Underneth it all

I don’t know what it’s like in your part of the world, but here fall is coming to its spectacular, grand, multi-coloured crescendo. Along with the chilling air, for some weird reason I start dreaming about lingerie… Anyone else do that? Seems a bit strange, but on the other hand, when it’s too hot outside, I have zero inclination to wear polyester (and most lingerie is polyester, even WKD so-called “silk”-pieces are made of artificial silk) or craving for tight shapewear. But during fall… oh, I dream of tap-pants, slips, stockings, elegant dressing-gowns…

In the name of honesty, this post is long overdue. I shot the pictures in my old apartment, before summer *blushes*  For some reason, spring also brings out this craving for fancy lingerie! Not too warm, not too cold outside and boom!, I’m dreaming of girdles =) 

And isn't it just perfect that a while ago, I had a shopping spree on lingerie! A couple of happy coincidences (and me being a bit slow to blog about purchases) and I now have a whole new set to show you =) On the dress-dummy, though, too shy to take pictures while wearing it...

First, I had an amazing luck months of stalking Tradera/swedish Ebay payed off and I won the auction for this vintage ruby slip.

Love the lace bodice and cutlines in the back!

Second, I splurged on What Katie Did goodies =) Initially I ordered the Hollywood dressing robe, and both the Glamour and the Cabaret girdle. I wanted to see how they felt on, as I only tried on the Glamour girdle in London, not realizing there was a similar one in the Cabaret collection.

From left to right: Cabaret girdle, Hollywood robe, Glamour girdle.

It was a total no-brainer, I kept the Cabaret girdle. WKD lingerie is proportioned for a standard figure regarding waist-hip ratio, and my hips are wider than standard. The Glamour girdle was really uncomfortably tight around the hips, digging in at the front thighs and reducing leg-movement. I wanted to be able to blues dance in it, so limited leg-movement was a no-no.

The Cabaret was much comfier! I could even do legsweeps in it. It has boning down the front, and while I didn't find the "flattening" effect to be more than the one the Glamour girdle had, it does help control the tummy. And the boning is surpisingly comfortable when I'm sitting down! Not comfy as a pair of sweats, of course, but better than a corset, or the Glamour Merry Widow.

So why is the Cabaret girdle stretchier than the Glamour? This puzzled me, they're the same size, the same brand, the website gives the same measurments for them. But... the Cabaret girdle has a single layer powermesh in the big panels, while the Glamour has a double layer, cut out in different directions, so the stretch is reduced significally. So if you're considering a girdle from WKD, and like me you have a larger than standard difference waist-hip, then I'd recommend the Cabaret.

Cabaret girdle and bra

I sent the Glamour girdle back to WKD, who by the way has en excellent return service and ships any exchanges free. All my orders and questions were handled super-fast, and I couldn't be happier with the customer service! (my own personal opinion, I'm in no way what so ever affiliated with the company). In exchange I asked for a Cabaret bra (I'd tried it out in London) and now I have a set! Yay! Hmm, might have to send for the panties eventually... ;)

I also exchanged the Hollywood robe for a smaller size. I figured "It's a dressing robe - it should be comfy roomy! I'll order one size larger than all my other stuff, then it will also match my waist measurment." I'm not sure why, but it seems like all WKD fits so that I should go down one size in comparising to what they recommend as waist measurment. This was true for this one as well - in the larger size the front wrap ended up all wrong, so the piping peeked out 10 cm beneth the waist-tie. I'm quite happy with this smaller size, though! On the question if I couldn't make it myself with a better fit and a smaller cost (in real silk, instead of synthetic) the answer is of course I could. And judging by my sewing list it would be done about the same time this will be worn out. Sometimes I find it worth to focus on the ready in ReadyToWear =)

The slip and the robe goes beautifully together! Also, you can see the how the robe ties on the inside, to keep the left side skirt from drooping.

The good part of this post being so miserably late is that I've road-tested the cabaret girdle! It' behaved really well during blues dancing, swing dancing and even dining out.
That's all from the lingerie-front! =)

Love, Erika