Underwear is the part of the wardrobe that most women underinvest in and most fashion media underdiscusses, except in contexts involving making it visible. That's backwards. Underwear is what makes the clothes you wear every day work. A bad bra ruins a blazer. The wrong knicker shape ruins a pair of trousers. Poorly fitted underwear is responsible for more outfit failures than anything happening at the visible layers.
The good news is that a considered underwear wardrobe doesn't need to be expensive or extensive. It needs to work. That's the only standard that matters, and it's more achievable than the lingerie industry wants you to think.
Which style works for what
The thong exists for one reason: fitted trousers, skirts, and dresses where any visible line breaks the line of the garment. For that specific purpose, it is the correct choice. For everything else, it's a matter of personal preference, not a fashion requirement. The bikini brief is the workhorse of most women's underwear drawers for good reason: it sits at the hip, covers comfortably, and doesn't create lines under most garments. Full briefs and high-cut styles are having a genuine moment and they're also the most comfortable option for longer days.
Boy shorts work well under a specific garment type: mid-length skirts, workout clothes, and dresses where you want to avoid any VPL without the discomfort of a thong. They're not ideal under fitted trousers because the leg band can create a double line. The Brazilian cut, which is somewhere between a bikini and a thong, is a reasonable middle ground for people who find thongs uncomfortable but need something close to it in function.
The bra fit reality
Studies consistently suggest that 80% of women wear the wrong bra size. That statistic has been floating around for decades and it remains credible because bra sizing is genuinely unintuitive and most women get measured once at 17 and assume the result is permanent. It isn't. Your bra size changes with weight fluctuation, age, and hormonal shifts. Getting re-measured every couple of years is not vanity. It's how you wear clothes properly.
The signs that your bra doesn't fit: the back band rides up at the back (the band is too big, not the cup, go down a band size and up a cup), the straps dig in or fall off regularly (the band is doing no work, which means the straps are doing everything they shouldn't), the cup gaps or wrinkles at the top (cup is too big or the wrong shape for your breast), or there is overflow at the side or top (cup is too small). All of these are fit problems with solutions. None of them require a different body.
Quality vs fast fashion in underwear
Good quality cotton underwear (opens in new tab) in a mid-range price point (£8-£15 per pair) will outlast cheap options by two to three times and be more comfortable throughout. The elastic is the first thing to go in cheap underwear, and elastic degradation means the garment is functionally useless even if the fabric is intact.
Brands worth knowing: Marks and Spencer's Body collection is the standard for accessible quality in the UK. Hanky Panky makes the most comfortable lace thong of the last 30 years, genuinely. Cuup and ThirdLove have strong reputations for bra fit across a wide size range. For everyday underwear, Organic Basics and Stripe & Stare offer good quality natural-fiber options that hold up to regular washing without the elastic going within three months.
What to actually look for
For knickers: cotton or cotton-modal blend in the gusset for hygiene (a synthetic gusset is not doing what a gusset is supposed to do), wide flat waistband elastic rather than the thin round kind that digs in, and side seams that lie flat rather than curving forward or back. For bras: underwire that sits flat against your ribcage rather than floating on breast tissue, cups that contain rather than compress, and a back band that sits level rather than riding up.
Replace underwear annually or when the elastic starts to go, whichever comes first. This is not wasteful. Worn-out underwear worn under expensive clothes is the equivalent of building a house on a bad foundation. Everything that goes over it is compromised.
