• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, November 5, 2009 11:15 AM

Sales for "shapewear" -- undergarments that aim to give women wearing tight clothes a bulge-free silhouette -- have skyrocketed since Oprah put her imprimatur on Spanx nearly a decade ago. But wearing the undergarments present some practical problems, Rachel Dodes reports.

There's no graceful way to take them off, for one thing. And, as one husband told his Spanx-wearing wife: "If you stuff five pounds into a two-pound container, it doesn't make the five pounds smaller. It just makes it stranger-looking and uncomfortable."

Manufacturers are listening. Yummie Tummie, for one, sponsored a "tell us your shapewear nightmares" competition. You'll have to click through to the story to get the details on the winning entry. Other developments: Spanx introduced an upscale collection called Haute Contour with items like a lace thong in colors like pink; lingerie designer Bruno Schiavi's Dr. Rey's Shapewear, which was developed with a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon; and Not Your Daughter's Jeans, which features a patented "Lift & Tuck" technology that the company says will make wearers drop a size.

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