Building from the Ground Up—Camisoles

Planning my capsule wardrobe from the ground up, I decided to ditch my six elderly cotton tank tops (in a variety of useless colors) that I wore as camisoles and buy—duh, duh, DUH!—actual camisoles.

I went to Target and found just the thing. Gilligan O’Malley Seamless Cami. I tried one on. It has a body-hugging fit so it won’t bunch up in my shirt. It pulls down to my thighs, so I’ll still be covered if I—gasp—bend over. The neckline covers my bra (one style, black and beige) completely. And at $18.00 each, the price is right. Win! I got two, in black and beige.

And then I wore one. It rolled right up above my waist the second I started moving. I couldn't make it stay down. Now this may be because I’m f.a.t. Maybe these are designed for skinny teenagers, not for middle-aged me. After all, Target’s price points are family-friendly, and most of their lingerie is teenwear. But you’d think that something that looks and acts an awful lot like shapewear should be made for middle-aged me, instead of skinny teenagers. Or maybe I bought the wrong size, maybe I’m an XL (stop judging me, women’s sizing) instead of an L. (Though the endlessly-out-of-stock Target only had S, M, and L.)

So I decided to buy better. Since I’m examine and re-developing an entire wardrobe, buying better makes sense. Off to Nordstrom, land of cheerful, helpful experts. One of the lingerie associates gave me three camis to try: Yummie Tummy Girlfriend Skinny Tank, DKNY Fusion Shaping Camisole, and Shimera Seamless Tank. (CapsuleStyle at Pinterest.)

I would never think of using piquet in a camisole, but Yummie Tummy’s Girlfriend Skinny Tank did. It’s reversible, with a vee-neck on one side and a scoop-neck on the other. I didn’t see a difference in the necklines when I tried it on, though. The vee-neck wound up looking like the scoop, except with a tiny seam right down the middle. The sales associate said that it would help keep you warm. This would have been a good selling point for me ten or more years ago, but not at my flashy time of life. And I worried that the piquet would get friendly with my shirt and make the tank bunch up.

I was immediately put off by the spaghetti straps on the Donna Karan Fusion Shaping Camisole. That’s just me—the neckline on tops with non-adjustable spaghetti straps tends to fall somewhere around my waist. Though the straps on this cami are adjustable. But make no mistake, Fusion is serious shapewear. I had to struggle to get into it and jump up and down to get out of it. (I almost panicked and called for help while trying to take it off.) It feels very tight once you’ve got it on, but not uncomfortable-tight. Though I do wonder if you’d feel claustrophobic after wearing it all day. It has a cute sweetheart neckline on the hanger, but it turned into a plain old vee-neck once I got it on. It’s short enough to make me nervous about ride-up, coming to the top of my bikini undies.

The Shimera Seamless Tank is a camisole rather than shapewear. It’s fitted and clingy, but not tight. It pulls down to mid-thigh, so it shouldn’t ride up (fingers crossed). It comes in lots of colors, and the price is right (yes, that’s my mantra) at $26.00 each, or $48.00 for two. They were all out of my size, so I ordered one to try, in “beige frappe.” In three to eight business days, I’ll be field-testing the Shimera.

Building my capsule wardrobe one piece at a time.