On Bijou’s recent WIW post, Joy gave her the following advice on how to resolve her preference for dressing up with the pragmatics of WFH: for your dressy side, wear perfume and fancy silk undergarments...things that gave you a boost but don’t show...

I am not a fan of the feeling of pantyhose around my middle. Once things are thick enough to be cozy tights, they’re fine, but for dress-up, I used to dread pantyhose. Then I discovered stockings and garter belts. Not the utilitarian white ones my grandma wore—Victoria’s Secret’s was expanding in Ohio. So I had a black lace garterbelt and eventually one in champagne beige. Why not get bras and panties to match? I did. The champagne set was standard under the pale pink shell I wore with my interview suit. Then I saw tap pants in the store. They were useless in daily life but still fun to have....

These days, I need new underthings. Not only have I only purchased one bra since we arrived here two years ago, some of the undies that are falling apart now were purchased before we moved to Florida a decade ago. In the meantime I’ve gained 50 lbs and lost more than that. It really is time for a clean out.

My style theme for the coming year will be experimenting with shapes—cropped and knee-length cardigans, back to pleated midis, maybe a very big coat. I want to do the same with underthings. I’m really bored with the basic bra+panties equation. The standard styles work; that’s why they are standard. Natori is nice, their Feathers bra isn’t ugly and my briefs from there are favorites, but I want to find other things that work too. It’s been a year since I posted about bra tops. I still want/need to get some, and now I’m adding the demand that they be attractive as well; why shouldn’t they be? Instead of a bra and garter belt, why not get something that combines them, like this? https://www.escora-dessous.de/.....ssous-shop Wouldn’t a mesh body stocking, provided it was not scratchy, work just as well as standard long johns or tights? (That last one is something I actually had & enjoyed quite a bit back in the day; with a skirt or dress, it looked just like tights, but it kept me warm on top and was just fun to wear (I wore cute underpants over it, because that felt more hygienic to me.))

I live in, I think, one of the most sex-positive cities in the world. There must be hundreds of lingerie shops, including dozens that produce their own wares locally, at least in part, in addition to the standard mall stores. I could spend anywhere from 5€ to hundreds per item (for example https://www.dstm.co/lingerie is on the way to the LC pool). I’m spoiled for choice here.

So this is my question: what types and shapes of lingerie/underwear/first layers work well all day long and are fun to wear because they break out of that tired bra+panties formula? A related question is what kinds of fabrics are comfortable. Silk, which Joy mentioned, is wonderful, but I doubt I’ll be able to build up a day-to-day supply entirely of silk. I wear a lot of cotton now, but I’m looking for more vavavoom than that. I notice a lot of polymide in my browsing; is it comfortable to wear, both in terms of itch and breathability? Any other suggestions on building up a foundation of sexy & fun underthings would be appreciated.

ETA: For a fun but true warning, I wanted a pic of bright red letters, maybe outlined, that said “XXX”. I do not advise searching for said letters.