What to Wear Under See-Through Dresses
May 31, 2011
Well, the answer is "SOMETHING!" Have you noticed all these sheer dresses showing up on red carpets lately? How about these cut-out dresses like this one on JLo?
Is this really all that sexy? My mind instantly jumps to concern over a seam or piece of fabric accidentally moving and creating a TMI moment.
Here’s another example of what not to wear. At the Cannes Film Festival Mallika Sherawat arrived at the screening of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" wearing a sheer black gown and obvious black panties underneath.
The solution is really two-fold. First, try and resist the look altogether and find something classy to wear. But, if shock treatment is what you want, at least give everyone’s eyes a tease by wearing shapewear or lingerie in the same color as your skin tone.
Find shapewear that may actually work with these clothes at HerRoom in these departments:
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Posted by Tomima at 10:18am
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A Frank Conversation About Shapewear
January 13, 2011
I sell a lot of shapewear from many shapewear manufacturers at HerRoom. So, I’ve heard all the pitches as to why each brand thinks they do it the best. And, with some brands, I agree that their approach is unique. But, (and this is a big but) shapewear is not the panacea that many women think it is. It absolutely has limitations.
For starters, women need to understand that it can only reduce your measurement 1 to 2 inches at the most. This makes sense if you think about it. You know what a tourniquet is – a tightly compressed bandage you put on your body to stop the flow of blood. If your shapewear was too tight, your blood system could not function. This is one of the reasons why I get mad at my daughters when they put their elastic hairbands on their wrists; they are cutting off the flow of blood to their hands. This is also the reason why doctors don’t want you to wear tight knee-high nylons; this stops the flow of blood to small blood vessels in your legs.
So, now you get why shapewear has its limitations in terms of how much compression it can provide. But, here is another important point. You can not reduce body mass. A pound of flesh is a pound of flesh no matter how much you compress it. Think of it as a water balloon. You can’t make it smaller, you can only reshape it. So, let’s say you buy a biker short piece of shapewear. Yes, it will compress your tummy (assuming it comes up high enough) and your thighs, but at each end of this piece you will see a bulge – muffin top, and lines on your thighs. Your body mass has to go somewhere. It does not go away. One fact is true, the more you cover your body with shapewear, the smoother your body will appear and it can reduce the largest measuring points of your body.
A discussion of shapewear must also include a quick comment on fit. First, never buy a smaller size thinking it will give you more support. All you are doing is buying a garment that is too small for you. Buy your correct size. If your shapewear garment constantly rolls up on your legs, or rolls down from your tummy, your shapewear is too small; you need a larger size.
Having said all of this, I am still a believer in shapewear, and I wear it on occasion. It’s not because I am delusional, it’s because I am wearing something form-fitting and I want to look smooth. The other reason I wear shapwear is when I have a tummy and the garment I’m wearing will show this. A piece of shapewear helps to smooth my tummy. Also, because it is there pushing in on me, it reminds me to keep my tummy muscles tight. So, for me, it’s also a kind of silent posture reminder.
Shapwear comes in many control levels from light to very firm. The lighter levels are mainly selected by women to provide a smooth shape all day. A light to medium control camisole, for example, helps reduce bulging along the bra lines on your back. The firm to very firm should really be worn for no more than 4 to 6 hours – it’s event shapewear. Wearing this all day is a real challenge and a mental distraction because no one is truly comfortable wearing this level of support for long periods of time, and don’t even get me started about the challenges when going to the bathroom.
So, what shapewear brand do I recommend? Well, clearly every brand on my site. But, each has its own reasons. Let me enlighten you to a few. Alphabetically, let me briefly talk about BodyWrap, Cass, Rago, TC Fine and Va Bien.
BodyWrap is the original shapewear that actually knits in different levels of firmness throughout the shapewear piece. Made by a Canadian swimwear manufacaturer, it is a great product for women who want to keep their curves. It factors in having less compression in the bust, and bottom area so that these shapes can be shown off.
Cass Luxury Shapewear was the first to create garments that you can wear as outerwear but with compression built into them. So, instead of wearing shapewear AND a camisole, just buy one of their beautiful pieces and you don’t have to cover it up. The pieces look great on, and you look smooth.
Rago is one of the oldest and most traditional shapewear brands out there. The size range is vast going up to 9xl. Thier products are impressive pieces of construction with boning, non-stretch tape, and extremely firm fabrics being used to create their silhouettes. Spend the time to get into one of their garments, and you will know that you are contained with nothing hanging out.
TC Fine Shapewear specializes in firm control garments and does very impressive and very extensive wear testing before putting something on the market. They have an army of women who wear-test their garments and wash them repeatedly, then provide feedback. They boast that their products have extraordinary comfort given their firm control, use thin fabrics, give a tailored appearance, use invisible seams and do not ride up or roll down.
Finally, Va Bien is a terrific brand of shapewear owned and designed by the Gimble Family who are French. They specialize in shapewear that is also beautiful. You would never be embarassed being caught in your Va Bien shapewear. Thus it is a favorite for brides and their mothers and for other special occasions. But, you can also wear it for every day and feel like you are wearing something very beautiful.
With the New Year upon us, think about creating a new you, whether it be with exercise or shapewear or both.
Find all of these shapewear brands and more at HerRoom in these departments:
Shapewear
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Posted by Tomima at 12:00pm
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Laundering Lingerie
September 30, 2010
There was a scene in an old "Sex and the City" episode where Carrie was cradling a phone between her shoulder and ear while she was pulling lovely lacy bras out of her bathroom sink, then hanging them over her shower rod to let drip dry. Guess what? She had it right. This is really the best way to wash your lingerie – by hand in warm water with gentle detergent and then left to dry.
Why is this the best choice? It’s because of all the elastic and stretch fabrics used to make lingerie. Spandex has been revolutionary to lingerie because it gives a custom fit, reduces wrinkles and prevents bagging. But, spandex breaks down in heat. Keeping your lingerie away from hot water, chlorine and the dryer is the greatest gift you can give your lingerie – including hosiery and shapewear – and will exponentially increase its lifetime.
I hear women say they wash their lingerie in Woolite. Back when Woolite came in a jar, it was designed to wash wool sweaters quickly. Their advertising gave women the impression it was a mild detergent when in fact it was not. But today, Woolite products have changed. All are designed to go in to the washing machine, and they even have something now called Woolite Extra Delicates Care. I haven’t tried it, but it sounds like it is a mild version of traditional Woolite.
With our busy lives, it is less and less likely that we will hand wash our lingerie. Washing machines today have also become more sophisticated–they have delicate cycles and better control over water temperature and load sizes. So, washing your lingerie in a washing machine has become safer. That said, there are a few things you should do before dropping your lingerie into a washer. First, hook your bras shut. Those little hooks can catch on to other clothing. When this happens, you can cause damage to your bras as well as other clothes in the wash. You should then put your bras in a lingerie bag or one of these new washer bags specially designed for contour bras (bras with pre-formed cups).
Not containing your bras in some kind of washing bag can create havoc in your washer. The straps can get caught in the agitators or wrap around something and become stretched. This happens, and your bra can be stretched out and no longer wearable. Your lingerie investment is lost.
The water temperature should be warm but not hot. Cold water simply does not wash clothing as well as warm, but hot can deteriorate fibers in your clothing and loosen dyes which can then bleed on to other clothing.
Don’t wash your bras with items such as towels, blankets, jeans or other items that create a lot of lint. That lint could end up in your bras and could create pilling on your lingerie.
I wash my panties, shapewear and hosiery in individual laundry bags – and not in with my bras. Again, these items are delicate and you don’t want them catching on other clothes and being ruined.
Finally, let me close with another point about bras. Unless you are a profuse perspirer, you don’t need to wash your bra after every use. You can wear it up to 3 times before needing to launder it. However, it should not be worn 3 days in a row. You should alternate it with another bra, because a bra needs a good 24 hours to breath and relax back into shape before it is worn again. This alternating also helps to extend the life of your bras.
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Posted by Tomima at 10:50am
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