We’ve all been there at one time or another. You buy what you think is a bomb dress, only when you put it on at home, it seems to emphasize your every last lump and bump. The dress is new, so you don’t want to toss it, but you can’t wear it as-is either. A girlfriend of yours has suggested shapewear for just such a situation, but you’re not sure. What do you need to know about shapewear?
Shapewear can smooth your silhouette so none of your outfits are off-limits. You can even improve your posture and wear some old clothes that were too small with shapewear, making you look and feel even better!
In this guide, we’ll explain what shapewear is, the types of shapewear, and the benefits. We’ll even answer all your most burning questions about shapewear that you may have been too embarrassed to ask, such as how to put shapewear on or how long you can wear it. Keep reading!
What Is Shapewear?
Okay, first, let’s begin with the basics. What is shapewear, anyway? Also known as a foundation garment, shapewear is short for shaping underwear. In other words, you put a shapewear garment on and your body transforms, looking slim and streamlined.
Shapewear is impermanent, in that when you take the garment off at the end of the day, your body goes back to how it usually is. If you’re wearing a skin-tight shirt or a body-con dress and you want to knock the socks off anyone you meet, then shapewear can help you achieve your goals without dieting, hitting the gym, or getting plastic surgery.
The earliest forms of shapewear were bras and corsets. Today, shapewear is designed to be more comfortable so the wearer can use it for long periods. According to UK retailer Debenhams, which also operates in Denmark, between 2009 and 2013, the retailer sold 75 percent more shapewear.
Grand View Research published a 2019 report on the shapewear industry in the United States. Between 2019 and 2025, it’s believed the compound annual growth rate or CAGR will increase to 7.7 percent.
Several factors have caused shapewear to become so popular. Let’s discuss these now.
Availability
Shapewear is mainstream enough that you can find it at nearly every retailer, including major ones such as Walmart and Amazon. This makes shopping for shapewear incredibly convenient, increasing one’s likelihood of buying and wearing it.
Variety
We’ll talk about this more in the next section, but shapewear exists today to slim just about any troublesome body part, not only the stomach. If a woman wanted to mask her bottom half rather than her upper half, now she can. This also drives more shapewear sales.
Popular Culture
Another undeniable impact on shapewear is how it’s grown in popular culture. Kim Kardashian has made it no secret that she uses shapewear. She even created a shapewear brand called SKIMS that we’ll discuss later.
When something like shapewear becomes big like that, more women (and men, because shapewear is for men too) are inclined to try it. No longer do they feel like they must have something to hide by wearing shapewear, especially when celebrities like Kim Kardashian openly flaunt it. They can be like her by flaunting it too.
What Are the Types of Shapewear?
When we mention the word shapewear, you likely have a vision in your head of a skintight type of underwear or leggings that go up to the ribcage, right? Yet that’s only one type of shapewear of many.
Here are the other shapewear types to be aware of.
Corsets
We talked about corsets in the last section as being one of the oldest forms of shapewear. Women still wear corsets today, proving they’re effective. Some women opt for waist trainers. Luckily, today’s corsets are comfier, too.
A corset goes beneath your breasts (some cover the breasts too) over your abdomen. The corset either zips up at the side or back or you can secure a series of clasps. By wearing the corset, you will slim your hips and sides, giving you a desirable hourglass figure. Your stomach will also be sucked in.
Body Briefs
Another option if you want to slim your tummy and hips is to wear body briefs. These are like underwear to a point, but body briefs continue up to your ribcage. They’re made for both men and women to shape your rear while controlling your stomach.
Shapewear Tanks
If your larger upper half makes you feel self-conscious, then shapewear tanks, also known as control camisoles, should interest you. You wear these garments like a tank top, but they offer all-over coverage for your shoulders, breasts, stomach, and sides. All will look instantly slimmer. Do keep in mind that as a tank top, this type of shapewear is sleeveless, so it won’t do anything for your arms.
Body Shapers
A body shaper is for all-over toning. This sleeveless one-piece has a deep U-shaped cut that’s meant to reveal your bra underneath, giving your breasts a lift. The rest of the body shaper makes your waist look skinnier yet your hips shapelier.
Butt Lifter
The butt lifter has also risen to prominence. This push-up solution for your butt is a pair of shorts, sometimes high-waisted, with rear cutouts for your bum. The purpose of a butt lifter is for your derriere to look full, large, and bubbly.
What Are the Benefits of Shapewear?
If you’re not quite sure if shapewear is for you, then you’ll definitely want to read through this next section, as we’ll now highlight the many benefits of shapewear.
Increased Confidence
What you wear isn’t as important as how you feel in it. With shapewear, you can achieve optimal confidence because you’ll know that, from head to toe, you look good and feel good. Now you can focus on the day ahead rather than fretting over your outfit.
Opens More of Your Wardrobe
Are you a woman who gravitates more towards loose, roomy clothing because it’s large enough to hide what you perceive as trouble spots? Perhaps you’ve long since given up the thought of wearing colorful clothing because black makes you look slimmer.
In either of those situations, you’re about to find your wardrobe opens up in a big way when you use shapewear. Now, instead of hiding behind clothes that are a size or two too big for you, you can wear more form-fitting garments without an ounce of shame or self-consciousness. From the body-con dresses you’ve always wished you could fit into and those tight skirts or form-fitting tops, you can wear them all and feel fantastic about it when you do!
You can also give your dark clothes a much-needed break, pulling out tops and bottoms in colors like white, gray, light pink, or sky blue. Even though these hues usually extenuate your every last inch, with shapewear on underneath, that’s not such a bad thing anymore.
You May Fit into Too-Small Clothes
Another way that shapewear can open your wardrobe is by letting you wear garments that no longer fit. You may have held onto those too-small pants or a sweater that looks like it fits a kid because you spent a lot of money on these clothes. Plus, you hope that maybe you’ll someday fit into them again.
Now you can. Shapewear can slim your curves to the point where you can shimmy into those jeans and pull that shirt on easily, just as you once could. There’s no need to donate or give your friends all your old, small clothing. Hold onto it yourself and rock it again!
Your Posture Will Improve
Do you slump a lot? Do you have back pain because of it? Harvard Health Publishing in 2018 noted that poor posture can also lead to reduced digestion speed, heartburn, constipation, and incontinence.
If you’ve tried to improve your posture but to no avail, shapewear may be able to help. The fit of shapewear forces your posture into the correct position so you sit up straighter. You’ll look prouder and more confident, erase the back pain, avoid the above health issues, and support your muscles, joints, and spine.
What Are Some Shapewear Brands to Buy?
Okay, you’re convinced. You’d love to fit into your old jeans or wow your date in a body-con dress. You want to try shapewear, but which are the best brands? We’re glad you asked. Here’s an overview for your perusal, complete with shopping links.
SKIMS
The Kim Kardashian-owned SKIMS includes a variety of slimming solutions, among them shapewear, underwear, and lounge gear. You choose how much support you need (medium, high, or super high) and then you can begin shopping for waist trainers, panties, shorts, and bodysuits.
SKIMS shapewear comes in jet black or natural skin tones so you can better hide your shapewear under spring and summer clothing.
Commando
Commando is a brand with a name that speaks for itself. Their line of shapewear features control briefs, smoothing thongs, control shorts, and even skorts, slips, and bodysuits if you need extra coverage.
SPANX
No list of shapewear brands would be complete without discussing SPANX. The brand has grown to encompass bras, panties, activewear, clothing, denim, and leggings outside of shapewear.
Of course, you’re here for the shapewear, and you won’t be disappointed. You can shop by shaping level (one, two, or three) in such categories as slips, camis and tanks, panties, capris and footless options, and waist cinchers. All shapewear is available in three colors: white, black, or nude.
Wacoal
Another shapewear brand to consider is Wacoal, which is highly regarded. They’re as well-known for their expansive variety of bras as they are their shapewear, but we’ll focus on the latter for the sake of this article.
You can order shapewear like high-waisted panties, bodysuits with or without straps, and shaping leggings through Wacoal. These options will make your tummy, thighs, and hips all look smaller.
How Do You Use Shapewear?
Your shapewear arrived today. You excitedly pull it out of the box, but wearing the shapewear isn’t as clear as you had hoped for. How do you slip this thing on correctly?
It’s okay to feel a little confused the first time or two you use shapewear, but you’ll adjust to it quickly.
First thing’s first, and that’s skip your panties. Yes, even thongs shouldn’t be worn if you have shaping underwear on, as you’re limiting what the shapewear can do.
Did you buy shaping shorts or capris or maybe even a full bodysuit? Don’t wear underwear with those, either. By adding extra layers like your underwear would, you’re at risk of heat getting entrapped within your shapewear. This will make you uncomfortable and could also contribute to yeast infections in some women.
That said, when wearing a shaping slip or skirt, you should put on some underwear, as not doing so would be indecent. Shapewear-like underwear is best here, such as seamless panties.
Here are a few more tips to follow for making the most of your shapewear.
- When you have a tight low-cut shirt you want to wear, high-waisted shaping panties or shorts are recommended over a shapewear top. You can also wear a full bodysuit for this style.
- If your day calls for jeans, choose a control thong. This will hold your tummy and hips in while making your rear pop.
- For that body-con dress, a shaping slip underneath will look the most flattering.
- When wearing tight shirts or sweaters, choose a shapewear bodysuit to prevent unwanted bunching beneath your shirt.
How Long Can You Wear Shapewear?
As great as shapewear is, it’s not something you want to wear all day and night. Although shaping garments can improve your posture to reduce acid reflux, extended shapewear use can worsen acid reflux by squishing your stomach. It can also slow digestion, which again, shapewear is supposed to help with.
More severely, you might feel dizzy and lightheaded from too-tight shapewear. Your stomach might begin to hurt depending on how tight your shapewear is. That’s why, at most, you want to limit your shapewear use to eight hours at a time. This gives your body a much-needed chance to breathe.
My Shapewear Keeps Rolling Down: Why?
You thought shapewear was supposed to fit snugly, yet after an hour or so of use, yours always begins rolling down. If that’s happening, then you likely incorrectly sized your shapewear. By shrinking down what you bought by a size or two, it should fit around your ribcage firmly and not roll down anymore.
Conclusion
Shapewear is a great option for tummy control, shapelier hips, and a rounder derriere. The right shaping garments can also improve other areas of the body, such as the thighs. Now that you know more about shapewear, you can determine whether this is the right option for you, and if so, which shaping garment is best. Also, be sure to check out our article on waist trainers. Good luck!
