Why A Skin Tight Fit Isn't Necessary - Your Weekly Report from Sewing Artistry

Published: Fri, 11/02/18

November 2, 2018

So a quick update on the site - the blog is up, but the Resource Center is not, so we're waiting for everything to be restored, then I can continue back to where I left off last month!

In the meantime, supposedly when All Hallow's Eve passes, we get all the really skeery stuff out of the way, but not always.  Actually, I looked upon the holiday of Halloween to get all the tastelessness out of our system before the holidays but either that lesson doesn't take, or something went askew with the lesson and skeery costumes abound after Halloween.

This one is a perfect example.

OK - so let's make something perfectly clear from the start.  I have no problem with this product, as a matter of fact this product looks really neat and I might get one for myself. 

What I have problem with is the end product.  This add is off-the-record telling us it's OK and even good to have clothes that fit skin tight.

Uuuuuuh-no.  I fight this all the time with my young kids who come into be fitting on their wedding gowns, which are not stretch and need ease in them.  Stretch doesn't so much need ease, but at the same time it doesn't and shouldn't be 3 sizes too small for you so that it stretches skin tight.

A foundation garment like this can be fabulous for a number of reasons, and one big one that hardly anyone will tell you is that is can be very supportive for your core area.  But also it can make you look good in a well-constructed and well-fitted garment that is NOT SKIN TIGHT.

Both of these garments have stretch in them, and they fit beautifully.  Now both of these gals have figures that are stick thin, which isn't practical, probable, plausible nor pretty, so don't look at their thinness.  Instead look at how they fit.  They skim the body and they have shape, but nothing here says skin tight or too small or anything like that. 

This is the type of fitting I'm talking about.  You don't see this sort of fitting a lot because this is a more expensive type of fitting rather than the skin tight stuff that Kimmie or Beyonce wear. 

But when you do see it on famous people, you recognize it immediately as professional, up-scale and yet fresh and modern.  Here's two examples of that.

This looks feminine, yet profession yet modern.


There is nothing that is tight on this figure, and you could call this the most lady-like, professional, expensive, polished look that anyone could imagine.  This is a more expensive look because these clothes have been fitted for this person, she is not buying any ole size that she can pick up and making it fit her personally.  This is why this is not a common look, because most people can't afford these kind of clothes.  These first two look like woven fabrics, but the one on the right is most likely a stretch and yet Amal Clooney hasn't showed us everything about her figure to keep a lot of it a mystery.  She has great legs and arms, but her waist is a secret, her hips, tummy, portrait, and back area are a secret too.

We sewists, on the other hand, can afford this look and can master it.  This is not sloppy, nor baggy look.  It's fitted to the figure, but doesn't give the viewer too much information (TMI) because honestly there's no one who wants to know everything about another's figure.  And if you think this is only true for thin figures, look again.

This is someone else who has to look professional,  modern, up-to-date, yet conservative and she has a huge hurdle to jump every time she goes out the door, so she's behind the ball all the time.  She's doing so much better now that she isn't in the press's eye as much as she used to be, but she's done that by dressing beautifully.

This is an excellent example of a person who has a stocky build, with little or no waist, not much of a bust, sloping shoulders, pouching tummy and plainly an older figure.  And yet look at how pretty she looks, without a diet or without sucking in underwear.



Every once in a while, there's a photo out there Camilla in TMI (too much information) and you can see this is not a svelte figure or even close.  This is a woman who enjoys her steak dinners, whiskey and her lifestyle, but she has also learned (or someone is coaching her more likely) that she can dress flatteringly, which is seen above.  And BTW this is a skin tight fit and that's shy it looks so horrible.  This photo was taken a couple of days from the photo above in the pink top and white pants for comparison. 


This is to make the point that not only do you not need an uncomfortable cinching undergarment, but that when you fit properly, you can also wear clothes that are flattering.  

Now if you want to purchase and wear that underwear, that's great.  My bet is that it gives you great lumbar and core support.  But if you do, don't wear skin tight clothes - PLEASE.  You don't have to.  Wear clothes that flatter and that means clothes that skim your body, not skin tight stretched over every inch to show ever dip and bulge in your shape. 

And you don't even have to have the figure of a model or the Duchess of Cambridge - you can have a regular figure....

....AND still be flattering.  


 

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