Foundational garment | TheaterFire

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mldyfox@reddit

I've been using Spanx or other brands' versions for a LONG time. In warmer weather, pantyhose or tights are just misery-making devices of complete discomfort, but I have to have something covering my inner thigh. Enter the bike short style Spanx.

If you're buying a vintage or vintage style actual girdle, they can skew uncomfortable. But the modern spandex Spanx smooth everything out and after a little while you barely feel them. I think they even make them in a full on pantyhose style if you need full hose.

Needing a foundation garment isn't as awful as it seems, or used to be.

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BackgroundCat@reddit

It still feels weird to me to wear a dress or skirt without pantyhose. I know they are passe, but it feels like something critical is missing when I’m bare legged.

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worstpartyever@reddit

after a little while you barely feel them

Unless you're going to a wedding in Houston in August.

I'm teasing, but the commenter above is right. You can get very whisper-light Spanx, something with medium elasticity, or go for the heavy-duty gutsuckers.

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mldyfox@reddit

Never been to a wedding in Houston in August, but I'd bet it gets unbearably hot. I'm in CT, myself.

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NotEasilyConfused@reddit

I went to one in Phoenix in July at 1:00pm in a tiny church with no AC. The windows didn't even open; no air movement at all. It was awful.

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worstpartyever@reddit

If you are ever invited to one, may I suggest declining unless the wedding in an air conditioner factory.

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Genuine907@reddit

On the testing room floor!

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Up_and_down_and_all@reddit

What even is a girdle and what does it do.....52f here who obviously has no idea.

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PepperCat1019@reddit

Girdles are shapers. They give women smooth lines under clothes.

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Up_and_down_and_all@reddit

Ahhh, so a girdle is just like shapewear then? A bit like spanx?

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PepperCat1019@reddit

The original Spanx!

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Few-Leadership7674@reddit

They also held up your nylons (before panty hose).

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LaceyBloomers@reddit

Do you mean garters? You can get girdles that have built in clips for holding up stockings, or you can get a garter set that you wear like a low belt. It has built in clips for stockings. So, you didn’t have to wear a girdle to hold up your stockings.

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Few-Leadership7674@reddit

Yes, I meant garters, but didn't want to go into the girdle clips & garter belt conversation.

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LaceyBloomers@reddit

It goes around the midsection to pull in the gut and smooth things out. In vintage times they had boning in them to really hold you in. You could probably still find some with boning now but it’s made of hard plastic instead of whale bone.

Technology has come a long way, thank the heavens. This garment from Target works very well for me:

https://www.target.com/p/maidenform-self-expressions-women-39-s-wear-your-own-bra-bodysuit-874-beige-l/-/A-14386782

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pineapple_bandit@reddit

It's something our grandmas wore in the 1960s before Spanx were invented.

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Low-Teach-8023@reddit

I don’t really need spank or anything. I have 3 slips and I had a hard time finding the last one I bought. I do like the way a slip provides a smooth foundation under some dresses and helps for thinner fabrics. I need some camisoles for some of my blouses for the same reason. I currently use tanks.

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NotEasilyConfused@reddit

Slips are so much more comfortable and smooth everything out. Shape wear squishes the soft tissue in, but the edges still push on the skin around there. I'd rather not have a bulge on top of the garment. Slips solve the entire problem, VPL and all.

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VolupVeVa@reddit

i will always balk at the idea of "needing" some sort of restrictive or confining garment(s) to suit some kind of social expectation. yes yes, one just "feels better" "more confident" all strapped into steel-belted radial spanx but it's worth asking oneself why. those "personal preferences" don't form in a vacuum.

tl;dr: nothing wrong with the jiggle-jiggle

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icedyoga@reddit (OP)

I understand the line of thinking that individuals should not “need” uncomfortable foundational wear, however it is termed, but some garments are simply unattractive without one, in my opinion. This dress was one such garment. Next wedding I will probably look for a dress not requiring one.

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marshdd@reddit

Saw a prom dress post, girl (in MY opinion) needed either shapewear or a larger dress. She posted she refused to listen to OLD women telling her to wear shapewear. Girl your dress is to tight!

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marshdd@reddit

I lost significant weight in last 2 years. Got shapewear shorts because of now deflated love handles and VERY floppy loose thigh skin. Couples months have gone by and I've yet to wear them. Seems like tip toeing at the edge of an eating disorder to wear a girdle to fit into a size zero vs a 2.

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Tinaturtle79@reddit

Exactly. Foundational pieces like slips that help your clothes lay smooth are one thing, but uncomfortable constriction where you can’t fully exhale needs to be a thing of the past.

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2workigo@reddit

I just had to purchase a dress for a black tie event. The shop owner told me *everyone* wears shapewear under dresses now, even the skinny chicks. Not sure if she said that to make me feel better or not but I don’t feel bad about it now.

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marshdd@reddit

I've lost a significant amount of weight, now at a "healthy weight/BMI first time in my life. I also have enough loose skin to affect the fit of clothes. Not the disturbing kind seen in online videos but it's a reality. I take a size 2-4 and yes there is shape wear in that size.

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Ecstatic-Bee-6217@reddit

Teen girls at size 0 buy shape wear too though!

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Safe_Statistician_72@reddit

Sad

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Genuine907@reddit

Monroe money for the companies telling us we’re all wrong from cradle to grave. 😭

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elphaba00@reddit

https://youtu.be/qL34x2d-p_4?si=o8hjOPJmrrz6MWqi

Whenever I hear girdle, I immediately think of the dance scene in Steel Magnolias

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trexcrossing@reddit

Looks like two pigs, fightin’ under a blanket

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SarcasticGirl27@reddit

I’ve been wearing shape wear under dresses since high school. Spanx are a girl’s best friend.

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TheShortWhiteGuy@reddit

I see what you did there with the "gravity of the moment" comment. 😂

At 57, I am still shooting weddings. You would be amazed by the amount of brides and grooms wearing Spanx.

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icedyoga@reddit (OP)

😃

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LaceyBloomers@reddit

This inexpensive one from Target works very well for me. It has a split crotch so you don’t have to undress to pee:

https://www.target.com/p/maidenform-self-expressions-women-39-s-wear-your-own-bra-bodysuit-874-beige-l/-/A-14386782

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SummerBirdsong@reddit

I have never trusted those split crotches. I just know I would somehow end up pee soaked.

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SnarkCatsTech@reddit

Amen. Double or triple likely if I'm "hovering" in a public toilet, wearing heels, and wrangling a formal dress. 😳☠️

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LaceyBloomers@reddit

You could try and see. The split is a generous length. 🙂

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pineapple_bandit@reddit

A girdle? I think you mean Spanx. I haven't heard or seen the word girdle since 1985.

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icedyoga@reddit (OP)

Showing my age I guess ;) what my mother always called them.

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LaceyBloomers@reddit

I think shapewear is the modern term, while spanx just refers to one brand.

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cuzitsathrowawayday@reddit

My 17yo daughter went to the prom last night and wore a “body shaper” from Target under her floor-length dress. She didn’t want any lines or bulges from a bra and regular underwear showing through the dress. It did its job.

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Dogzillas_Mom@reddit

It hurts your soul a little less if you call it shape wear rather than a girdle.

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icedyoga@reddit (OP)

Yes! But what crossed my mind when I first tried the dress on, was *#&@, I need a girdle! Shows my age I guess.

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darknesswascheap@reddit

I call them all wondershorts and was pleased to give them up a few years back.

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BigFitMama@reddit

Lane Bryant sells longline bras BUT JC Penny sells old school super support longline and girdles.

There's a A huge learning curve in formal style, but almost every formal dress is designed to be worn over shapewear and wedding planners need to start addressing that if not the people who sell the dresses in the store.

Its the difference between looking like the bridal pictures in the magazines or looking like a folded over lump of flesh.

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ancientastronaut2@reddit

For a second there, I thought you were mormon and referring to something else. 🤭

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archedhighbrow@reddit

Oh, man, this brings back memories of my gunmetal snakeskin spanx that made me feel like a boss. I still have it, but forgot it's even there until today.

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

I still wear Spanx sometimes to smooth some things out. That’s after losing 120 pounds. Skin isn’t like it used to be 😂

I’ll pick those over the slips, gurdles, and pantyhose. I was a ballerina at one point, then I sang in a show choir, so stretchy compression tights were always better, in my opinion, they don’t rip, look for Capezio brand. Around $20 a pair, but I’ve had them last 10+ years. Pantyhose can’t compare.

Some things are so much better now.

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LaVida2@reddit

Have a half slip, full slip, camisoles in beige and black sitting in my lingerie drawer now. They are not worn as often as they used to. I wasn’t into the girdles/spanx phase. I was also very happy when pantyhose disappeared. I curse whoever invented those.

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Inner-Confidence99@reddit

Girdles were the spanx of the older generation.

I’m Gen X. So my grandma wore one so did my mom, slips too.

My generation used Spandex. My daughter’s generation uses spanx.

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