Rather than take the manufacturer’s word for it, staffers shimmied into various shaping undergarments. Here’s what we found:
Hallelujah stockings.
These Donna Karan Body Perfect Modern Matte Jersey stockings, $34, have accomplished the impossible: I’m willing to go back to wearing skirts and dresses in the winter.
For too long, I avoided that part of my wardrobe in the colder months because as a 5-foot-10-inch woman, finding stockings to fit wasn’t easy. The crotches dropped, the waistbands bit, and the quality was so poor they wouldn’t last much past the ride to work before they were trashed. I even tried putting other body shaper panties over stockings in an attempt to tuck the tummy and keep the darned things up where they belonged. But those weren’t comfortable, either, pinching and squeezing and riding up where they didn’t belong or forever folding down at the waistline.
And hallelujah: With these, the muffin top has been banished. — Barbara EllisIt’s all about physics.
Muffin top isn’t really my problem: I’m a dumpling-shaped woman with a penchant for dresses that are a little swingy and a little clingy.
For this test, I started with a bike-short shaper from Donna Karan’s The Body Perfect Collection, $30, under a retro- style dress, on a chilly day when I really should have been wearing stockings. The shaper smoothed saddlebag dimples that no amount of power-walking has been able to fill in, without making me feel like I was wearing a medical compression garment. The shaper also gave me a little additional warmth, but that could be a deal breaker on a hot day.
The downside: By the end of the day, the legs started rolling up, and the waist started rolling down, giving me bumps that were even less attractive than my normal lumps.
My second test was of the Yummie Tummie Tank, $62, which in theory smooths out your middle and, by virtue of a “sweep” skirting the bottom of the garment, somehow manages to stay tucked in to your low-rise jeans. I wore the top twice, once with a bra under, the second time without. Though I appreciated adequate support from the shelf bra and the shaper did, in fact, remain tucked in, I resented the fact that the garment compressed all of my natural curves (ie, my waist) and made me feel more tube- shaped than was comfortable. But I guess that’s a physics problem: The flab has to go somewhere, and if you’re stuffing 10 pounds of extra fat into a 5-pound casing, you might end up feeling like a sausage. — Dana CoffieldBelly smoother.
I don’t recall when granny panties with a Spandex front panel became a regular part of my wardrobe, but it was sometime between birthing two children and turning 50. Spanx’s Hide and Sleek panties, $30, accomplish what they’re supposed to: smoothing out a pooching belly.
But those high-waisted undies don’t cut it when I want to wear jeans and clingy shirts or sweaters, so I’ve taken to wearing stretchy camisoles.
I was interested to see how the $62 Yummie Tummie Tank tank stacked up against its counterparts that cost half as much. It has several things going for it, notably that it’s longer than most camisoles, stretching to the hips rather than stopping at the waist, so it stays tucked into clothes rather than rolling up. (It also comes in an extra-long version). The polyester and Spandex body panel offers compression without being overly restrictive, while the cotton chest, straps and bottom are comfy and soft.
— Suzanne S. Brown
