Spanx Me
In a post called Spanx but no Spanx (hee) the fabulous fatshionistas ponder the concept of the foundation garment.
I just received an email from Torrid inviting me to “Improve my rear view” by purchasing Spanx foundation garments. I was wondering if I should be intrigued or insulted by this advertisement. It got me to thinking how the ladies here feel about the 2007 version of a girdle. Is it yay? Nay? Only on special occasions? I have a close friend who wore one to a party once and she couldn’t wait to get home and take it off all night. Is this what we need? Squeezing ourselves into sausage casings?
Here are a sampling of some of the comments:
I don’t like the “improve your rear-view” message for the same reason I didn’t like Igigi’s “get whistled at” message – it strikes me as being about being a sexual object, rather than being a sexual subject, sexy in and for yourself.
I hate foundation garments, and I’ve gotten into huge arguments in this community on how I see them as the anti-fat-acceptance garb.
I like them for the anti-panty line, anti-chubrub affect. I don’t mind my shape, in fact, I enjoy the mega hourglass thing I have going on, but I carry ALL of my weight on my hips and thighs and little on my belly, so in a tight dress there is no hope for a panty-line to look good because it gets pronounced… It isn’t an antifat thing, it is more like a proshape thing.
So what do you think, BFDivas? Do you own them? Do you wear them? Do you love them? Do you hate them? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Advertising, Fashion
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I own a pair to wear under formal dresses. My mother is a bridal seamstress and she’ll be the first to tell you that proper foundation garments can make a dress look much better. Before they do fittings you have to bring the bra, slip and shoes you are wearing to your wedding because it can affect the fit of your dress. The “What Not to Wear” book I own has an entire chapter about proper undergarments.
As I see it, Spanx aren’t so much for squeezing you in, just smoothing you out so the dress fabric flows more smoothly and softly over your body. It’s like adding a soft focus lens to your body. They’re not meant to be a corset. If you’re suffocating in your Spanx you should probably wear the next size up.
I haven’t tried them, but I often wonder if they’re like control top pantyhose (which I do wear)? Do they squeeze you in, but then make you pooch out in other spots (like the tummy right above the waist of the hose/Spanx)? I like the control top idea in general because it just snooths me out and makes my skirts/dresses hang better.
I do appreciate the idea that we need to be aware of WHY we wear things like this, if we do. Do we do it because of how it makes us feel, or because we want to impress someone else? I’m in a weight loss process right now and while I like that my boyfriend notices, his reactions are incidental to my overall good feeling about myself, my improved energy, and the knowledge that I am being healthy.
I think it’s possible that this kind of thing may work best on hourglass or pear shapes. I have no Bridget Jones Knickers but do have “body-shaping” tights (pantyhose), and they do just smooth things out a bit without unpleasant effects. But like the last-quoted person in the main post, I need the effect more for my thighs and hips than my stomach.
In fact, what I mostly like them for is that they stay up on me, instead of wiggling downwards in an annoying fashion.
Improve your rear view? How insulting is that, though?
I wear those things to keep my thighs from chafing against one another when it’s too hot to wear pantyhose. Any shaping benefits are purely secondary.
can’t stand em. I hate support garments cause they do make me feel so uncomfortable, and the fat always pokes out the edges (even when I’m wearing the proper size) and makes a little lump or roll, so the fat displacement is just as unattractive as the uncontrolled shape would have been. I just find clothes that I feel comfortable and pretty in and that means no slinky dresses but I’m OK with that.
I’ve tried them before, and actually have a couple in my dresser drawer. However, they probably have lots of cobwebs on them, because I really don’t wear them that often unless if I “have” to (meaning being a bridesmaid and the bride feels that any fat showing in her wedding will ruin it).
I hate wearing them and try to avoid it at all costs. They’re just so darn uncomfortable! I feel like I’m being squeezed through a tiny straw. And, really, it just makes me feel less attractive. Sitting down in some of those things is a-kin to a circus trick.
And guys? Most of them don’t understand the garments and really don’t care if you wear them or not.
So my point: lets all BURN them!!! :P
I adore my Spanx. I would wear them every day, only I don’t want people to get used to seeing me in a girdle because then I’ll look appalling when, inevitably, one day I forget it or don’t feel like bothering. [This is the same reason I don't wear makeup.]
Ha! That’s mostly why I don’t wear makeup either. (That, and I’m lazy.)
Ugh. No thank you.
I love how the last comment in Mo’s post suggests that these are not “antifat” but “proshape.” WTF? These things are definitely “antifat.” They’re only “proshape” if you don’t like your shape as it is.
When I see Spanx/girdles/”shaping garments” being marketed to *men*, maybe I’ll consider one. Until then, my shape is my shape and I’m not altering it because I’m afraid of VPL, having big thighs, a poochy stomach, a bridesmaid “friend” who doesn’t want fat in her wedding (?!) or whatever.
I wear one every day. I have Spanx and I have another brand. In my case, I wear them so my clothes fit better and I am more comfortable. I like the way I look in my clothes better with my foundation garments than I do without. I like the Spanx with the high waist because otherwise there is just a big smooshing up or down and out. I find the Spanx light and comfortable too, not my mother’s girdle. :) That said, I wear it for me, not for what anyone else thinks about how I look. I also have no problem going to the grocery store in my lolling around the house clothes with no foundation garment.
And Brenda – there is a whole world of men’s shapewear out there http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mens+girdles I personally have ever only known one man who wore them. He had lost more than 100 pounds and liked the smoother look for under his clothes. Otherwise I might never know such a thing existed.
I don’t like to be constricted, so I don’t have them. I find that I don’t wear clothes, generally, that require that to look good. I have a large ass, regardless of whether I’m wearing spanx or not.
What’s interesting is that my sister (who got the tall, skinny genes) is now in her 40s and in the past couple of years has been making a big deal about needing to wear a girdle. I have to admit feeling secretly glad that I don’t have to learn how to deal with that insecurity at my age…I’m happy to be making friends with my body.
I’d wear Spanx, but they don’t come in my size (30). I guess girls my size aren’t welcome to improve their rear view.
I bought a pair of Spanx to go under a bridesmaid’s dress and then wound up not wearing the damn thing. It was uncomfortable, and the top band would roll down and leave a more unattractive line than if I hadn’t worn it. And I didn’t feel attractive in it, either.
Since the dress was strapless, I wound up buying a one-piece bustier-type thing that gave me support, smoothed out the line of the dress, and was sexy as hell on me, if my husband is to be believed. hee.
I had a pair of the Spanx tights, which were just like ultra-control-top tights, but since they got a hole in the toe just as fast as any other pair, but are more expensive, I won’t be buying them again.
Hate, hate, hate. I tried practically the whole Spanx line for my wedding reception — I was wearing a thin bias-cut cream silk dress, and it showed everything. Including the Spanx stuff, and the new and exciting bulges that Spanx gave me. I decided that my god-given bulges were far less offensive and wound up just wearing a thong.
I found all of the Spanx stuff to be monstrously uncomfortable, too. But I don’t even like control-top pantyhose.
One exception: the MamaSpanx maternity pantyhose. I hated it the first time I wore it, but I wasn’t terribly big yet and I only hated it the same way I hate all nylons. But then I got more pregnant, and tried a couple of other brands of maternity pantyhose, and realized that MamaSpanx is genius. It’s expensive but mine have lasted through several washings just fine, and wow, are those comfortable when your belly gets big. So I hate Spanx, but if you ever get knocked up and have to wear hose (which is a thing I would avoid anyway on principle), MamaSpanx is the only way to go.
While I do agree that everyone can wear what they like, there is a component to Spanx-pushing that I find repellant. It’s part and parcel of that whole acceptance by degrees thing and no better than, “It’s ok that YOU’RE fat because you have an exaggerated hourglass and your waist is much smaller than your hips and bust”. You want to wear Spanx? Go ahead! Just PLEASE don’t dress it up in feminist or fat-acceptance terms or you’re no better than the pussycat dolls and their “feminism”.
I was offended by the idea of them at first too. The name is dumb for one thing and I agree that the ad campagains are offensive.
But, as it turns out, I do wear them and other things like them from time to time. Sometimes I wear bike shorts, but I find spanx work better in hotter weather. For me, it is because they make me more comfortable. My belly is large and floppy. I find its floppy qualities uncomfortable when I am going about my day, just as I find having large flopping breasts uncomfortable.
I wear a bra every day, to take care of the breast flop issue. 9 out of 10 days, I wear jeans with either no spandex or 1% spandex. The heavy weight denim does the job for my stomach. The other days, for whatever reason, I wear a skirt or pants made out of lighter fabric. Then I generally wear spanx or something spanx-like.
I wouldn’t call wearing a bra, jeans, or some kind of control garment a feminist, non-feminist, or fat acceptance issue for me, any more than I consider wearing sweat-wicking socks with my sneakers a feminist or fat acceptance issue. It is part of having the body I do. I pay attention to what makes me feel comfortable because I like being comfortable.
I’m with Christina- being comfortable is key!
I wear bike shorts all the time under skirts to avoid chafing. For me, being comfy and chafe-free is a prerequisite for the fat-accepting, feminist aspects of my life, but the bike shorts themselves are not pro- or anti- anything. Except maybe anti-rash.
I’ve worn Spanx, and I like having another underwear option, and at least their sizes do extend into the plus range- to size G, which they say fits someone up to 325 pounds.
But it’s not empowering the way, say, Wonderwomen underoos are empowering.
“I’ve tried them before, and actually have a couple in my dresser drawer. However, they probably have lots of cobwebs on them …”
*collapses in helpless laughter, cannot comment*
I saw the woman who developed Spanx on Oprah, and she seemed really nice and genuine. So it isn’t like, where you can tell the company developed the product from a anti-fat bias. It was just developed out of a clever idea.
I don’t wear Spanx, but if I had a date, or someplace fancy to go I would try the product out.
I wear a girdle-type-thing under skirts in the summer to keep my thighs from rubbing together. It doesn’t “improve my rear view” though, because it flattens my ass considerably. What a stupid marketing line.
Just an FYI From a voluptious vixen. My b-friend is a mountain biker and he uses the greatest anti-chaf stuff on the planet. It is called Chamois Butt’r. It is for the insides of bike shorts. I hate wearing nylons in the summer in Phoenix and want to wear skirts or the dresses for summer weddings. Smooth this stuff on your inside thighs (or where ever else you rub) and it will glide across your skin and no chaffing. Small application in about 4 hours if you are sweating a lot. It is the best. You can get it at bike store or online. No more shorts or thigh gridles to keep them from rubbing together. AMEN!
Buy several ace bandages at a low price and sew them together, grab a freind and wrap that ass and waist (tighter at the waist). I personally like the look of a little bit of jiggle when walk, and men confirm this to me everyday that a little jiggle in your walk is mad sexy. Men prefer meat on your bones and they want to see that meat move, some prefer a little bit of meat and other a whole lot but either way it should move naturally when you do. Spanx give you a firmer look and thats great but I think being too firm is just a little bit odd unless you are an athlete and have the arms overall musle tone to go along with it.
I gotta say, I found this site because I was searching “spanx uncomfortable?” and this came up. I loved reading everyones comments. I’m thinking about trying them out because I have a large poochy stomach. People are always asking me if I’m pregnant which is always uncomfortable if you’re NOT! The thighs chafing issue has always pissed me off, I rarely wear skirts because my thighs break out in a rash when I do. So I understand ladies!
I use Spanx on special occassions. I have the horrible bulging stomach and slim hips so, not much helps my figure. Although the “higher power” Spanx smooth out my belly so the bulging is least pronounce to for me Spanx helps. It’s no miracle, but I must admit for my apple shape it helps a little.
I love my Spanx. They smooth me out. If you are looking for something with more hold, then you will have to look for shapewear that is compression based with spandex, nylon, or latex instead of the hoisery-based shapewear. There is a difference in the effect you get. It’s all about buying and trying them out and finding what works best for you.
I am SO, SO, SO happy I found this blog. I was excited when I got the first pair of Spanx – the pantyhose, the brief and one more kind.
Along came an event where I needed to put them on – and since Oprah and others of her celebrity wouldn’t be caught w/o their Spanx I figured fine – this will work for me.
Well, after contorting my body one hundred ways, I finally reached my waist – no wait – it was no nestled under the ‘girls’ – and then it began to roll, roll, roll to my waist. As much as my lower half may have been encased beautifully and smoothly, I now had a 4″ roll at my waist!! I thought it was me.
After reading these posts, that it wasn’t just me – others were having the same problem. And for the poster who suggested the next larger size – that is what I bought, thinking the right size wouldn’t fit.
How do these people wear these things. Is there a secret to putting them on? Also, every store I’ve seen that sells them, will not allow you to try them on – you get zapped at home.
Does ANYONE really know the proper method to putting on Spanx so they don’t roll? Gosh, Oprah must have some secrets – she weighs the same as me and I have belly problems that could use Spanx. Thanks if you can help.
I wasn’t aware of this.
Slim Cognito Body Shaping Cami SUCKS. It rolls up all the way under my rib cage. I ordered the size they told me to, I don’t think the size would matter.
It has a tiny, micro width clear rubber band around the bottom that will do nothing.
I am so disappointed if it didn’t roll up it might be a nice product.
For thigh chafing, I wear mens boxer briefs whenever I wear a skirt or dress. They are very soft and comfortable, and absorbent.