Lingerie Fashion

                           Buying Retro Shapewear - The Fifties Lingerie Fashion Revival

The key is to take note of your problem areas and the clothes that you are going to wear with it. So whether it's a pant suit for the day or a formal dress for a cocktail evening, make sure to wear a shapewear that can do wonders for you without making itself visible to others.

It's always nice to have a few pieces of shapewear in your lingerie drawer; it's almost like a fashion necessity. Now you won't have to battle the bulge. The right shapewear will do wonders for you, transforming you to a smooth, sexy vixen in no time - and you won't even have to keep buying a new dress every time.

Fashion goes in cyles. Not so long ago girdles and corsets were objects of mirth - the lingerie that granny used to wear. Yet shapewear is suddenly cool again, clothing to be seen in!

Several factors underlie this growth in the popularity of shapewear - and the resurgence of burlesque as an entertainment plays a big role. The designer Jean Paul Gaultier also had a major influence when he resurrected the bullet bra, and satin shapewear generally, featuring them both on his perfume bottles and in his costume designs for Madonna. Suddenly shapewear is no longer an embarrassing secret but clothing to flaunt - underwear worn as outerwear is hitting the catwalks and nightclubs. Much of the current shapewear designs are modeled on fifties designs, for it was in this decade that Dior launched the 'wasp waist' look.

His couture fashion demanded a well-defined silhouette - at a stroke it was essential for any well-dressed lady to wear a girdle or corset simply to be able to wear what was currently fashionable. Retro shapewear, whilst paying homage to those fifties designs, brings them up to date with more modern materials. The rubber content of the material originally provided the elasticity of shapewear, but today lycra has supplanted rubber, offering controlled stretch. Lycra also eliminates the not uncommon problem of latex allergy and, importantly, can be made to offer increased support selectively in different places on a garment. However the features that typify the fifties shapewear, girdles, corsets and corselettes (all-in-ones) have been retained - the satin panels, the lace detailing and sexy sheer panels.

Girdle garter clips - how many? Look round the internet and you'll find suspender belts (or garter belts if you are American!) with four six eight or more garters. Of course the minimum four will work fine, although six is probably ideal, and more than six will add a sexy frisson to the garment, but will take far longer to clip to the stocking top! Do remember that if you are looking to recreate the fifties look that six to eight garters will be preferable as you'll also be wearing seamed stockings (fully fashioned if you are a purist!) - by wearing a garter belt with six or eight garters will give your stockings stability. It does not matter if a seamless stocking rotates a little in wear, but nothing looks worse than a stocking seam that snakes unevenly up the back, or side, of the leg!

Garter clip materials Much modern lingerie uses garter clips, with plastic both for the 'frame' and for the middle garter 'button'.