Shapewear for your Wedding Outfits
BY The WMG Bride | 20 Apr, 2015 | 25476 views | 4 min read
Photography by Devang Singh
While you have exhausted all your time and efforts by hitting the gym to get fit for your wedding and look your best, a few love handles here and there never hurt anybody . Specially if you have basic shapewear for the outfit you are wearing so as to look your best in pictures and be comfortable as well.
The things to keep in mind while investing in shapewear is that :
- Shapewear should almost always be nude in color so that it does not seem out of place no matter what color your wedding outfit is
- Look for shapewear in Nylon-lycra rather than a thick cotton. The former are much easier and comfortable to wear.
- If any of your outfits is slinky, or satin material (maybe a satin gown or anarkali) - then wearing lingerie underneath is extremely unforgiving . You need to wear a one piece from top to bottom without any seams so that no lines are peeking through.
- Make double-sided tape you best friend. Specially if you have a lower back or front blouse, or if you are wearing a strapless gown on your cocktail. That strapless bra might keep sliding down and your double sided tape will do wonders (Is available at La Senza, M&S etc)
- It should be comfortable. There is nothing worse than your most intimate thing being uncomfortable. Most of the ladies want to buy a shapewear of a size as small as possible because they think smaller the size, thinner it will make them look. It will just crush your bones and wind the breath out of you.
- Shapewear worn for long periods of time can cause acidity, heartburn and other medical problems. So make sure you don't overdo the shapewear and that you have tried wearing it for a long period once before the wedding day.
For Lehengas:
Shapewear: Since Lehengas have short blouses, it is better to buy a low waist tummy tucker/ hip tucker so as to handle any fat around the lower abdomen.
Lingerie:While any kind of underwear will do under your lehenga, your bra should be carefully chosen to ensure that it has a low strap at the back (so that the straps don't come out), and that your blouse has loops on the shoulder area. You can shift the bra strap inside the loop and they will stay in place.
If your blouse is made of georgette, chiffon or any other thin material, then it's absolutely essential you get in-built cups- because thinner materials like georgette tend to cling to the body and will outline any shapewear you wear underneath.
For Anarkalis:
Shapewear: As per your requirement, you can either go for full body shapewear which conceals tummy, hips and thighs or particular shapewears for particular areas.
If you are going for a full body shapewear, make sure it does not cover your chest area (You get full body shapewear that you can wear like vests- They have straps on the shoulders but the neck starts at around the ribcage area like the one on the right above). Wearing shapewear that covers the chest area can actually be counter productive and make you look totally flat !
Lingerie: Unlike Lehengas, Anarkalis may have thinner fabric and unless you wear underwear which fully covers your derriere tightly, you may be in a bit of a jiggly situation. Specially if you are wearing an anarkali for your sangeet- make sure your lingerie is nude in color so that it doesn't show through your pastel anarkalis, and get a boring full coverage underwear.
If your anarkali has sleeves made out of net or even georgette, chances are they are pretty sheer. Wearing a bra where the strapes slide down from the shoulder on to the arm is something every girl has gone through in her life. Make sure you have a loop on the shoulder where you can attach your straps, or just wear a one piece
For sarees
It's hard to buy any kind of shapewear for saris and at best you could buy a low waisted tummy tucker, however considering that the bulk of the lower waist will be hidden by the saree anyway, it may be a bit pointless.
In terms of lingerie - as long as you have your bra straps under control (i.e. making sure they dont show up on your shoulder or at the back) it should be ok, and like we always say just get a blouse with inbuilt cups.
Shapewear is available via a lot of different brands in India - Pretty Secrets, Monomer, Marks and Spencer and more
Contributed by Mily Jain