How to perform femininity

December 26, 2015 5:16 PM

Form fitting sweater dress + leggings. Is there a way to do this that doesn't result in visible lumpiness around the midriff/hips where the leggings end?

I'm not naturally lumpy, in fact I am relatively svelte, but leggings are always tight enough on me that they create weird uneven lumps/love handles that look freakish with my skeleton legs. I have not yet figured out how to make this work with tight sweater dresses where the lumps remain visible.

posted by a strong female character to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (28 answers total)

Spanx. (Or, well, in my case, $12 off-brand Uniqlo Spanx)
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:19 PM on December 26, 2015

Higher-waisted leggings.
posted by babelfish at 5:24 PM on December 26, 2015

I was hoping there would be an answer that doesn't involve my organs being squeezed all day :/
posted by a strong female character at 5:24 PM on December 26, 2015

Unless you are wearing a style of leggings I am unfamiliar with, I'm going to say that your leggings are too small. Go up a size, they should still cling like leggings to the rest of you without mashing you in half at the top.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:26 PM on December 26, 2015

I was going to suggest lower rise leggings and laughed a little reading babelfish's response. I think the answer is, generally, to just try different leggings until you find ones that fit you without creating a muffin top.

I have never worn spanx in my life and I am not svelte. You don't have to do that.
posted by something something at 5:27 PM on December 26, 2015

Thigh highs instead of leggings might help avoid that.
posted by mokeydraws at 5:31 PM on December 26, 2015

Thanks! I guess the leggings I bought are probably just too tight. I'll look for different ones and see if that works better.
posted by a strong female character at 5:35 PM on December 26, 2015

Size up in your Spanx/shapewear. You'll still get the smoothed-out effect without feeling like a full-body wedgie.

Alternately, leggings with a really wide, flat, smooth waistband sometimes help with the muffining.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:39 PM on December 26, 2015

Yoga pants (the fitted, not boot cut kind) give me much less of a muffin top than actual leggings. I even have a pair with "control top" that don't make me feel squished, they are just higher waisted.
posted by missriss89 at 5:54 PM on December 26, 2015

For what it is worth, I am one of the last living slip-wearers. Slips make all your clothes hang more nicely. I can recommend the Uniqlo slips as being straightforward and effective, but of course you can also go nuts with fancy silky whatnot.

That said, I graduated from sweater dresses (regretfully), in my late 20s....
posted by chocotaco at 5:57 PM on December 26, 2015

You might also want to look for leggings with a wider waistband. I like Gap Body pure body leggings and often wear them under "bodycon" dresses without obvious lumps.
posted by siouxsiesmith at 6:05 PM on December 26, 2015

You can definitely find higher waisted leggings that aren't squeezy crazy. I'm tiny but I also sometimes have tights or leggings cut into my hip area. So go up a size and/or find some smooth top higher waisted ones. Sometimes leggings "pants" or "cigarette pants" or "riding pants" have higher waists and are still thin enough to layer under sweater dresses and such.
posted by Crystalinne at 7:01 PM on December 26, 2015

A full slip can be quite smoothing -- and keep your dress from riding up.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:19 PM on December 26, 2015

Hue is another good brand for wider waistband leggings -- very comfy, too.
posted by kmennie at 7:19 PM on December 26, 2015

Note: full slips that aren't Spanx-type shapers can be really hard to find!
posted by bluedaisy at 7:19 PM on December 26, 2015

Agree with the commenters who say a different size of leggings, as well as a slip - I wear dresses a lot and nothing helps the drape quite like a good quality cotton slip.
posted by Tamanna at 7:31 PM on December 26, 2015

Slips are quite nice for helping your clothes drape well, and also add a nice layer of warmth as well.
posted by yueliang at 7:59 PM on December 26, 2015

Definitely just try a size up before anything else. Higher waisted pants might help but ymmv.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:10 PM on December 26, 2015

I wear thigh high socks to deal with this problem. They come all the way up to the top of my leg, leave like an inch near the underwear and are great. Yeah you may have to pull them up or adjust a few times throughout a day but I find them way more comfortable.
posted by FireFountain at 8:11 PM on December 26, 2015

I have skeleton bottom legs but a big butt and thighs and a small waist and high leggings in a size bigger than normal fixes this annoying problem for me. So, keep trying leggings until you find the right ones for your shape! I got mine from Ann Taylor.
posted by sockermom at 8:12 PM on December 26, 2015

Was definitely going to step in and say "yes, appropriately-sized leggings". These are too tight. A lot of places sell leggings like they're supposed to be compression / "control" / "shape" wear, which means they go all squish squish. But if they're the right size for you, it makes SO much difference. (Waistline makes a difference too - higher waist usually means it doesn't have to be as squish-y because you've got your own shape discouraging them from sliding or rolling down. As does a slightly thicker material for the leggings, that seems to help a lot with smoothing out the hips and butt area compared to just nylons.)
posted by Lady Li at 10:17 PM on December 26, 2015

are you tall? With tights, you generally have to go up a size if you're above average height. The waistband of your leggings should on your waist not your hips so they stay up without needing to be so tight you're getting squished. If the ones you have are designed to be on your hips then, yeah - they're just too small and you need a larger size
posted by missmagenta at 5:49 AM on December 27, 2015

A long cami that goes down to your thighs can be a slip alternative - and easier to find - I've got 3-packs bought at Costco - smooths and adds warmth.
posted by leslies at 5:54 AM on December 27, 2015

Slips are my fix for this, but must be combined with the appropriate legging size to be truly effective.
posted by snorkmaiden at 9:00 AM on December 27, 2015

form-fitting outer layer + waistband underneath = lumps no matter who you are
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 10:14 AM on December 27, 2015

Another option: Instead of leggings, wear fleece tights under the dress. The waistbands of tights are generally smoother, and unless you're already wearing heavy winter leggings, fleece tights will be just as warm. (And they are also completely opaque if you are looking for that.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 12:29 PM on December 27, 2015

Like others have said, leggings that are the right size, with a wide, flat waistband will help. In addition, wear a slip. I have one each in black and nude and wear them under most of my dresses. They just help smooth everything out.
posted by eloeth-starr at 2:26 PM on December 27, 2015

Leggings of some sort are pretty much the only kind of pants I wear anymore so I feel like I know my leggings. High-waisted with a wide waistband is great advice and you might know this already, but there are a LOT of BAD leggings out there. My hands-down favorite leggings are the bog standard black leggings from Express. They're normally $30 but you can almost always get them on sale. I'm a size 12/14 (more of a 14 lately) and I buy the mediums and they're fine. The large are also good (and I'm a big believer in buying a size up, as people have mentioned above, when it comes to leggings and tights), but they're almost a little long for me (I'm 5'4") so I prefer the mediums which still feel good, don't look too tight (for leggings, which obv are tight), don't ride down, and don't make me look like a sausage. They almost go up to my ribcage, so make me feel lean in the way that spanx do, but not in an uncomfortable tight way, and not with the layering feeling that would result from wearing spanx (I HATE layering things because of the bulky feeling).
posted by triggerfinger at 8:20 PM on December 27, 2015