The shapewear, the underwear that wants to revolutionize silhouettes
The so-called shapewear undergarments rise to new media scenes to build a plural and inclusive vision of beauty.
On the rug of the Goldens Globes ceremony, actress Saoirse Ronan sparkles a thousand lights in a dress near the body signed Celine. His secret? Fleshy shorts hidden under her dress. For actress Priyanka Chopra, the subterfuge is the same. The woman behind their secret is Kim Kardashian who launched her own shapewear brand called "skims" last November. Underwear sheathing and sticky bands to support the chest: a common tool in an American underwear market, known as "solution". At the top of the list is the spandex brand launched in 2000 by Sara Blakely. Prized by presenter Oprah Winfrey, spandex would explain Gwyneth Paltrow's post-baby slender line. In 2012, her creator became the youngest billionaire in the United States Forbes rankings. This is enough to give ideas to Kim K. who is part of a market that expects an overall increase of 4% a year, or 1.1 billion, according to the report of the Global Business Information for Textiles intelligences.
Scènes en mouvements
The shapewear is basically a theatrical garment, since it is in the context of performances on artistic scenes that it will appear in the middle of the 19th century, replacing the corset. "as part of the circus, French trapezist Jules Léotard introduces unisex leotards that cover the body while maintaining it and adhering to its contours. The goal was to create pieces that leave acrobats free of their movements. Especially women who can then fly from Trapeze to Trapeze without being entangled in corsets, unlike ballet, where the costume will change little, "says Donatella Barbieri, a researcher at the University of Art in London.
These sports silhouettes echoed in fashion since in 1916 Coco Chanel, using Jersey, created light dresses, in order to release the female body. For each decade, fashion will design new fabric tools to lock up and release bodies in turn.
"the last few years have seen the reign of streetwear oversize, which hides the body under layers of clothing. Our lines, made from recycled tights, do not seek to hide or modify this existing body, but to adapt to it. In a context of changing identities, the challenge is to deconstruct old clothing while at the same time deconstructing old gendered ideals.
Le sublime pour tous
Wearing like a garment, the old shapewear, taboo, finds a new life. Yet there is still a tool for modifying the body.
"in Kardashian's range, each piece provides a" solution "for a specific part of the body, explains Johanna Zanon. In fact, the body responds to a fragmented vision. Everyone can modify a particular area at will and make his or her own combinations. It's a Frankenstein body but be careful, if the final is to obey a homogenous ideal for Instagram then we reconstruct a new trope. "
The shapewear on Kim Kardashian? A refined waist, curved buttocks and an emphasized chest. In other words, a cartoonesque silhouette that exploits the register of the grotesque according to Donatella Barbieri: "the grotesque is a caricatural aesthetic that makes it possible to highlight the false aspect. A grotesque body is a body that is explored by different types of deformations. In short, it is a political tool that allows everyone to discover themselves and to question how to break the norms of beauty in society at a given time. "
By making available to everyone tools to modify their body, the return of the shapewear allows everyone to perform a body that is not the body of his or her birth. The beginning of a new freedom?
