One in three UK women already buy their pants at M&S, and its long-running lingerie collaboration with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has helped to expand what it’s known for, so it covers the best basic knickers and the pretty, lacy, special-occasion ones too. Now it’s coming for a new consumer: the Skims woman, who buys into Kim Kardashian’s stretchy, block-coloured bralettes, thongs in a range of nude tones and compression bodysuits. Skims was valued at $5 billion late last year and is expanding across the US but so far has limited UK stockists.
Launched on Thursday, Marks and Spencer’s Body is a 300-strong collection of shapewear, everyday basics, lace and soft fabrics. The standouts, though, are the Skims-ish pieces: sculpting thong bodysuits, bum-rounding shorts, stretchy bralettes.
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I have a Skims scoop bralette at home, so I head straight for the Body Invisibles Non Wired Micro Crop Top for a direct comparison. They’re both soft and stretchy polyamide/elastane mixes with adjustable straps; the M&S version (marksandspencer.com) is £16 to Skims’ £36 (skims.com). Part of the appeal of both is the flat-to-your-body finish that doesn’t show under clothes, which means very stretchy fabric and a wrestle to get them on without clasps. Once on, it’s surprisingly supportive without an underwire, and with very minimal coverage (I’m a D cup and as it comes in dress sizes rather than bra sizes, I try a few: the 12 fits the best). Even better is the Non Wired Crop Top (£22). Unlike the micro, this one has moulded cups with light, removable padding. It’s comfortable (once it’s on), supportive, pretty, doesn’t show through my shirt.
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While I’m in the changing room, since it’s the kind with a proper lockable door rather than a curtain, I try on the compressive bodysuits (in a size medium). Awful to get on, as is anything shaping or compressive — not helped by a call from a DPD delivery driver when I’m one boob into the plunge-neckline shaping body. Once in, I try my own trousers over the top and need to tighten my belt a loop further than I did this morning. Skims’ bodysuits have had a viral response on social media for the same effect, but at about £100 a pop. Marks & Spencer’s version is £22, which is lucky as I can’t get it off again.
I already buy most of my pants here, but I’ve been tempted by the clean lines and block colours of Skims in the past, budget willing. Minimal, sculpting underwear that doesn’t look awful is still a rarity. Or it was — now I’ll get mine at M&S. Charlie Gowans-Eglinton
Rosie Davenport
Testing: Body Sculpt Seamless High Waist Thong, £15
Body Sculpt Seamless High Waist Thong, £15
The quest for the perfect wedding guest outfit led me to a crucial discovery: there is a wrong time to buy shapewear. Mine was 8.55pm on a Thursday, a desperate dash through the three-storey fluorescent hell of Westfield, ping-ponging between the bookends of the mall, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. A last-minute click-and-collect purchase left me with a clinging satin backless dress. God help me. Now my only hope lay in the M&S Body Sculpt Seamless High Waist Thong, a garment I was now investing more emotional energy in than the dress itself — I’d even briefly considered a £150 Spanx alternative. Rationale had vanished.
Ripping the box open at home, I was confronted with the first brutal truth: the size 8 (small) shapewear looked like it was designed for an eight-year-old. My heart sank but I had faith in stretch. I wrestled my way in, noticing with alarm the metal-disc-like compressions in the back. It certainly flattered my stomach, or rather, suffocated it — there was no way I could manage a glass of prosecco, let alone a three-course wedding breakfast, in this scaffolding. At the front the thong silhouette was seamless, allowing my curves to, well, curve. But then I turned around.
Verdict Now I can answer the age-old question: where does the fat go when wearing shapewear? It simply goes where the shapewear isn’t. The garment’s high-rise design ruined the beautiful low back of my dress. Rolls of flesh, previously unseen, escaped the top of the pants, undulating into folds that will for ever change how I look at my own body. Off it came, kicked onto the floor — my self-esteem with it.
Georgina Roberts
Testing: Body Sculpt Firm Control Seamless High Leg Body, £25
Body Sculpt Firm Control Seamless High Leg Body, £25
I am a shapewear virgin, so I don’t know what to expect from M&S’s suit, which is essentially a very tight leotard. Putting it on feels as if I’m squeezing my body into a pair of tights. The material it’s made out of isn’t far off tights either — it’s not particularly soft.
This suit claims it will “enhance your curves, offering targeted compression to the tummy and waist”. I can feel that compression on my stomach immediately. My tummy, previously showing under my slip dress, now disappears. The suit has also “snatched” my waist in, making it more pronounced and smooth.
I’m impressed with the cinching tummy results but the problem is that the suit also compresses my (already quite small) boobs. They’re now almost as flat as my stomach. The other negative is the high leg cut, which I feel riding up at the back when I’m sitting at my desk.
Wearing this, I can have a washboard stomach, but I have to sacrifice a cup size and endure the feeling of it hoisting me in. A friend tells me that whenever she wears shapewear she gets indigestion and thinks the garment causes this by pushing on her stomach.
Verdict This body suit would be uncomfortable to wear for more than an hour on a night out and it’s a relief when I take it off. I’ll pass.
Ceci Browning
Testing: Body Sculpt Firm Control Seamless Thigh Slimmer, £18
Body Sculpt Firm Control Seamless Thigh Slimmer, £18
My hopes were high on opening the box and discovering how teeny-tiny the thigh slimmer was. Surely this knee brace-looking thing would carve my lower body into that of a bodacious Renaissance sculpture? Promisingly, it was much trickier to wriggle into than the 6in Sweaty Betty cycling shorts I usually wear beneath skirts and dresses, my secret weapon when serious sucking-in is required.
The effects, though, were a mixed success. From the front, I looked phenomenal, all curves and slopes, like an old-fashioned Coca-Cola bottle. The waistband showed no sign of rolling up, as promised, and the legs stretched down to just above the knee without cutting me off mid-thigh. But the side-angle was disappointing. Rather than lifting my bum to Kardashian levels of glory, it cut me off below the cheeks, making me look from the hips down like a capital P. Also, the low, reinforced gusset was reminiscent of wearing a sanitary pad. Very unglamorous.
Verdict For £18? Not terrible but I think I’ll stick to my secret sports shorts.
Susie Lethbridge
Testing: Body Sculpt Firm Control Seamless All In One, £28
Body Sculpt Firm Control Seamless All In One, £28
In comparison to Skims’ iterations, priced between £84 and £104, this is notably less eye-watering at just £28. And having lived in the Skims bodysuit for the past year, I can say with some authority that M&S’s version is not only easier to wrestle on but more comfortable once there. It does a commendable job of smoothing things over and is particularly good at hiding the post-lunchtime bloat.
Crucially, while most shorts-style bodysuits can cause the dreaded mid-thigh bulge at the seams, M&S’s does not. It even features an open gusset for quick trips to the loo — although if you’re anything like me, you’ll end up stripping off anyway.
The caveat? The lack of built-in bra support. It’s designed not to wear a bra underneath but if you’re bigger-chested like I am, you’ll definitely need to.
Verdict Not a bad alternative to Skims, considering the price.