Shapewear has the ability to cover the flaws and imperfections of the figure allowing you to look your best. Shapewear cannot make a 250-pound woman look like she weighs 150 pounds but, it allows you to look your best in the body you were blessed with.
My obsession wearing shapewear I guess came from my childhood. As an African American female, part of my social upbringing involved going church services. As a little girl I used to sit in the pew on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for church, Bible study, and weekday services. I used to love watching all the sisters in the church walk around in their Sunday best. What was really fun was to watch those who would come to church not dressed their best. What I mean by not best dressed is for example, wearing a suit two sizes too small with the skirt cupped underneath the buttocks with VPL (visible panty line) coming down the middle, or an ill-fitting white bra under a white silk blouse peeking out a suit coat. What I really loved were those sisters who would sit in the folded chairs and I could look at the rolls on their backs in their tightly fitting dresses and count them one by one. It is amazing how many ladies looked in the mirror that Sunday morning and said, “Yeah I’m looking good”, knowing that the skirt they were wearing was too small, the wrong cut for their physique, or needed to wear a girdle. I guess the big hats they were wearing were supposed to deflect your attention to their hats instead!
Offering time exposed all the hanging guts, waving floppy arms, VPL, ill-fitting bras, spare tires, peek-a-boo slips, and hanging breasts. Let’s not forget the cellulite-ridden thighs, jiggling buttocks and stockings with runs. If I were the fashion police, I would be standing at the end of that offering aisle handing out tickets to the tune of thousands for such grievous infractions. I call that truly a “sin” on Sunday to come out in public like that.
As a child I made a mental note to put on the shelf not emulate these ladies and cover myself well and make sure I was not a victim of VPL and the myriad of fashion faux pas. When I put on the pounds I found myself a good girdle and I still wear one because let’s be honest, everyone does not want to see your rolls. The outside appearance whether you like it our not, makes an impression on those around you. It says a lot about who you are.
If you looked in the mirror before you left your house, what would you see? If you saw a tire, hanging gut or cellulite thighs, buy some Spanx shapewear. If your arms are jiggling, buy some Slimpressions arm shapewear. Got backfat? Buy a Sassybax bra. Are you a plus-sized diva, then most shapewear runs in your size. Jill Scott has a brand of plus size bras called the Butterfly Collection for plus-sized women. If you don’t find your size there, check out my shapewear store, I have a section especially for larger cup sizes.
There is no excuse for looking shabby when you step outside of your door. From Target to Nordstrom’s, there is an option for women to purchase shapewear that will do the job. If your pinching pennies in this recession, look for sales. My newsletter can alert you when products go on sale. Sign up. I’m here to help you look your best dressed from the inside out.
In closing, shapewear can be your best friend and help you put your best foot forward. My adventure into the world of shapewear was inspired by my childhood exposure to wardrobe misfittings and heavily engrained in me how a real lady should dress and the options in women’s shapewear foundations that can help make it happen.
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Just getting in under the wire on this one for this month of February. The Vedette Bodysuit was my last trial product for this brand. This product is made of spandex, rubber latex and nylon. This bodysuit was the most comfortable of the two. The straps on this one were a little thin and I would have preferred them to be wider due to the support I would be needing on the top in the breast area. The overall hold was excellent. This bodysuit is what I would call extra-firm hold. Nothing is going anywhere in this bodysuit. It held me in all over. It was hard to get this suit on but that was because it was made of spandex so it was to be expected.
I was talking with my sister about this bodysuit and my sister brought up a really good point. For those of you with latex allergies… this would not be the suit for you. I never thought about it but there are ladies out there with allergies to latex. My suggestion would be to stick with the hoisery based shapewear and if you can read the product contents online before purchasing..then that would be the best thing to do before investing your cash in shapewear. Vedette has hosiery based shapewear so I will be doing some more investigating on their hosiery based products and see how they hold up. Wash and wear for the shapewear was excellent just a little detergent, water and drip dry. Overall I will give this style a B- minus. This shapewear also had hook and eyes in the crotch. It would work a whole lot better if these items had snaps. When you gotta go… you don’t want to have to go through a song and dance or do a jig to get these bad boys off. Hopefully these consumer opinions will reflect in changes with new products in the future. Well…there you have it. The Vedette Body shaper… it’s a keeper.
Hi Ladies,
This is my review of the Vedette Shapewear line. Today we will be talking about the Braless Corset Style 150. What can I say….this was a mixed bag. I had some likes and dislikes about this one. Overall… I am going to give it a passing grade and I will tell you why. This corset to my surprise helped with keeping my back in alignment. I have a little back problem and noticed that when I wore this corset, my back did not hurt. Now I know Vedette cannot make medical claims so this is just my personal testimony about what occurred when I wore this corset. I am top heavy and as part of my job I am at my computer most of the day. Most of the time I am pulled forward and my posture is not the best. When I wore this corset I noticed my posture was a lot better and my back was not hurting any more. Just on that point alone I am going to give it to Vedette.
The cons of this corset is since I am a plus sized woman..it is not always the most comfortable piece of shapewear. My figure is in the shape of a barrell right now so I am trying to tame my frame essentially into a different shape that it’s not used to. When I first tried this one I had a time trying to get it on but I found that after wearing it a couple of days, I began to get used to putting this corset on. As you know from before, I have trialed hoisery based shapewear so I was not expecting to put out much effort to don this shapewear. Once I understood the energy it was going to take to put these on.. I was able to put this corset on without fuss and was okay with wearing this type of shapewear.
The other con is that this type of shapewear does not breathe very well. This is not a hosiery based item. I liken it to a wet suit feel or if you have ever tried those exercise shorts from the sporting supply store the texture is similar to those. I looked on the inside label and it says this is made from rubber latex, nylon and spandex so that explains everything. When looking at the Vedette catalog, I noticed that they also sell hosiery based shapewear as well. I learned something new when using the Vedette shapewear being that there are two types of shapewear textures, hosiery based and non-hoisery based.
On the plus side, the corset has two sets of hook and eyes so if you lose weight, you can just pull it in to the next row of hooks. I am trying to lose some weight and it is kind of like a visual encouragement to see as I shrink that I am getting that much closer to moving to the second row of hooks. That makes me happy.
These shapewear are wash and wear. I used cold water and some liquid detergent and let them soak for about 30 minutes since the material is a bit heavier to make sure I cleaned them well. These shapewear have a tendency to make you sweat so good cleaning was in order.
I had a great time trialing this style shapewear and I will be coming back soon with my review of the Bodysuit Style 209 from Vedette Shapewear.
P.S. Remember to watch for the next coming review for the last Vedette item. Talk with you soon. 
I was sitting here and thinking that bras are shapewear as well. The bra helps women to achieve the form that they desire through different designs and whether it be a push up bra, padded bra or bra minimizer, they all work to change the form of the breasts to a more desireable shape or form. I went on to research the different types of bras and have made a little informative listing of the choices you have when it comes to finding a good bra. I especially wanted to focus on plus-size bras because a lot of times finding the larger sizes in the storefronts can be pretty hard. Plus size does not pertain to your body weight but the actual cup size that you fit into. A woman can be 300 pounds but wear a B cup whereas another woman who is 130 pounds may wear a G cup bra.
Types of Bras:
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Training: Bras made for girls who have begun to develop breasts but not large enough for the smallest bras to fit properly. Some say this age could be around a girl’s tween years.
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Full cup: Covers the entire breast and made for support the entire breasts.
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Demi: Low cut bra to the 1-inch level just above the nipple giving less coverage and support than its full cup counterpart.
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Padded: Traditional bra made with the addition of pads in the inner cup to increase the size of the breasts to make them appear fuller.
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Under wire: Bra made with a metal crescent shaped form sewn into the outer cups of the bra to provide support to the breasts and are especially effective in larger sizes.
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Strapless: Bras without shoulder straps.
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Convertible: A bra that can transform into many types of bra styles with the addition or subtraction of straps into different variations of placement on the body.
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Push up: Bra that accentuates the cleavage by making the breasts pull to the center and up. Most often pushup bras are worn with low-cut tops.
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Sports: Bras designed for full coverage and support for to keep the breasts in place during exercise.
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Mastectomy: Bras made with a pocket on either side or both to accommodate a breast form.
- Minimizer: This bra flattens the form of the breast and decreases the projection of the breast giving the appearance of decreased size.
This was a long post. Took me a while to write. So that’s all the information I found on different bras and all the types available. Don’t forget to take a look at the new section up top labeled “Plus Size Bras” and see if you can find something that fits and is flattering for your body type.
P.S. Remember bras are a part of your women’s shapewear arsenal.
Ladies….what a wonderful time I had wearing this item. I think the name Body Wrap is perfect for this brand of shapewear. This bodysuit once I put it on became like a second skin. I forgot I was wearing it. What really astounded me was the hold it had considering there was no underwire in the bra. I am a 44 DD on the top and the hold was magnificent. I wore this to church service and there was no pulling or bunching. No pain whatsoever. I handwashed the bodysuit and let it hang to drip dry. All the deodarant residue I had in the underarm area washed out and the item looks brand new after washing. I give this item an A+++. Big Thumbs up on this product. The only drawback this item had was I would have preferred snaps in the crotch area to the hooks so it would be easier for restroom purposes but that’s it. When looking closely at the garment, I find that in the breast area of the bodysuit there is a different thickness and grade of material in this area that makes for great support. This is also true in the buttocks area which also gives you extra lift as well. I am supremely pleased with the Body Wrap bodysuit style #4500. Stick around…there is more to come with 2 more reviews in the month of January for the remaining products which are:
- Bodysuit with underwire #45001
- Panty #45810
P.S. Be on the lookout for one of these reviews to be in video. I will be making my debut as your host. Please stay tuned for that one. :-) Thank you for reading my blog.
I was really happy when the low rise jean phase when out because I was so tired of seeing women and their underwear when they bent over. I really do not want to know you are wearing a red thong under your pants. I don’t care how sexy you think it is… me personally I just do not feel its very classy to let everyone know what’s going on when you bend over.
I’m from the old school. My mother taught me to wear a slip under my dress, a girdle if you’re jiggling and a good bra, and to not let my undergarments show. No… I am not an old maid. I’m from the Gen-X generation but I was taught how to be a lady and to keep a bit of modesty.
When Madonna made underwear outwear in the 1990s, women just went crazy showing everything and as time has passed, our children are wearing less and less clothing. It scares me to think about what our granddaughter’s are going to be given as a choice on the racks of stores in years to come. I saw this press release today and was really glad to see it. I just wish they made these for men as well because “lawd have mercy” there are some dudes that need this product really badly and they should make this a standard for all plumbers.
This product is called the Hip-T. Two women developed the product. Apparently one of the women was approached by her child after her daughter’s friends were making fun of her mom after seeing her backside being revealed in her jeans from behind. You step into it and pull it over the top of your jeans and it covers the middle and backside area. Once you pull your shirt down, it gives a layered effect.
You guys wanna call me a prude… then do so but just be honest… do we really want to see the top of people’s buttocks when they bend over or stoop down to pick up something? Give us a break and conceal that stuff. No matter if you are a size 0 or size 22— have some class.
When Whitney Houston said, “Crack is Wack”… I agree (hee-hee), but now I’m applying the phrase to fashion sense when it comes to showing your backside and underwear.
The Hip-Ts are cute and come in all different colors and a few different patterns. It’s something young girls and ladies would love and still feel stylish to boot. You can always look fashionable without looking trashy. It’s just having the arsenal to do it with.
P.S. For mother’s with teen daughter’s it is a fun way to make sure those jeans are fitting right without totally taking away your daughter’s fashion individuality. This is kind of like fashion police incognito. It’s a win-win situation.
P.P.S. Almost forgot…they carry sizes 1XL, 2XL and 3XL, so no excuses for my queen-sized ladies.
I know this post title sounds strange but Just wanted to share some new women’s shapewear that I found for the arm area. I know there are a lot of women out there who have excess skin on the arms and there really has not been a remedy for that without surgery until now. If you are not one for going under the knife, may I introduce to you Slimpressions.
Slimpressions helps to minimize that extra skin under the arms which I affectionately call “batwings” and allows you to fit into those snug blouses and sweaters and conceal those areas.
I am in the process of losing weight and I am finding that as I lose weight, my arms are getting smaller but there is still a little skin there that is just not snapping back so when I say batwings… I understand what they look like cause I have’em :-) I know I am not the only one out there…. so don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about!! (Ha-Ha).
You know those cute little shirts that you always want to wear but you can’t because the arms just don’t fit well…. try wearing the Slimpressions and then put that shirt on again and see what kind of fit you get. Slimpressions come in size 2 to 22 (they go by pant size-don’t know why). They also now have petites for those of us with shorter arm lengths and shorter torsos.
When people look at my arms in my shirt with my Slimpressions on they will never know about my secret identity and that’s the way (uh huh- uh-huh) I like it.
