What Is Sizing Like at Cou Cou Intimates?

By Ella Blake – Senior Fashion Stylist & Founder | Tellar — Always honest, unbiased, & unsponsored post

Cou Cou Intimates runs true to size on most styles but distinctly slim through the body, so unless you like a second-skin fit, the safe move is to take your usual size and only consider going up if you’re between sizes or have a fuller bust. That’s the short answer. The longer one matters, because Cou Cou isn’t cut like your average high-street basics, and getting the size right is the difference between “effortless French-girl loungewear” and “why is this cutting into me.”

So how does Cou Cou actually fit?

Cou Cou is a London-designed, Portugal-made label working almost entirely in their signature 100% organic cotton pointelle. It’s a B Corp, female-founded, and the whole range – camis, slips, bralettes, knickers, the cult little shorts – sits in that delicate, ribbed, slightly stretchy cotton. That fabric is the key to understanding the fit. It moulds to you rather than holding a structured shape, so it reads as snug.

Here’s what I’d tell a client trying them for the first time:

The camis and slip dresses are cut to be body-skimming. If you’re under 5’9” and between sizes, size down for a neat fit; over 5’9” or wanting more length, size up.
The bottoms – shorts, briefs, high-rise knickers – run the smallest. The general shopper consensus (and my own experience) is to take the next size up here, especially the high-rise styles.
The bralettes are the trickiest. They’re unstructured pointelle, so they suit smaller-to-medium busts beautifully but offer little support or adjustability for a fuller cup. If you’re a D and above, treat these as soft loungewear, not everyday support.
Broad shoulders or a longer torso? Watch the bateau and longline tops – the narrow straps and cropped bodies can pull. Sizing up one notch usually fixes it.

A quick confession: my first Cou Cou order was the long cami in my “usual” size and I loved it – but I then ordered the matching shorts in the same size and they were borderline. Lesson learned: I now size the tops to my measurements and the bottoms up one. Mixed sizing across a set is completely normal with this brand and nothing to feel odd about.

Styling Cou Cou like a stylist would

The trap people fall into is treating Cou Cou purely as underwear. It’s far more versatile than that. The pointelle camis worn under a tailored blazer with wide-leg trousers is one of my most-reached-for looks – quietly expensive-looking and takes thirty seconds. The slip dress works as nightwear, as a beach cover-up, or layered over a fine-knit polo neck come autumn. Keep the palette tonal – the English Rose, French Blue and classic white photograph beautifully – and let the texture do the talking. My one styling rule: because the fabric is fine, always have a smoothing base layer or seamless knicker underneath the slips for daywear.

Where else to shop if Cou Cou isn’t quite right

If Cou Cou’s slim cut or limited drops aren’t working for you, here’s where I’d send clients for that same soft-cotton, elevated-basics feeling.

High street

M&S – still the benchmark for cotton knickers and everyday comfort, with far more size generosity and bra support than Cou Cou.
COS – clean, minimalist cotton vests and slip dresses with that same understated, tonal aesthetic.
H&M – the budget-friendly entry point; their ribbed cotton vests and lounge sets scratch the same itch for a fraction of the price.
Hush – brilliant for slip dresses and grown-up loungewear that bridges bed and brunch.
The White Company – the place for luxe organic-cotton nightwear and lounge sets when you want softness with a bit more coverage.
Mango – consistently nails pointelle-style camis and knitted lounge pieces with a European polish.
Seasalt Cornwall – for the organic-cotton, sustainability-minded shopper who wants soft, relaxed basics with a conscience.

Premium

Hanro – Swiss-made cotton underwear and loungewear; the gold standard for buttery-soft basics that last years.
Skin – organic pima cotton intimates and loungewear, cut a touch more relaxed than Cou Cou if you want breathing room.

Luxury / designer

Eres – the French house for impeccably cut, minimalist lingerie and swim where fabric and fit are everything.
Olivia von Halle – for when you want to step up from cotton into proper silk loungewear and pyjamas.

Two left-field independents worth knowing

Nudea – a UK independent doing seriously clever fit-led lingerie, with a measuring service and sustainable fabrics; great if Cou Cou’s bralettes let your bust down.
Pico – small-batch, GOTS organic-cotton underwear made in Portugal; the same conscious, soft-cotton ethos as Cou Cou but with a looser, more forgiving cut.

Stop guessing your size – let Tellar do it

The whole reason sizing in brands like Cou Cou trips people up is that a label like “Small” means something completely different from one brand to the next. That’s exactly why I built Tellar.

Tellar is the UK’s leading sizing tool – your body matched exactly to 1,500-plus brands instantly, so you never look at a size guide again.

Measure once, using your bust, waist and hip – or just an existing brand size you already wear well.
Use the Store Size Lookup tool to get your precise size in any brand – COS, Reiss, Everlane, Arket & more.
Always free, no downloads needed – it works straight in your browser.

Already know your size in Skims or Arket? Pop that in and we’ll match it straight to Cou Cou’s scale – no maths, no guesswork.

There’s also the Tellar Fashion Hub: a library stacked with free posts from our top stylists. Honest, unbiased, independent and always free – style advice, top picks and the best brands for every query.

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