Sylene of Washington

I cannot speak highly enough about the service and selection at Sylene. I haven’t had a proper fitting bra in ages and my visit was life changing! Harriet is incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and REALLY knows what she’s doing. They have a large selection of everything from the most practical to special occasion items. Don’t waste time ordering bras online or trying to figure it out yourself at other retail shops, this place will save you time and hassle because they know what they’re doing and they wont send you home with anything that isn’t perfect for you.

I only shop in speciality bra stores. I am that hard to fit. I’d been to three the previous day. I walked away from each one with the sales associate apologizing for not being able to help.
So, I wasn’t that optimistic when I walked in. Was also taken aback when I wasn’t helped right away. After a ten minute wait, Helen helped me. She didn’t need to measure me, she is that good. She brought in a few she thought I’d like, saw how they fitted, and further refined her selection. She didn’t hover too much or try to talk me into anything.
Finally after five stores I walked away with a solution for my everyday needs.

I hate shopping– for anything, but bras are pretty high on the list. I worked with Harriet– she was amazing. She was upset knowledgeable about styles and knew what works for ladies who are more well endowed. Fit me, brought me tons of great bras to try on and even found me a bathing suit I like. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for some great service, great undergarments and bathing suits. Thanks Harriet!

This visit started off great… Elsa seemed helpful, friendly, etc. However, as soon as I told her I needed something in a lower price point (lower prince point being $ 150-​$ 300 not $ 495 to $ 620 for a bathing suit), it’s as if I dropped off the planet. Said she would look at the sales rack for me and never came back at all. I had to go out in a bathing suit to look for myself and she never even raised her head to let me know she was doing something else or would be a bit minute. NEVER going back here as there are plenty of other places with far better customer service.

If you want an excellent selection of top quality lingerie, swimwear, and sleepwear served with the best customer service, this is the place for you! What sets Sylene apart from any other store is their excellent customer service. I recently shopped there and asked for a bra that would not have the straps fall down. The person who fit me, not only took my request seriously, but she produced about 7 bras that fit the bill. There was no pressure to purchase anything, but she wanted to give me the choice of at least five bras that would work. They are very fussy about fit at Sylene, and it’s virtually impossible to walk out of the store with anything less than perfection. The prices are about the same as any other high-​end department store such as Nordstroms or Lord and Taylor, but you get the extra service which to me is worth a lot.

The only reason I am not rating one star is because I have experienced better service here prior to my last visit. I have a hard-​to-​find size. The saleswoman measured me and brought back four bras. The first one fit and she SAID it fit well but I thought it was a bit tight, plus it was very expensive (over $ 150). I took it off and was going to try the next one but it was too small. I then asked about the sizes of the rest of the bras she brought me to try. They were even smaller. She offered to go look for another larger size and i decided to put the first one back on while i waited. She didn’t want me to hook it; she wanted to do it, but I asked her to let me do it myself. I was shocked to find there was NO WAY I could possibly get the two ends to meet because it was so much smaller than my size! That’s why she didn’t want me to try! She knew it was the wrong size! Then she told me I really was a size larger but they didn’t have my size. I can understand her trying to find something to fit me even if the wrong size, but I did not appreciate that she never TOLD me she didn’t have my size and tried to sell me an expensive bra that didn’t fit. I asked if they could order my size and she said no. This is such poor service! Unfortunately sometimes in retail, a commission will make sales people do anything to get a sale.

A wonderful shopping experience. The staff knows about bra sizing/​fitting and about the products they carry. I left the store smiling, feeling good, and looking great. Ah, the beauty of the correct fit!

I have been shopping at Sylene’s for many years for bathing suits, pjs and bras and spent quite a lot over the years as I like to support the individual stores and the selection is great. With that said, I walked in yesterday as I had a problem with a bra I purchased there a year ago, but seldom wore, although it was worn. The salesperson was rude, as they always have been. The owner was standing there and never said a word until finally she answered the question I had been asking over and over (how to get in touch with the company). I was NOT asking the store for a refund, I repeatedly told her that. I had tried the company and did not get a response. She said they will only talk to her not customers. So I asked her to call for me, she refused. How rude! How long would this take her to pick up the phone and make a call to help a customer.
I happen to have sent many many friends here and they will now hear about this and I am sure not go. I am a very easy going person, but not when it comes to a store owner being downright cold to a customer. I work in the service business and never in my life would I act unpleasant to a client. There was not a smile on anyones face in that store and you read this over and over on the reviews, it is not just me.

Very helpful, extensive selection of items.

Some of the fitters are a little more brusque in their style than others, but they all really know fit. I can’t compare it to other independent lingerie stores, but it is worlds superior to VS and Macy’s. I also give them a slight edge over Nordstrom, where I have been fitted once.

I had been a Sylene’s customer for a number of years as they are close to work and had my hard to find bra size. For me, their fittings were o. k but I also found their staff a bit rude and ill mannered – I was never impressed with their customer service continued going there until one experience – 5−6 years later – finally did it!
They seemed selective about to whom they provided good service and I unfortunately seemed to be on their mostly-​ignored-​but-​always-​watch list. Occasionally, they’d have a staff that provided good service and actually meant «can I help you?» when they asked, but they never seemed to last long – it looked like they had 1 – 2 core core staff and cycled through everyone else, mostly the good ones.
On one visit, I bought a number of items and spent just under $ 200 on bras. Just as I got home I got a call from them saying they had some how made an error while ringing me up and undercharged 1 nearly $ 60 bra by $ 8. They were calling because they wanted recharge my credit card with the difference and needed my permission first.
Considering the amount of money I had spent there that day and over the years, I thought this was incredibly tacky. However, I agreed (should have just returned the entire purchase instead!) as the caller sounded nervous, extremely apologetic, and had been the only courteous sales person to offer me assistance that day – it sounded like she was being forced to make the call with someone else on the other end. I was extremely put off by this and decided they just weren’t worth my business.
I now gladly drive to Virginia or try Nordstroms for my lingerie needs.

I’d have given it 5 stars but the selection, although good, is not as great as I’m used to (yes, I admit, I’m an online shopper), and the first attendant seemed befuddled by my requests — I was a little worried until the woman who was clearly in charge took control of the situation and the other woman was sent scurrying to gather the items she was told to get.
I was skeptical going because of the reviews. But,… I was hugely surprised and quite impressed. I was only one of 2 customers and got LOTS of attention from the entire staff. I did not have an advance appointment but came on a Wednesday at around 4 pm. They were helpful, knowledgeable, and were able to find some things that not only fit but were adorable! Thank you, Sylene. I’ll be back. (PS: I did not get fitted as I was not purchasing a bra so i can’t comment on their abilities regarding the oh-​so-​difficult-​although-​seemingly-​easy skill of bra-​fitting).
Also, I paid for parking but they have a lot above the building (pull around back & go in) where they can give you complementary parking. Wish I’d known before I plunked down $ 10 for nothing!

I will never go back to Sylene’s. The salespeople were surly at best. More often they were downright rude. It was not made clear when I walked in that you had to get on a waiting list. When I went to ask someone a question I was rudely told that there were others waiting for help. Had I not had a coupon I had to use I would have walked out. When I went to pay they acted lime they were doing me a big favor letting me pay. NEVER AGAIN.

I was thoroughly disappointed in my experience. I have been buying bras in dedicated lingerie stores for a long time and know all the fit rules. The fitter tried to sell me bras that that the center gore standing off my chest, with a band too big for me. After making me try each bra, she would exclaim about how great the fit was. When I pointed out what was not working, she would simply bring me another style that would not even come close to solving the problem.

Hmmmm, it was fine. A beautiful selection of bras. However, the fitting I got was not right at all. The bras the saleswoman put me in clearly did not fit and when I put on the bra size that had been fitted to me at another location the bras fit better. The other saleswoman could see they fit perfectly and original saleswoman actually walked away and stopped helping me without saying anything… weird.
In the end I left with a beautiful and comphy bra, but I felt my experience at Nordstrom was much better!

I went to the store with an appointment for a fitting, for a post-​mastectomy temporary prosthesis. They were pleasant, incredibly empatheic and extremely professional. I was in and out amazingly fast. For when my challenges are over, incidentally they have an amazing selection of top-​of-​the-​line, sexy, quality items.
It was a great experience, and I HIGHLY recommend Sylene.

I cannot stop singing the praises of Sylene! I always leave this shop with a big KoolAid smile on my face and a bag of goodies. On the list of dreaded things to do, bra shopping was surely the header… I have one of those incredibly hard-​to-​find sizes. I’ve been laughed out of Victoria’s Secret and was banished to the dreariness of dept store bra shopping. And then I happened upon this gem of a boutique nestled in Friendship Heights. I truly feel like a client here, and was immediately greeted and assigned a personal bra expert/​clerk. I was fitted, and then, to my surprise, was saved the exhaustion of clawing through racks fruitlessly searching for my size… they brought the bras to me! And what’s best is the vast selection of bras. I hadn’t ever bought such pretty bras until I came here.
Another perk is that as a client, you set up a file and they will send you fun personalized coupons, often including incentives for donating lightly used bras to charity (good for them!) When I’d expressed interest in wearing a bikini last winter (because I could NEVER find one in my cup size) I was told by one of the owners that she’d personally look for flattering styles in my size when purchasing for the summer. Lo and behold, I get a phone call this spring informing me that new suits had arrived and I had first dibs! I bought my first ever bikini and was in heaven. I can’t praise this place more. If you have a challenging bra size (aka outside of the range of VS and the like), or even if you’re a «normal» size, you must check out Sylene.
PS., they have these monthly events on Sundays called Bras and Brunch, where a light brunch with mimosas is served and a different topic is discussed. I’ve only been to one, where local authors of relationship books came in and after we got a special discount on sleepwear. So in love with this place :)

I think Sylene has a wonderful selection and great personal service. You can’t find bathing suits anywhere anymore, but they have a lot to chose from.

I was underwhelmed with my experience here. They have a great variety of bras in the sizes they do carry, however I found their size range lacking, particularly in the small-​ribcage, large cup selection. Further with their fittings they rely on the tape measure rather than how things fit. Honestly, I’d go down the street to Nieman Marcus for a fitting as they have a wider range of sizes, prices are comparable, and at least from my experience do a better job with fittings.

I had a great experience here. My bra size is also hard to find, but the saleslady measured me, and found me the perfect strapless bra. Also, she told me I could order other colors online if I wanted, since they didn’t have those in stock. (I assume this is also true if some styles are out of stock). This was much better than any shopping trip I’ve had in the bra section of Macy’s, where when I tell them my size, they just look at me funny.
However, only 4 stars because some of the salesladies were talking on their cellphones which made them seem unapproachable, so I can see how the previous reviewer may have had a bad experience.
The shop is a tad expensive. I found the bra I bought cheaper online elsewhere, but at least I know it fits because I could try it on, and now I can buy another one online if I need to.