Choosing Undergarments For Your Wedding

Your wedding dress should fit you perfectly, making you look dazzling without sacrificing comfort. Weddings are active events for a bride, including dancing and plenty of social interactions. Considering the fact that you’ll be doing a fair amount of moving, your dress should be snug and easy to maneuver in throughout the entire ceremony. For comfort and appearance, what you wear under your dress could be just as important as the dress itself. To ensure that the dress fits as it should, a bride has about three dress fittings on average, making alterations to the dress as they’re needed. Since your undergarments have a significant effect on how your dress will fit you, it’s important to decide on what you’re going to wear underneath your dress soon after you’ve chosen it and to and bring them with you to each of your dress fittings. When choosing your undergarments, keep the design of your dress in mind. You want to be sure that the straps won’t show and that the design of the bra agrees with your dress and skin. Wearing underwear that’s visible through your dress could look sloppy, taking away from your impact and elegance.

Since your choice in undergarments has a tremendous bearing on how your dress fits you, it should support your figure in a way that makes you both look and feel incredible. Shapewear and body slimmers are commonly worn underneath wedding dresses because of their ability accentuate your curves and smooth out your shape without discomfort. Any problematic areas that your dress may cling to could be supported by your shapewear, ensuring that it stays firm and under control throughout the day. There is shapewear designed for all sorts of body types, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find something that fulfills your purpose for wearing it. Browse the various types available and select based on your preference, body type, dress color (it should match), and what you’re aiming to do with your figure. Be sure to wear your shapewear in the correct size! If you’re feeling vexed by the discomfort of constraining undergarments, it’ll show in your demeanor and expression. It’s crucial that you feel as good as you look for your wedding, so wear the right size so it fits comfortably and is adequately supportive.

Pinups of color -- great discussions from The Lingerie Addict

The wonderful writer Treacle Tart at The Lingerie Addict has a great article up celebrating women of color pinups -- extending from her amazing article on the lack of pinups of color here.

Shapewear advantages

Here's a great article on the benefits of shapewear for all body types:

Advantages of Body Wrap Shapewear

Body wrap shapewear is a great means to make your body seem toned and slim without the need of shedding weight. The body wrap shapewear brands are becoming very popular these days because they provide the bulky women with the convenient and easy solution to looking sleeker and attractive. Because they cause tightness to the whole body, they are not only suitable for bulkier women but also work great for slimmer women. Wearing body wrap shapewear underneath plus size exercise clothing gives firmness to your body which makes all outfits look beautiful on you, giving that boosted up self assurance that you have been searching for.

Types Of Body Wrap Shapewear:

There are a lot of varieties available in the market these days, varying in sizes, designs and colors. The most popular colors are blacks, whites and skin tones. With these available varieties you can match the color of body wrap shapewear to the color of your outfit. The right type of body wrap shapewear is the one that is suitable for your body requirements. You need to be aware of your problematic areas before you purchase your body wrap shapewear.

Comfort Factor:

Often there is a misconception about body wrap shapewear that wearing it means compromising with your comfort and it might be a trade off between ease and looking attractive. But truly, this is not the case. The materials used in making the body wrap shapewear are extremely comfortable and shear. Usually people cannot even tell if you are wearing body wrap shapewear underneath your outfit or plus size running suit. Materials like Spandex, Nylon and Lycra are used which are extremely stretchable thus they do not hinder any blood circulation.

Benefits Earned:

When you invest in body wrap shapewear, be sure that your money is being well spent. The wrap covers up excess amounts of useless fat and body edges, making you look leaner and prettier. Some of the body wrap shapewear provide full body support helping the backbone in keeping straight. Others are great in enhancing figure and provide complete bra coverage.

Women who have muffin tops and are anxious cause of them, can easily hide them by using body wrap shapewear. If you wear body wrap shapewear regularly, your body starts to attune itself according to that shape. This results in attaining slender figure and you can put on the once dreaded skimpy outfits. It also helps in hiding thigh ripples and cellulite giving you all the needed self confidence by enhancing your self image.

Women have given great body wrap shapewear reviews after they have used them for a considerable time period. Thus giving all the more assurance about the tremendous benefits of wearing body wrap shapewear.

Great shapewear article from 3 Fat Chicks

A fun, smart article from 3 Fat Chicks -- The Benefits of Shapewear:

Clothes Fit Better

Every woman can benefit from shapewear—regardless of your figure or fitness level. Anytime you wear fitted clothes, you can use shapewear. Whether you are wearing casual attire, such as jeans and a t-shirt, or you need to get dressed up in an evening gown for a formal event, shapewear will help to make sure that your body looks its best in your clothing.

Lose Inches Instantly

Shapewear gets rid of bra bulge, underwear lines, and muffin tops (the bulge that can hang over the tops of your jeans). Women who have recently given birth love shapewear because it gives them the confidence to wear their pre-pregnancy clothes much sooner.

Even if you are in great shape it’s still possible to experience unsightly bulges and rolls when trying to wear certain contemporary fashions. Often, no matter how small you are, some clothing designs will look better with the addition of shapewear. Women who have toiled for hours to reduce their waistlines often experience muffin tops even though they are in good shape due to the cut of trendy, low-rise jeans–and shapewear can fix this problem.

Shapewear can be used to help you fit in a smaller size while still dieting to reach your desired size. Shapewear is not only used for reduction purposes; it can also be used to lift and firm trouble areas, like the stomach and the buttocks.

Improves Posture and Helps Train Your Abdominal Muscles

Shapewear pieces that cover the entire abdominal area and incorporate shoulder straps can also be instrumental in helping to pull the shoulders up and back, giving you better posture, which can also help you to look thinner.

Thanks, smart chicks!

Body Image: Loving Your Body Inside and Out

Terrific and helpful advice for improving your body image!

With a positive or healthy body image, a woman has a real perception of her size and shape. She also feels comfortable with her body. With a negative body image, a woman has a distorted perception of her shape and size, compares her body to others, and feels shame and anxiety about her body. Being unhappy with your body can affect how you think and feel about yourself as a person. A poor body image can lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, unhealthy dieting habits, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness.

When you Look in the Mirror, do you Like What you See?

Is your body image positive or negative? If your answer is negative, you are not alone. Women in the U.S. are under pressure to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to poor body image. Women are constantly bombarded with "Barbie Doll-like" images. By presenting an ideal that is so difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It's no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. The message we're hearing is either "all women need to lose weight" or that the natural aging process is a "disastrous" fate.

Other pressures can come from the people in our lives.

• Family and friends can influence your body image with positive and negative comments.
• A doctor's health advice can be misinterpreted and affect how a woman sees herself and feels about her body.

Learning to Love What You See in the Mirror

We all want to look our best, but a healthy body is not always linked to appearance. In fact, healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes! Changing your body image means changing the way you think about your body. At the same time, healthy lifestyle choices are also key to improving body image.

• Healthy eating can promote healthy skin and hair, along with strong bones.
• Regular exercise has been shown to boost self-esteem, self-image, and energy levels.
• Plenty of rest is key to stress management.

Additional Information on Body Image:

Publications

Building a Better Body Image (Copyright © Boston Women's Health Book Collective, Inc.) — this web page lists tips about how to feel better about the way you look and empower yourself. It also links to other information from the Our Bodies, Ourselves Health Resource Center about body image.

The Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders (Copyright © National Eating Disorders Association) — This online publication provides some basic facts about the influence of the media on body image.

Organizations

• National Mental Health Information Center, SAMHSA, HHS
• Weight-Control Information Network, NIDDK, NIH, HHS
• American Association of OrthodontistsMind on the Media
• National Eating Disorders Association