Finally, A Shapewear Line That Actually Gets Us

Once tights season rolls around in just a few short weeks, discussions about the quest for the perfect pair (affordable, comfortable, and rip-resistant, ideally) inevitably arise. Hue tends to come up in that conversation, offering up both classic black versions and more fashion-y colors or textures (read: maybe you'll only dig 'em for a season, but that's okay when the price points are under $20, often even under $10). Now the reasonably priced hosiery brand just rolled out its first-ever collection of shapewear.

It's been in development for two years, and the brand has focused on creating truly comfortable shapewear that won't completely cut off your circulation or have that vaguely suffocating effect (as shapewear frequently has, unfortunately).

"We wanted to be sure we did our research, found the right technology, and put out product on the market that we felt really good about, product we knew would change the way consumers thought about shapewear," Catrinel Popa, Hue's VP of design, told Refinery29. "We also are a line designed by and for women," she said, which meant the design team had a "better understanding of the comfort/shaping tradeoff and insider knowledge of women’s bodies and pain points."

The brand ran a series of studies in different parts of the country as part of the research process. Hue wanted to distinguish its first smoothing-centric offerings from the competition by focusing on comfort, and also on "the concept of shapewear being designed for a body in motion," Popa explained. As for the comfort aspect (not a word associated with this particular category of clothing), Hue wanted to break shapewear's rep for being "uncomfortable and restricting movement, so it has been relegated to special occasions, rarely even making it through the night," Popa said. In other words, this is shapewear you'll actually want to wear for more occasions than just squeezing into that punishingly fitted bridesmaid dress.

The line of underpinnings ranges from $18 to $48. In addition to a couple texture and shade combos in the shaping tights (that's Hue's bread and butter, after all), some of the collection's pieces, like the bodysuit, pictured, are cute enough to wear out, because the innerwear-as-outerwear trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Ahead, check out Hue's first foray into shapewear.