Lingerie, underwear and night wear uncovered

There is huge confusion about the mysteries of women's lingerie and underwear – and not only amongst men! What exactly IS a basque and is a basque the same as a corset or a bustier? How do you work out the correct bra size? What's the difference between a thong and a g-string and why is it that boyshorts are basically designed to be worn by women and girls and not men or boys?!

In these lingerie faqs we do our best to unravel some of the mysteries of lingerie here and give you the FACTS about lingerie with a few mentions about mens underwear, sometimes also referred to as mens lingerie these days. Let's, as they say, start at the bottom...

Panties, knickers, thongs, briefs etc
Pants which have a string or strap that goes up between the buttocks are popular with those who do not want the dreaded vpl (visible panty line) under tight clothing. These are either called strings or g-strings or thongs – a g-string tends to be a very brief string between the buttocks without any 'v' shape at the top and are the briefest style of lingerie, whereas thongs provide slightly more buttock coverage. These days some women and girls wear designer or expensive thongs with the waistband often with jewels etc showing over the top of hipster-style trousers, although the low-rise thong has become popular recently so that nothing shows even over the lowest rise jeans.


Thongs and strings are very popular these days and JK Lingerie has an exciting range.



Boyshorts are a good solution as they are usually low-rise and still very sexy, plus you still avoid vpl, they are a bit like the old style brief but cut more like mini hotpants and personally I find them much more sexy than the old briefs. Then there's body-shaping underwear pulls in hips, bottoms or tummies. A control panel in the top front of a pants holds the lower stomach in.
Briefs come in various sizes and are not as popular as they used to be, losing ground to the ubiquitous thong. Some pants are cut diagonally across the buttock so as to lift the bottom and those with a high-leg cut, so the sides of the pants are high up over the hip, make the legs look longer.
Finally there's French Knickers, which are loved by many for their sheer extravagance and are a very feminine style of lingerie, being quite large, lacy, frilly and loose fitting.

Bras
There is a bewildering array of styles and types of bra available. A bra needs to be comfortable and fit well as well as being attractive as there can be health implications for women who persistently wear ill-fitting bras. We provide a bra-fitting guide – please use it before ordering to ensure you get the right size for yourself. If you're a guy buying one for your girlfriend or wife do make sure that you know her size before ordering. Of course, many people prefer to buy a set or Bra Set as it's sometimes called



A Guide to Buying Bras
Underwired bras have wire threaded through the bottom half of the cups to give more support and are better for larger busts.
Balcony or balconette bras have underwiring to lift the breasts but leave the upper part of the breast exposed.
Pushup bras push the breasts upwards and inwards to give a more flattering cleavage. Think of Pride and Prejudice and all those heaving bosoms whenever Mr D'arcy appeared! Push-up bras look very sexy under a low-cut top. Smaller sizes have removable padding at the sides of the cups to increase the size and squeeze the breasts together.
Padded bras are available for those who have a smaller chest and would like to be bigger.
Multiway bras give options such as removing the shoulder straps to wear under strapless tops or having the back strap going lower down the back to wear under backless dresses.
Sports bras are designed to give maximum support while exercising and minimising the bounce factor. Exercising in an inadequate bra can be very uncomfortable is bad for your breasts in the long-term as the tissue stretches and sags and never regains its elasticity. Minimising bras are available for larger women who want to make their bust look smaller
Whatever you're looking for, check out JK Lingerie's selection of seductive bras or brasets first

Basques, Bustiers, Corsets, Teddies, Chemises?
Corsets, basques and bustiers are tight-fitting, sleeveless garments which accentuate the female shape and give support. They are low cut across the breasts and can have straps attached to the bottom for attaching stockings. Basques tend to be quite sexy and vampy in style. Bustiers do not have shoulder straps. Corsets have boning (usually not real bone these days) sewn into the lining to pull in the waist for a trimmer figure. Camisoles are loose-fitting sleeveless tops which can come in a matching set with loose knickers like frilly shorts. Baby doll style garments have a bra top with loose-fitting material falling around the torso for a little-girl look. Bodies are all in one bra / vest top and knickers with flaps under the crotch and are sometimes called Teddies. Teddiettes are like teddies but with garters (straps for attaching stockings) attached. Chemises are short slips, like a small, sleeveless dress, or there are long slips.

Night wear, night dresses, babydolls and gowns
Night dresses or nighties for wearing in bed are available, or pyjamas which consist of a shirt and trousers and can be made of silk, satin, lace, cotton or if you're really unlucky...flannel! Dressing gowns or robes are worn over nightwear for getting up in the night or before going to bed. Babydolls are really the more 'Saucy Barbara Windsor I've come to fix your plumbing missus' style of nightwear so beloved of the best Carry on films – but they can be very sexy – see our selection...

Mens Underwear
Of course, mens underwear is a lot simpler and comprises, briefs, tangas, hipsters, thongs and boxer shorts. Ironically, boxer shorts became popular as a result of a famous jeans commercial in the eighties where a guy went to the laundrette and just took his jeans off in front of the other customers. The powers-that-be decided that briefs would be far too sexy and provocative and so decreed that instead of briefs he would have to wear boxer shorts to cover up more – strange then that they became so fashionable!
JK Lingerie has a small but perfectly formed selection of mens stuff including some sexy hipsters and thongs from Hom and Mey – we've got boxer shorts too of course.

Lingerie can be seductive and sexy or it can be just plain practical but we hope this guide to lingerie and underwear has given you some useful facts about the whole undercover world of underwear and lingerie.

Finally, lingerie and underwear comes naturally in a huge number of sizes and sometimes you may only know your size in inches and may wish to convert this to centimetres. JK Fine Lingerie Online has a useful size calculator available by clicking HERE.