored with the lingerie industry, I knew there had to be a way to get my frilly, embellished, fancy push-up fix in the States. There are a few little boutiques online that appear to purchase cheap Japanese bras at retail price and resell them in the US. But their sizes are limited and they're more expensive than originally intended. Instead, I tried shopping with Shirohato, an online Japanese lingerie store with a half-way decent international site.

From higher-end bras over $100 to shockingly cheap $12 bra-and-panty sets and from Wacoal's decorative Japanese-market-only styles to brands you've never heard of, all in a wide range of sizes, Shirohato seemed almost too good to be true.

I fell in love with this rose-embroidered demi bra. I'm a sucker for anything with pink roses, so of course I had to order.

The ordering process is easy. The international shipping is fast. And everything comes in a cute pink shopping bag, as if you just popped down to your local boutique to pick up some pretty new lingerie! Shirohato even accepts returns, although you have to pay return shipping to Japan on anything you don't want.

Sizing

My typical size is 32G. According to Shirohato's sizing chart, my measurements are closest to size F80. This translates to a 36DD, my sister size. I usually would never buy a 36DD in a bra I expect to actually support me, but since I know Japanese clothing runs much smaller than American clothing with the same letter sizes, I decided to trust the chart.

I'm glad I did. I could have gone down a size in the band, but because of the wide band and the "smoothing" aspects of this bra (more on that later), I think this size is pretty much perfect.

I later purchased a bra from Shirohato in my usual size (32G, or H70) and the band is much snugger than I prefer. Overall, my advice is pick a size in accordance to your measurements on the size chart, at least for your first purchase, and go from there.

For the bottoms, I ordered a size LL. I usually wear between a Medium and a Large and definitely would not go below a size LL in these (or any panties from a Japanese brand, to be honest). The size chart is right yet again.

Shaping

Body Rescue is a Japanese line of shapewear. In collaboration with Shirohato, Body Rescue created this bra with high sides, extra layers of mesh on the back band, and U-back straps that give a smooth silhouette.

True to its design, I don't get the "back fat" lines that so many people complain about. Bras always push against my squishy back. Although I couldn't care less about it (honestly, Body Rescue, I don't think my body needs "rescuing"?), this bra would totally be good for you if you do.

The slings on the back band are smoothing and nothing rode up during the day, or needed any major adjusting. The cups are structured enough to give the upside-down-triangle shape I love from Japanese bras, without extra padding.

The cups fit the same way as most of my other Japanese bras: average cup volume, and maybe a tiny bit shallow. Because the shape aims to push your breasts forward, if you're very front-facing, you might find yourself falling out of this bra.

Quality vs. Cost

Honestly, I don't know how this bra is priced so low. The materials aren't luxury-quality by any means, but they're perfectly acceptable for a fashionable piece. Like most of my Japanese bras, this one is lined with a cotton woven material, so it's super comfortable and avoids the cheap feel of synthetic linings budget bras often use. This feels like a $45 bra to me, not a $26 bra.

Seriously. It's $26! That is so affordable for any bra, much less a fuller-bust bra. On top of all their other unique qualities, so many bras available on Shirohato are $30 or less, and sometimes include matching panties. It makes paying for international shipping feel much friendlier than usual.

Final thoughts

It felt like a giant exhale when I received this bra set and it fit exactly how I hoped it would.

After my package came, I immediately ordered two more lingerie sets from Shirohato. In fact, I kept getting distracted and going shopping on the website while I was writing this damn review! I'm so happy to have found a replacement for Kaori's Closet, full of styles that come in my size, at prices that are downright ridiculous.

Do you like the over-the-top styles available from Japanese lingerie lines? Would you wear lingerie like this?

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