Thursday, May 31, 2012

Lessons on delicates from Wacoal (plus, a contest with a P20K prize!)

I spent a Saturday a few weeks ago at a Wacoal workshop learning a whole lotta stuff about underwear. And, boy, was it such an eye-opener! All the girls who attended the workshop were horrified at how our body ages and how the wrong underwear can make you look awful. We were also inspired to take some action on that!

But let's start at the very beginning. My friends My Mom-Friday and Mommy Fleur and I were invited to the Wacoal workshop and found it quite amusing that we were surrounded by very young fashion bloggers (more on them at the end of this post!). I mean, seriously, with such lovely skinny bodies, what do they need shapewear for? Well, we were all (yes, even those fabulously perfect girls) in for a surprise!

Since 99.9% of my blog readers are girls, I’ll share with you what I learned because I’m so helpful that way. Trust me, after this post, you’ll want to ditch all your bras and panties and get proper ones!

So let’s begin with how our bodies age. When you’re in your teens and 20s, your breasts and butt look like this:

Yes, they defy gravity. It’s not just muscle tone that makes your boobs and butt perky, it’s also your super elastic skin. But if you aren’t careful (you get fat, you abuse your body with a bad lifestyle, you’re lazy, you’re exposed to the sun, etc), you’ll start to see some sagging in your 30s, like so:

When I hit my 30s, I still had the body of a young girl. Mostly because I rarely ever went to the beach (no sun exposure!) and I remained slim. But then I got pregnant and I breastfed. The resulting rapid expansion of my chest, tummy, hips, butt and thighs was a shock to the system. I’ve never quite gone back to my pre-preggy body. My boobs have definitely started to go south, my tummy bulge is there to stay, and my thighs are thicker. I am glad to report that my butt has remained perky!

At the Wacoal workshop, we learned that exercise and a healthy lifestyle will delay aging but it won’t stop it. So no matter how healthy you are, your boobs and butt will sag. Like this:

What’s a girl to do? Turn to great underwear! And that’s when Wacoal showed us the importance of not just cup size but also how different body shapes need different structured underwear.

Here are a couple of examples:
A young girl, with her fab muscle tone and firm skin, can get away with skinny straps. 

But an older woman needs a wider band so that she doesn’t have ugly back fat. Women with full breasts also need wider straps and bands for support.  

Wacoal also taught us how to put on a bra and a girdle properly. I wish I can show you how with a video but I’m shy so I’ll try to describe it:

BRA
1.     Put your arms through the straps.
2.     Bend over so that your breasts fall into the cups. Hook the back.
3.     Straighten up. Put your hand inside your bra and gather your breast from underneath your underarm and squeeze into the cup. Instant cleavage!
4.     Adjust straps for proper fit.

Note on fit: Bra straps shouldn’t cut into your shoulders. Back strap shouldn’t ride high up your back. Breast should fill the cup—no gaps—but not overflow. Overflowing cups result to what looks like four breasts!

GIRDLE
Same as with the bra really (gather up your butt cheeks!) but here’s a tip before wearing: Roll up the waist of the girdle—this makes it easier to put on!

Notes on fit: 

The workshop ended with free underwear for everyone, with a shape consultant to guide each happy girl to her perfect match. But since I was pregnant back then, I didn’t get anything and just decided to watch everybody try on undies. One young lovely girl said after her fitting, “Omigod. She gave me boobs. For the first time in my life, I have boobs. I want to marry her!” Haha. Another young girl said as she admired her trim body in the mirror, “Wow. Wow. I don’t have a tummy anymore. And I have a cute butt! Wow!”

Wow indeed. I’m definitely throwing away all my undies as soon as my body recovers from my pregnancy and buying new ones after what I learned from Wacoal! You should, too!

To help you get started on your undies revamp adventure, three fashion bloggers KryzuyBreak My Style and Kisty, together with Wacoal, are holding a Body Blogging Contest. The lucky winner stands a chance to win P20,000 worth of Wacoal GCs! Plus, runners-up get P15,000 and P10,000 worth of GCs.

Visit and like Philippine Wacoal on Facebook to find out the rules. Good luck!

To know more about the perfect underwear for you, visit Wacoal.ph 

7 comments:

  1. Great post! Very informative. :)

    Just followed you on GFC! :) Hope I get a follow back. Thanks!

    www.themommist.blogspot.com

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  2. My gosh, na self-conscious naman ako bigla! LOL! Makapag-exercise na nga! :))

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  3. This is soooo informative! Great post.

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  4. this is useful. thanks! this actually beats having the nosy marks & spencer attendant bossing you around in the dressing room. :)

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  5. This is really informative. Bloggers these days tend to show and tell fads and fashion. I prefer revisiting blogs like yours because of info like this.

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  6. Not all women look like that at whatever age. It varies according to body shape. A woman with a very defined hourglass figure will keep this figure if she takes care of herself.

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  7. Great tips for using shapewear! :) 

    My Blog: waistcincherhq

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