Somewhere between the death of the rigid underwire bra and the rise of the matching workout set, shapewear got a quiet rebrand. Gone are the flesh-toned torture devices our mothers wrestled into for weddings. In their place: sculpting bodysuits you'd actually want to wear. Smoothing shorts that don't cut off circulation. Pieces designed less for special occasions and more for the reality of how we actually live now—which is to say, constantly in motion.

The woman buying shapewear in 2024 isn't preparing for a gala. She's looking for something that works beneath her 9 AM client call blazer and her 7 PM dinner dress without requiring a full costume change in between. She wants support, not suffocation. A silhouette, not a straitjacket.

This is shapewear for the athleisure era. And it's changing how we think about getting dressed entirely.

Athleisure Isn't Just for the Gym Anymore

We've collectively decided that comfort and style aren't opposites. Tailored trousers now live alongside performance leggings. Blazers get thrown over bodysuits. Sneakers show up at dinner reservations. The lines between gym, office, and evening have blurred beyond recognition—and our foundations need to keep up.

Traditional shapewear was never built for this. Those structured, boned pieces assumed you'd be standing still at a cocktail party, not flowing through a vinyasa sequence at lunch and sitting through back-to-back meetings afterward. They dig. They roll. They demand your attention when you should be focused on literally anything else.

The fix isn't abandoning shapewear altogether. It's rethinking what it can be. Hybrid pieces that smooth under tailoring but breathe like activewear. Bodysuits that double as tops. Shorts invisible under slip dresses but comfortable enough for a cross-country flight.

New brands have figured this out, building collections with performance-grade fabrics that feel more pilates studio than department store shapewear section. The result is foundation wear that actually fits modern life—not some idealized version of it.

Support That Moves With You

Here's what nobody talks about: the confidence boost from shapewear isn't really about looking different. It's about not thinking about your clothes at all.

No tugging at a waistband during a presentation. No wondering if that silk dress is clinging in the wrong places. No mental energy spent on whether you should have worn something else. When your base layer actually works, you forget it exists—and that's the point.

This is a different philosophy than the old-school approach, which was essentially about compression and containment. Squeeze everything in. Minimize. Hide. Modern shapewear—from brands like HEYSHAPE and others in this new wave—operates on a different principle: support the body you have rather than trying to reshape it into something else.

The practical test is simple. Can you breathe properly? Does it move when you move? Will it feel as good at 10 PM as it did at 8 AM? If the answer to any of these is no, it doesn't belong in your drawer.

One Base Layer, A Full Day of Looks

Studio to Coffee. A neutral sculpting bodysuit under a loose overshirt and high-waisted leggings. It handles your morning workout without restriction, then reads as intentional when you're grabbing a flat white afterward. No change required. Just lose the overshirt if you're warm.

For those who want sculpting that still lets you breathe, newer brands focus on buttery-soft fabrics and pieces that work under leggings, suiting and slip dresses; you can explore a curated selection of these all-day styles here, designed to move with you from studio to soirée.

Office to Dinner. Same bodysuit. Now under tailored trousers and a structured blazer. The smooth base means no bunching, no lines visible through finer fabrics. Swap flats for heels, add earrings, lose the blazer at the restaurant. You've made a complete transition without touching your underwear drawer.

Event Mode. That slip dress you bought two years ago and never wore because it showed everything? Finally wearable. Smoothing shorts underneath give you clean lines and the confidence to actually stay out late instead of leaving early because you're uncomfortable.

Travel Days. Long-haul flights are brutal enough without restrictive undergarments. Shapewear built on athleisure principles—soft, breathable, gently supportive—works under travel sets without adding to the misery. You land looking more put-together than you feel.

Your Modern Shapewear Checklist

The market has exploded. Not everything labeled "comfortable shapewear" actually is. Here's what separates the useful from the marketing hype:

Fabric matters most. You want soft and stretchy with genuine breathability—performance materials, not just thinner versions of old-school compression fabric. Cut should be versatile enough to work under multiple silhouettes without requiring a different piece for every outfit.

Comfort is non-negotiable. No digging at edges. No rolling when you sit. Compression that supports without making deep breathing difficult. If you're counting down the minutes until you can take it off, it's failed.

The best pieces now pull double duty—functioning as invisible base layers or as visible elements of an outfit. A bodysuit under an open blazer. Bike shorts peeking intentionally beneath an oversized shirt. HEYSHAPE and similar brands have leaned into this, offering pieces in size-inclusive ranges and skin-tone neutrals that work either way.

Dressing for a Non-Stop Life

Athleisure was never really about yoga pants at brunch. It was about acknowledging that rigid dress codes don't match how we actually move through our days anymore. We need clothes that transition. That adapt. That don't punish us for having schedules that refuse to stay in neat little boxes.

Good shapewear, updated for this reality, is simply part of that toolkit. Not the star of the outfit—the infrastructure that makes everything else work better. The layer you stop noticing because it's doing its job.

First alarm to last call. One foundation. A full day handled.

Featured