Foundation garments – shapewear, bra and knickers, what should I wear under my wedding dress?
Ladies!! This is a hugely overlooked part of your wedding preparation! Boom! I said it.
Ok, I know I am a professional and I work with this kind of thing every day. But honestly the preparations which goes into your wedding dress shopping, to not consider what you will wear under, is a very big mistake. Foundation garments do what they say, they are the foundation of your outfit.
I would like you to consider this issue already when you try on dresses, and before you settle on your dream dress, it should not be an afterthought.
We are all different, some ladies, would not even consider emptying the letterbox without a fully supported bra, others are quite happy going to work with no bra. This is a hugely personal issue, and although you can ask advice, you will have to be happy with your decision.
Your under garments depends very much on what type of dress you pick. If you are going for a strapless fully corseted dress. You will probably not want to wear a bra. Perhaps you would want to ask your dressmaker to fit in some cups, sometimes on a boned dress, it can feel quite hard on the skin. If you always wear a bra a strapless might be able to do the trick, make sure when your dress is fitted you ask for a loop at the back to thread the bra through, so it NEVER makes an appearance on the day. Do not get yourself talked into buying one of those long length bra’s, bone on top of bone does not work, they often also shape your boobs too hard so you end up with boobs a different shape than your dress is.
If you have a softer dress, then things are a bit more complicated. Often brides are sold dresses in shops and been told “just ask the dressmaker to fit in some cups for support” but think about it.. if you wear a lose top, like a t-shirt or sweat shirt, and you stitched in some cups, they would not support you, they would just float around inside the top along with your boobs.
So if you have a softer dress, your support should be on you. A lot of those low back dresses are around at the moment, I am a fan of those little stick on cups, they look like a normal bra, cup, but is attaching by tape under your arm. There are loads of more expensive options than these including those gel ones, which I often think are too heavy.
If you have a softer style dress, and If you are small busted and young you may want to consider going bra less. I think it’s a lovely option, and I think you can get away with more see through, and more shape of your bust than if you are big busted, as it just all gets a bit much. If you are going bra less, you may want to consider the little daisies, so you don’t have the “cold nipple” issue.
Depending on the cut of your dress, you may be able to wear a multi way bra, or a little multiway body suit, but you need a trial run of such.
And ALWAYS ALWAYS test run the tape on your body for 24 hour to see you do not develop an allergic reaction on the day. If you use any tape, also make sure you don’t use any body lotion or perfume or talk or similar on the area before putting it on. You want the tape to last all night and keep you in the same position so dry skin is the way to go when doing this.
What colour to chose, well many will go for ivory or white the colour of your underwear should be the colour of your skin, so flesh colour. This does not mean the ‘dead flesh’ colour you sometimes see. If you are really pale skin, it may be a cream colour, I tend to go for a really pale pink for winter time and a sandy beige for summer time.
Ok, so the pant part. It’s a tricky one; Many ladies think they need to go for those crazy Bridget Jones, hold me in, tight knickers. In my opinion, for most brides, it’s just too much. Often, they create a problem elsewhere by leaving a line on the leg where they stop or on the belly. So if you need a bit of support or are worried about chafing, tights might be the thing. You can get tights with support on the belly and a bum lift; these are worn commando… no knickers! And no VPL! Brilliant!
If you settle for a pair of knickers. Then again few options to consider. Calvin Klein makes lovely paper thin nude style knickers, they are great under a dress, I think usually the little shorts or the thong is most invisible instead of the plain knickers.
Marks & Spenser also have a no VPL range.
Oooh and then your feet! Did you break your shoes in? make sure you do so, put them on in the house, and wear an old sock over the top of them so they don’t get marked. Stockings, tights and pop socks will all protect your feet against blisters, and you can always take them off later if you are hot, worse is it if you get a blister early on.
