A letter from a reader

At 62, I had all but given up on shapewear. It dug in, it rolled down, and I could never wait to get home and take it off.

I almost did not write this down, because it is a slightly personal one. But three different women asked me at a lunch on Saturday how I looked so smooth and comfortable in my dress, and when that happens at 62 you start to think there might be something worth sharing.

I had a whole drawer of the stuff, and not one piece I could bear to wear for more than an hour. It dug in at the waist and left a red mark, or it rolled itself down into a sausage round my middle by teatime, or it held me in so fiercely that I could not eat my lunch or draw a proper breath. So I stopped bothering, and either wore it and was miserable, or gave up on my nicer fitted dresses altogether.

I had decided that looking smooth under a dress and being able to breathe in it were two entirely different things.

So I put the fitted dresses to the back of the wardrobe, and told myself it did not matter.

Then a friend let me in on her secret

A friend of mine, who always looks lovely and comfortable at once, finally admitted at a coffee morning what she had on underneath. It is from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly looking after women our age for a few years, and they had their summer sale on. It is called the Bricelle, a high-waisted shaping brief, and it comes in every size up to a 6XL.

Better still, they were doing buy one and get two free, so three pairs would come for the price of one. I ordered that same evening before I could talk myself out of it.

What was different about this one

The first thing I noticed was that it sits high, right up over the middle, and it stayed there. No rolling down, no sausage round the waist. The panel across the front holds the tummy in gently, firm enough to smooth everything but not so fierce that I could not breathe or bend down. And it is so soft and seamless that nothing at all shows through a dress.

What happened at the lunch

I wore it under my good fitted dress to a lunch, half expecting to be tugging at it all afternoon. Instead I forgot it was there. I sat comfortably, I ate my lunch, and I felt smooth and neat the whole day, and three separate women came over to ask how I looked so put together. When I told them my secret, they laughed and asked me to write the name down.

That was the moment it clicked for me. I had spent years believing I had to choose between looking smooth and feeling comfortable, and here was one little thing that quietly did both.

Three things I have learned since

One. It stays where you put it. The high waist sits up over the middle and does not budge, so there is no hiking it back up or that dreadful roll round the tummy by the afternoon.

Two. It smooths without squeezing. The front panel holds me in gently and evenly, firm enough to make a real difference under a dress, but I can still eat my lunch and breathe and bend to do up my shoes.

Three. Nobody knows it is there. It is seamless and soft, so nothing shows through, and honestly most of the time I forget I have it on myself.

About the price

I will be honest, when I saw the price in the sale I was a bit suspicious. Shaping that is this comfortable and stays put this well usually costs a great deal more, and it turns out it usually does.

A single pair is £29.95, down from £60.00. And at the moment it is buy one, get two free, so I paid for one pair and three arrived. Three pairs, a beige, a black and a soft rose, for £29.95. You can just mix and match whatever colours you like. 

There was no catch. It arrived quickly, it was every bit as soft and comfortable as my friend promised, and it did exactly what it said, which we all know is not always the way.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered, because three pairs for that price felt almost too good to be true. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "The first shaping knickers I can wear all day without them rolling down or digging in." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sat in the garden and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you have a drawer full of shapewear that digs in and rolls down and leaves you longing to get home and take it off, and you have all but given up on the fitted things in your wardrobe, then it is worth ten minutes of your evening to go and have a look.

Not because a pair of shaping knickers will change your life. They will not. But there is something in putting on a dress you had given up on and feeling smooth and comfortable at once, that I had quietly stopped believing in, and I would rather you did not give up on it too.

Two practical things. The buy one, get two free offer is on at the moment, so it is three pairs for the price of one, and the popular sizes go first, which I found out because the size I wanted had nearly sold out by the time I went back to tell a friend. And once the stock has sold through, that is it until next year.

My fitted dresses have come back out of the wardrobe, and I feel like myself in them again.

Caroline