Suck it up

What are you wearing under there?

by Suzanne Kammlott

SHAPE SHIFTERS, clockwise from model on right: Fashion Form water bra ($36) and nude-colored waist-nipper panty ($36.99); black waist-nipper panty ($36.99); black waist-nipper girdle ($23.99). On mannequin: Petal Tops, $5.50.

Soon it'll be time to un-cocoon from winter clothes and slip into clingy, light spring fashions. If this prospect fills you with dread, fear not: this year it's okay to beat the shape nature gave you. Girdles and the like -- once the stuff of geriatrics and turn-of-the-century porn -- have taken a turn for the trendy. Even Hollywood's willowy starlets are strapping, pasting, and pinching their way to more-traditional womanly figures.

Lady Grace, a Brookline shop, sells a whole line of sleek and slimming undergarments from Flexee. The waist nipper ($23.99, or $36.99 with control panty) sports no fewer than 14 eyehooks and eight flexible side stays. Available in black or nude, it'll put some time back in your hourglass figure.

Also available at Lady Grace are a pair of body-smoothing devices politely termed "Petal Tops." These flower-shaped nipple stickers ($5.50) are like postmodern pasties, designed to provide a smooth look when you're going braless. (Warning: they'll light up under club lights at night.) Another glue-and-go product is the Braza "adhesive bra" -- feather-light horseshoe-shaped stickers that provide secret support beneath plunging neck- and backlines. Made from nonsensitizing, microporous material, they come five pairs to a pack in sizes A through DD ($8).

If you hear a suspicious swishing noise coming from your friend's sweater, it might be her new water bra. The idea is simple: take breast implants and put 'em outside the body. This bust-enhancing variant on the Wonderbra is supposed to look more natural than traditional padding; a version is available for $36 at Filene's in Downtown Crossing (fish not included).

And for proof that body dysmorphia ain't just for women anymore, check out www.underworks.com, which sells the Zip 'n Trim, a spandex girdle for men that's designed to create a shapely rear and toned stomach. Unlike ladies' undergarments, with their thousand hooks and clamps, the Zip 'n Trim boasts a quick-release zipper. Cost is $19.99 each, or $49.99 for three.

Stores mentioned in this article:
* Lady Grace, 1364 Beacon Street, Brookline, (617) 566-8194.
* Filene's, 426 Washington Street (Downtown Crossing), Boston, (617) 357-2100.