TAKE CONTROL

CLEVER UNDERWEAR ENHANCES ANY OUTFIT. HERE’S TO THIS SEASON’S SUPPORTING CAST

Shape your silhouette with flattering underwear

Party season is here: a time when you can finally justify that amazing dress you’ve been coveting for months. Whatever style you choose, the key to looking truly amazing is in what lies beneath. Even the most incredible dress will look better with the right underwear, and thankfully, secret support lingerie has come a long way from the days of Bridget Jones’s grey granny pants. Contemporary collections include blush silk laser-cut knickers that create a seam-free finish, chic black bodysuits with discreet tummy control, and all manner of lace-trimmed bras with backless, strapless, one-shoulder and bustier strap trickery. ‘Shapewear enhances your figure, makes your clothes look better and gives you a real confidence boost,’ says Soozie Jenkinson, head of lingerie design at Marks & Spencer. This season, the high street institution is leading the charge with pieces that blur the lines between fashion and function. ‘We saw at the A/W 19 shows that slips, bras and big pants were styled as part of a knockout outfit rather than underneath it, which gave us confidence to develop and build on our shapewear offering,’ says Jenkinson.

‘We anticipate that in the three weeks running up to Christmas and New Year, we will sell 10 shapewear items per minute as women prepare for the party season,’ adds M&S lingerie director Laura Charles. To make your party prep easier, we asked Jenkinson to share the collection’s hardest-working pieces.