There is more to body shaping than surgical cuts and slices. Whereas surgeries and other medical treatments for body shaping are gaining popularity, there always are alternatives: body shaping techniques that drag you away from surgical knives, needles, scalpels, and of course, bills.
In its most general sense, body shaping is basically altering the body or some of its parts to be able to attain a “goal” size or shape. It may involve actual or direct alteration such as surgery, or subtler ways to gradually control or affect the growth or appearance of the body. Examples of non-surgical body shaping techniques are exercise, diet, body-building, and corsetry.
The concept behind the use of corsets has already expanded over time. Corsets are tight-fitting clothes worn by women, which shape their torso in a way that conforms with the “ideal” or fashionable torso shape of the time. It was only in the 19th century that these garments were termed “corsets”, but such pieces of cloth had already been used long before that.
From the concept of controlling the growth or shape of the torso through corsets, other clothes and garments are now manufactured to control the growth or shape of women’s other body parts. These body-shaping clothes and undergarments now come in different varieties to help shape a woman’s body into an ideal fit. There are bras, panties, and other women’s underwear items that are designed to enhance butt shape, breast size and form, waist and hip proportion, and others.
Body shaping undergarments may be classified according to how they work or the part of the body for which they are used (top or bottom).
Classified according to how they work or the purpose that they serve, shape wears may either “give” the desired look, or support or hold the body to be able to have that desired look. Examples of shapewears intended to “give” the desired looks are padded underwear pieces such as padded panties and padded or silicone bras. These underwear pieces make the butt or the breast look bigger and fuller. On the other hand, examples of shapewears that force or support certain body parts to have that desired shape and form are:
- Control Panties
- Support Panty Hoses
- Support Tights
- Support Lingeries
- Push up Bras
- Demi or Shelf Bras
Control panties, support panty hoses, support tights, and support lingeries do not give shape to the butt like padded panties do. Rather, they are designed to support the belly, waist, and bottom into an “ideal” shape. Push-up bras enhance the cleavage and size of breasts by pushing them up with the use of wires and padding. Demi or shelf bras also enhance the cleavage through their low-cut design.