If you've ever seen one of the pages of wardrobe malfunctions that grace the gossip mags these days, you may have caught a glimpse of shapewear peeking out  from under an A-List celebrity's red-carpet gown as they clamber back into their car. There's no doubt that big pants have been big news in recent years, launched back into the public eye by the infamous Bridget Jones and continued by television style evangelists like Trinny and Susannah. The fact that celebrities wear these items means that it's no longer a fashion faux-pas to do the same; and even the trimmest of us can sometimes benefit from a bit of help in the figure department, particularly those of us who are fans of vintage clothing.
 
Wearing vintage is a very different experience to wearing modern fashions. You often have to adapt your entire stance in order for it to fit properly – standing tall, sucking in your tummy and pushing out your chest. And what about the often disproportionately small waists of many skirts and dresses? The answer is simple – almost every woman, from the 1930s-1960s wore foundation garments. And that's why they always looked so good! Apart from the obvious smoothing, cinching and supporting benefits, wearing a sturdy girdle or cincher can actually give you better
posture; and they can even make a garment that seems a touch too small, actually fit.


 

But what's a glamorous girl to do if she wants that streamlined vintage silhouette without resorting to high-street brand, flesh-coloured shorts which personify the nickname 'passion-killers'?
 
Well, that's where What Katie Did comes in. We wanted for a long time to develop our own line of shapewear after selling a range of international brands over the years; and in Autumn 2008 our dream was realised. It was a labour of love, because we knew our customers would settle for nothing but the very best; and we finally released our long-awaited Glamour shapewear range to great acclaim. Featuring an amazing nine coordinating pieces, we're proud to say that there is a foundation garment to suit every shape, and indeed every outfit within our range. And, thanks to the shades (black and vintage peach) and the fabrics (slinky satin and powermesh) it all looks supremely chic – not a granny pant or cycling short in sight.
 
The Glamour range contains retro styled bras, both standard and longline; the perfect little girdle to smooth your derriere and skim inches off your hips, whilst holding up your seamed stockings; and a panty girdle that is a far cry from its matronly and restrictive predecessors. We positively encourage you to incorporate these pieces into your usual wardrobe, and feel a million dollars on an daily basis! But there are also some special occasion items that every girl should have in her lingerie drawer.

Find out which Glamour Shapewear item will solve your figure in our Shapewear Guide.

Saturday morning saw me up far too early to catch the Eurostar to Paris for Mode City, a huge lingerie trade show. I grabbed the Saturday Times to read on the way and was excited to find that Liberty of London had included a magazine about their AW09 collections in with the paper. It was only included with newspapers in the London region so I was very lucky to be in London on that day. Inside they devoted two pages to their new lingerie ranges and included a full page on What Katie Did featuring our Glamour corselette. A smaller insert picture featured our Lulu lingerie.

Once in Paris I headed down to the show and was pleased to see a lot of small English boutique brands showing. Most of the other companies showing were rather bigger so it was nice to see so much innovation coming out of the UK. I picked up UK lingerie trade magazine Underlines to check out our advert and saw that they'd given us a little bit of editorial too.

Of course, all work and no play makes for a rather boring weekend in Paris. Luckily Gentry Lane of the Gentry de Paris Review  had timed the dress rehearsal  of her show for the Sunday evening so I headed to the historic Casino de Paris. The show was spectacular and I'm sure that Dita alone manages to keep Swarovski crystal afloat! I have to say though, that it was the boys that got the most applause, including Warren Speed who added a little English humour to the proceedings. It was also nice to catch up briefly with English corsetier Velda Lauder and 21CP Holli-Mae during the interval.  I'm not going to give too much about the show away as it's running until 17th September - if you are in Paris then please go and see it! If you're not able to see it then keep your eyes on 21CP as Holli-Mae will be doing a full review as soon as the run has finished.

Dita performing at Gentry de Paris Review.

If you want to find out more about the Katie behind What Katie Did then head on over to The Sassy Minx who have just published a new interview with me.