Shaping different views: Will Spanx ever be sexy?

IN a scene from the new female buddy cop movie, The Heat, two FBI agents — Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy — get up close and personal in a ladies loo.

Sun, 18 Aug, 2013 - 01:00

Katy Harrington

Bullock stands with the legs of her cut-off trousers puddled around her ankles, McCarthy looks on in disbelief at her undergarments. “They’re Spanx, they just hold everything together,” offers Bullock’s character as an explanation. To which McCarthy replies: “Why, what’s going to come popping out?”

We pour ourselves into shapewear to look our best in body-hugging clothes. But are we willing to sacrifice feeling sexy for looking slimmer?

I remember buying my first pair of ‘hold-me-in knickers’ (as they will always be known in our household) very clearly. I was panic shopping for a wedding the next day. With an unforgiving silk dress in one hand, I searched the lingerie section for a shapewear miracle and chose a thick black garment that sucked me in from under my bra to the top of my knees and cost almost as much as the dress itself. It looked like a cross between a whalebone corset and a burlesque wetsuit. I spent the day of the wedding tugging it up, down, and sideways and generally sweating like a pig in a butcher’s shop.

Later that night when I arrived home to my boyfriend, I tried to remove my huge pants in a hurry and shove them into my tiny clutch bag before he came near me. Unfortunately he walked in mid-manoeuvre. It was not pretty.

Since then, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with shapewear. I keep breaking up with my big knickers because, let’s face it, they are hideous, but the minute I have to wear anything fitted I run straight back to them and beg for forgiveness.

Shapewear has come a long way since it first hit our shores, and Irish women have embraced the boom, with some of us owning up to a dozen pairs from basic two-for-€10 tummy suckers to high-power pants that cost hundreds.

Debenhams stock almost 100 different styles across their own brand, Maidenform, Spanx, and Triumph. In the last four years, sales have increased by 75% and the demand is such that shapewear now commands its own section in the lingerie department.

“I don’t own one pair, I own three,” says one woman. Another admitted: “I own multiple pairs in different colours, different styles... everything from the cycling short to the under-the-boob-huggers, the full pants, and the G-string types... from the priciest brands to the budget versions.”

Most women will admit to owning shapewear but are we still ashamed to be spotted wearing Spanx? “In the beginning, women did find it a taboo subject, but now I think a lot less,” self-made billionaire and creator of Spanx, Sara Blakely tells Feelgood.

The entrepreneur, who credits her own “butt” as the inspiration for Spanx, kick-started a shapewear revolution back in 1998. The company now manufactures an estimated 36,000 body-shapers a day — more than 5.4m Spanx Power Panties have been sold worldwide.

High-profile celebrities being papped in their pants certainly seems to have helped lessen the stigma. Beyoncé has been pictured wearing them on stage, singer Adele admitted to wearing multiple pairs at once, and Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, and supermodel Heidi Klum have all declared their allegiance.

“Alongside celebrity fans, women are happy talking about wearing them. I have to pinch myself every time I hear that a celebrity like Julia Roberts has mentioned she wears Spanx. Last year, Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer talked about Spanx on every red carpet. I think it’s great that all of the Hollywood girls wear Spanx to look red-carpet ready,” says Blakely.

Celebs may be happy to wear Spanx to help them look perfect on the red carpet, but there is no getting away from the fact that Bridget Jones-style mummy pants are passion killers in the bedroom. So how do real women cope with revealing what lies beneath? While one married woman from Cork admitted she was yet to brave undressing in front of her husband while wearing Spanx, single girls were more forthcoming with their tricks and tips.

“You obviously change in the ladies’ toilets before you go home with someone,” was the advice of a Dublin singleton.

A single woman from Cork said: “I had one episode where I had a pair on and went home with a guy that night. Thankfully, he turned out the lights before we started fooling around so I had time to whip them off and shove them into my handbag.”

An Irish woman living in London offers this advice: “Carrying a spare pair of lacy knickers in the handbag is compulsory. But you need to make sure you put them in an inside pocket of the bag to ensure no embarrassing exposure at the bar when paying for drinks.”

Carrying ‘plan-b’ knickers in your bag might be a thing of the past soon, because believe it or not, shapewear is getting sexier. Lacy body suits, slinky slips, and bustiers are being introduced by many brands to give women more options among the sea of black and beige.

Sharon Webb, head of lingerie buying and design at Debenhams comments: “We have seen a really surge in sales of glamour shapewear attractive garments that have a hidden secret, particularly for the Christmas season.”

Webb adds that “super-soft shapewear with fabric you can barely feel on the skin” are also increasing in popularity — that embarrassing moment when a guy runs his hand down your back only to find a knicker line where it shouldn’t be might never happen again.

And thankfully, for anyone who has experienced the very unsexy scenario of sweaty Spanx, lightweight sheer fabric shapewear that helps keep you cool will be with us by spring, says Webb.

Excited to be invited to #sraa2013 at posh London hotel this evening. Slinky frock, high heels and taking with me my one true love - #spanx
— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) May 13, 2013

Shapewear is evolving, from one basic style to 20 ranges, now available in different slimming levels, targeting areas all over the body in tights and leggings, bras and slips and even swimwear, but the secret of its success has stayed they same.

“It’s all about boosting women’s confidence… and their butts,” says Sara Blakeley.

Shapewear may never be as sexy as something racy from Victoria’s Secret or Agent Provocateur, but sometimes women are happy to sacrifice sex appeal underneath for a slinkier appearance on the outside. And who doesn’t need a little support from an old friend every now and again?