Shapewear

I’m going on a cruise soon and want to feel confident in my evening dress. Can anyone recommend some good shapewear that is not going to make me feel like a stuffed sausage please?

I've never worn any but an old friend bought some high waist control knickers and they looked good under her dress until she sat down and the waistband flipped over and she then had a ridge of overspill at the top! We laughed bout it but it was a disappointment for her especially as they were expensive. Spanx was the brand.

What about a swimming costume shaped one?

Or a slip that you wear with your own bra?

www.marksandspencer.com/firm-control-sheer-and-opaque-wear-your-own-bra-slip/p/p22232543?prevPage=srp

To be honest if you are on a cruise, you just want to be comfortable. If it's your tummy you are worried about then no one will see it once you are sitting down and you can make your entrance to the dining room with a handbag helsnin front or a pashmina folded over your arm and held in front.

I've heard the food is very good so people will be too busy chowing down on their food to notice anyone else !

www.marksandspencer.com/MSFindItemsByKeyword?facetOpen=true&cachedFilters=+96+0+975+0+975&priceMin=0&priceMax=975¤tPriceMin=0¤tPriceMax=975&lastSelectedSize=&searchTerm=control&langId=-24&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&categoryId=0&resultsPerPage=96&display=model&sortBy=product_rating|1&pageChoice=1&selectedAccordions=checkbox-

Lots of styles and options but is still go for the pashmina held over the arm!

I think the stuffed sausage look is unavoidable. I went MOB outfit shopping with a good friend whose daughter is getting married soon and while it did smooth things down a bit, it wasn’t the miracle worker they purport to be.
One piece of advice I have heard though is buy whatever you choose in a size bigger
Good luck (especially getting in and out of the garment!)

Thank you Belgravian

Sniff
Not offended, honest

m&s have agood range and usually helpful fitters who will point you in the right direction .Theres an Italian range on QVC that is really pretty if the look is important to youand it comes in great colours

I think you are right Mawbroom!

I will look at the reviews paddyann. Thank you

Just don’t is my advice!
DD wore one for a wedding ( why? She is a size 12 if that!) and had to go to the loo half way through the wedding to try and get the damn thing off, it was like having a warm python squeezing her.That was before eating and drinking anything, as well.
Wear loose floaty things on the cruise instead.

Love the comparison of a warm python squeezing you! ?

I would also worry about being too hot as these under garments can't be breathable with all the elastic can they?

Yes, DD said it was too hot.
I can’t believe women put themselves in these modern forms of restrictive corsets by choice....yet they do.

I’m a 12 to so maybe I won’t Lemongrove. I seem to remember I thought my circulation had been cut off last time!

Marian, size 12? If you are under 4ft 6 inches and a size 12 case, you may be rotund, but if you are over 5ft you are worrying unduly.

Written by someone 5ft 3 inches and a size 12. It would never occur to me in a month of Sundays that I needed corsets of any kind, however defined.

Ok. I've never admitted to trying or wearing shapewear to anyone other than husband and very close family, they saw the struggle so I could not hide it.
Firstly I got spanx body shaper with shorts type legs as advised on their website for the dress I wanted to wear. I had to be a contortionist to get it on ....and off. I tried again a few days later as advised on their website in order to get used to wearing it , it was then that I looked in a mirror...... BIG mistake !!! Once I'd stopped laughing I realised the shorts style was much too long for my short legs , they looked like Norah Batty legs only the creases were from my spanx and not my stockings. So they went back , all the way back to Germany or Belgium I think it was .I had no idea that was where they came from when I purchased them on a UK site. Neither did I know I would need a printer to print out a special returns label. I did not have one so just wrote loads of gobbledegook on the home made label and hoped they understood it somehow., they must have done as I got my refund about 6 weeks later.
Then I tried a magiform or something like that from Marisota , a bit like an embroidered swimsuit with built in bra , I looked like my grandma in this one but hers were white and mine was black . I had a very visible pantie line in this one so it went back .
I then ordered separates, a tank top type thing that was quite long in length so held my waste in a bit too but could not be worn with the dress I wanted it for as straps were too wideband only having tank top on and no bottom half support I looked like a true pear shape, not a conference pear but a bit juicy fat Williams pear so back it went.
I then ordered a different type of swimsuit style one and tried it on and thought it was ok so kept it for the special day , a christening .
On the big day I got myself all tarted up and put my cozzee on and then my dress , looked in the mirror and was so pleased but then I asked my husband to zip me up ........ Would it zip up ....Would it hell!!
I had put weight in the short time between buying the dress and the big day. It had been mother's day and easter.
So off came the dress and off came the cozzee and I put on a replacement dress I had put in my suitcase just in case as I'm a devil for spilling things down me and I knew it fit well and needed no support underwear and I've never worn any since.
So if I were you I would just make sure you have different sized dresses for the duration of the cruise, you always gain weight on a cruise and let it all hang loose and be comfy.

Hanging loose then Nanabilly seems to be the way forward!
And like you never before talked about Shapewear but you seem to have tried lots and not found the perfect one. I have tried several including a slip where you wear your own bra. Excruciating!

I would say Don't! as well.

I wore one for DD's wedding and was glad to get the thing off before the evening do.
I think if you're a size 12 you are going to look very slender on a cruise compared to some of the other passengers.

A few years ago, when DS2 was getting married, I bought Spanx underwear from John Lewis. There was a stock garment that you could try on for size. I thought it had been damaged, and pointed it out to the saleswoman. But no, it seems that it was the essential opening for going to the loo. ?. it went in the bin soon afterwards. I think I have led a sheltered life.

At the most you might be able to suck in an inch with one of these garments but the discomfort will show on your face and possibly make you irritable.

I don't suppose it's very good for your internal organs to be suddenly squished for a good few hours!

Imagine if you fainted from the heat and tightness of the garment only for the ship's very own Dr Kildare loosening your dress and discovering you trussed up like a chicken underneath!

Belgravian !!

Well, it would give the handsome doc a laugh if nothing else.

This is starting to become ‘Carry On Cruising’

I remember Holly Willoughby once saying she hated Shakespeare as it is so painful to wear and she is tiny.
Sorry ladies ...3times now I have typed sh.ape.wear and it's been changed to Shakespeare and I'm fed up of changing it.