M&S Takes Shapewear Beyond Compression With £28 Hip-Boost Bodysuit

Marks & Spencer has launched a £28 “hip boost” bodysuit that places removable padded inserts into pockets at each hip. The design is intended to create the visual effect of a more pronounced hourglass silhouette.

The launch marks a move away from shapewear’s traditional language of compression and cinching towards garments that add volume. M&S lingerie director Charlotte Davies said the product responded to customer interest in “solutions that offer subtle enhancement alongside everyday comfort and confidence”.

The bodysuit follows similar hip-padded shorts released by Kim Kardashian’s Skims last year. M&S has previously sold padded bum shorts and stick-on nipples, extending its shapewear offer into products designed to alter the body’s apparent proportions beneath clothing.

As reported by The Guardian’s fashion coverage, the shift sits alongside renewed interest in constructed silhouettes across the runway and red carpet. Schiaparelli, Dior and Alaïa have recently used padding, corsetry and panniers to widen hips or reshape the waist.

The appeal of such garments also reflects a culture in which bodies are increasingly scrutinised and treated as malleable, with celebrity imagery, social media and cosmetic procedures influencing ideas of beauty. The result of M&S’s bodysuit, however, remains a styling effect: the padding changes the silhouette under clothing rather than the body itself.