Tall Girls: Get Your Lingerie Right

Six years ago I was in New York when I saw my first Victoria’s Secret store on a stroll through the South Street Seaport.  For a farm girl from the rural Welsh Borders,  this store had a kind of mysterious, un-attainable air about it. It was something I had heard of on US shows or had caught of glimpse of when the press mentioned their legendarily glamorous annual catwalk show.  The VS models were astoundingly attractive with their eviably fit figures and phenomenal busts (how can you be supermodel slim AND have boobs? It’s just not allowed!!). I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first went in - bras in every shape, size, fabric and colour. It was the epitome of glamour. I’d never been anywhere like it.

Unfortunately for my credit cards, this visit started what I’m sure will be a life-long obsession with underwear (that’s what we call it where I come from – lingerie is a ponsey term). I buy 3 or 4 sets of brightly coloured bra’s and knickers from VS twice a year. Bras and knickers became my accessories. Sod handbags and shoes - I was all about the pants from then on.

For me, brightly coloured, glamorous bras and knickers are my fashion statement. Being so tall, it’s difficult and expensive for me to find clothes and make a statement through them so I tend to stick to what suits me and what I can find (often quite boring by  most people’s standard) for everyday wear, or I invest in a couture suit or evening dress .  Exciting underwear allows me to express myself, all be it in a private way (as I said earlier this week, nobody else has seen my underwear for quite some time!).

What Victoria’s Secret also did was to give me confidence. It was one of those situations where I didn’t realise my usual stuff wasn’t OK, until I saw the alternative. As a reasonably flat-chested but exceedingly tall, curvy girl, I’ve always felt that if I just had a cup size more, I’d be far more in proportion.  I now live permanently in their ‘Very Sexy’ range which comes with built-in gel in the cup to add around a cup size, or even two with their most extreme range (Damn it! Did I just reveal too much of my very own little secret?).

If you’re a padded/uplift bra fan, then I bet you £20 that if you try Victoria’s Secret version, you’ll wonder how you ever coped before - think of the UK highstreet offerings on padded bras as a Mini and VS’s Very Sexy version as the Lamborghini Diablo. They are that different.

And then there is the pants (that’s knickers to you non-UK people). Oh Heaven’s Above!! VS converted me to the g-string, the thong and the brazilian (I’m still talking pants here, don’t go off topic…. if you don’t know what brazilian pants are, check the VS website). Their knickers are brilliantly cut and almost create the illusion of the kind of rounded, pert bottom usually seen on the beach in Rio on my very welsh backside… well, with some low light, the right angle and a squint.

Even though I’d had attractive underwear before (Thanks to my Mum!), I didn’t realise that the UK highstreet stores offerings on the bra and knickers front were fitting me so badly until I discovered Victoria’s Secret. As with almost all clothing, US brands  generally fit the taller frame better. With bra’s this is particularly important as the shoulder straps on VS bras are where they should be – in line with my armpit, not a centimetre in from there! They also seem to be just more generous with the fabric  and the cup dimensions (and I wear only push-up, cut away cups!). When I put on my first bra in the store in NYC, I looked far better than I’d ever looked in any other. Not only did I look better with my clothes off, I looked better with my clothes on.

Now I probably have over 40 sets (always matching and I always have two pairs of pants to each bra!) of almost any colour with several patterns, some lace, some silk, some with diamante, some with embroidery… I could go on but I would start to bore you (I haven’t even started on the bikini’s).

In short, I’ll stop my evangelical-style preaching here and just say I think Victoria’s Secret bras, knickers, slips and bikini’s are cut for tall women like us. I’m not entirely sure why their cut is better, but it is. Give it a look as they as reasonably priced as Marks and Spencer, they ship internationally and could make the world of difference to you. Just like they did for me.

www.victoriassecret.com (p.s. Check out their trousers too - up to a 36 inch inseam!)

(All photo credits: victoriassecret.com)