How to choose underwear properly
Properly fitting underwear makes a difference
‘Without proper foundations there can be no fashion.’ Christian Dior
This week I'm focusing on undies and why you should always wear good ones.
When I say wear good undies, I mean get a good fit and be comfortable, whatever shapes or styles you prefer. Properly fitting underwear can really make a difference to how you look in your outerwear and even affect how you feel. I know this sounds dramatic, but I’d go as far to say it can affect your performance at work.
How can you focus with a wedgie or if all of a sudden, your pants roll down under your belly? If your knickers are not comfy, your bra wires are digging in, you’re aware of a quad boob or there’s a bit too much wobble when you walk it can make you self-conscious.
Get the foundations right and your clothes hang better, you’ll look and feel the business.
Your pants affect your confidence
I’ll bet you have favourite pants that you like for whatever reason. Think about why they are your favourite pants is it comfort? Fit? colour? Style? Shape? Fabric? Why aren’t ALL your pants like your favourites? Life is short every day should be special. If you start your day off by getting dressed in underwear that makes you feel nice then that is like a little treat to yourself every day. It’s like you are recognising that you’re worth it.
On the other hand, wearing scronky pants is sending out the message to yourself (and anyone else who might see them) that you don’t care, you’ve given up...taking it even further, it could be a measure of your self-esteem.
Knicker style guide
Pants, knickers, drawers, bloomers or whatever you call them, come in all shapes and styles. – G-string, thong, French, high leg, low rise, mini, midi, full briefs, boy shorts, Brazilian, midi, mini, waist whopper armpit warmers. There is so much choice but most of us stick to one or two styles. How do you choose what type wear? Marks and Spencer’s have an extensive range of knickers in their lingerie department to cover all eventualities. http://www.marksandspencer.com/s/lingerie/lingerie-guides/knicker-style-guide
Choosing shapewear
Then there is shape wear, that’s another story. There are lots of body shaping undies with a hold it in factor if you’re conscious of a jelly belly or wobbly bottom. You can get ‘slimming intimates’ for all areas of insecurity. Spanx offer various shapes and styles depending on your needs choose from – butt boosting, muffin top reducing, thigh trimming, tummy taming or waist whittling. Technology has developed so that these undergarments are no longer made by structural engineers but can be quite soft and comfortable http://www.spanx.com/
It’s worth considering shape wear if you feel self-conscious – it could give you the boost you need to make you feel great when you get dressed in the morning.
For sexy shape wear there are lots of glamorous styles around at the moment with a retro vibe. There’s no need to wear skin tone apple catchers if you don’t want to. Check out What Katie Did http://www.whatkatiedid.com/ for a touch of vintage appeal - Merry Widow corsets, full on corselettes and even torsolettes.
How to tell if your bra is the right size
Moving on to bras
According to the Great British Bra survey conducted a few years ago the average British woman owns 8 bras, the most popular colour being ‘sexy’ black, and the average size is now 36DD. Apparently, 80% of women wear the wrong size bra. Bras are like shoes – you need to try them on to get a proper fit.
Getting the right size and style of bra to suit your boobs is paramount, especially if you are on the voluptuous scale. Getting them hoicked up properly can actually create a waist; I meet so many women who aren’t aware of how to fit themselves correctly.
The support from a bra should come 80% from the band and only 20% from the straps, but a large percentage of women wear a band size too big, and it rides up at the back. If you wear wired bras the wires should lay flat against your ribcage. There shouldn’t be any loose fabric or overhang causing a quad boob, even with plunge styles.
How a bra should fit
It’s worth getting yourself to a specialist shop to learn how a bra should fit your properly – you can book in for an appointment with Janice Holmes and her team at https://www.janiceroselingerie.co.uk/ or if she’s not within travelling distance for you there’s an excellent comprehensive self-fitting guide here https://www.brastop.com/pages/bra-fitting-guide. It’s worth a watch whatever your size, get yourself a cuppa and a couple of hob nobs and put your feet up for a few minutes.
If you have a shop nearby, I’d personally recommend Bravissimo https://www.bravissimo.com/ for a fitting if you are a busty lady, not a tape measure in sight, and a wonderful personal service from properly trained fitters. They specialise in D cup and above.
If you are of generous proportions in the boob department it’s not so easy to buy in the shops once you get above a G cup but there are many online stockists. You could try the wonderfully named https://www.amplebosom.com/who go up to N cup or (slightly better named) https://www.upliftedlingerie.co.uk/who sell up to a K cup.
Special occasion lingerie
If you’re looking for sexy undies for a special occasion or a boudoir photo shoot you might want to check out https://www.sensalle.com/ or http://www.figleaves.com/. At the luxury end of the market there’s http://www.agentprovocateur.com/ for the most exquisite designs and Rigby and Peller are http://www.rigbyandpeller.com/ ‘curators of luxury lingerie A-J cup’ if you fancy splashing the cash. There are some beautiful specimens that you would want to be showing off at £200 a time. (At that price you’d definitely be hand washing as recommended or at least put them in one of those special little net bags for the washing machine!)
Sort out your underwear
And finally before I sign off...
Do yourself a favour, next time you have a spare afternoon, sort out your knicker drawer. Get rid of those undies that don’t pass the ‘run over by a bus test’. (Do mums still say that?) – not that I’d suppose you’d care if you’d been run over …
Think about how good you’ll feel each day as you put on nice underwear that makes you feel special. There’s no excuse for saggy grey underwear even if you don’t want to spend much. There are some lovely designs available in a wide range of styles if you want the convenience of throwing your undies in amongst the fruit and veg at the supermarket. (Asda have matching sets for under a tenner.)
Project FAB! book
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