Shapewear has come a long way from the painful corsets women wore in the Victorian Era. Ladies still want to create a smooth silhouette and emphasize their curves. But thanks to a lot of innovation in the shapewear industry and a lot less whalebone, they can do it without feeling like they’re constantly gasping for air. Now Lizzo is the latest to jump into the shapewear game with a new line that she says will turn the industry on its head.
The rapper, singer, songwriter, flutist and all-around badass announced the launch of her new line in a super sexy March 30 Instagram post. In the post, which got over 477,000 likes, the artist is wearing a piece from the collection with a caption that read, “This is a dream 5 years in the making…. Introducing @YITTY: Shapewear you can wear Underwear, Overwear, Anywhere. For Every Damn Body. 6X to Xs. Are you ready for the YITTY LIBERATION? Coming soon…” The artist later posted a video of herself wearing some of the YITTY pieces and giving viewers a sneak peek of what they can expect from her new line.
The Truth Hurts artist, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, chose her childhood nickname, Yitty, as the name of her shapewear brand that she says will be inclusive of all shapes and sizes. “Instead of thinking about size in this linear way, we’re thinking about it on a spectrum where everyone is included. Everyone’s size is just their size. It’s not high, it’s not low. It’s not big, it’s not small. It’s just your size,” she said.
If you’ve ever seen Lizzo on stage, you’d never guess that she ever lacked confidence. But the star says she has long felt pressure to achieve a body type that fit with the mainstream standards of beauty. She explained that she used shapewear as her way of being considered “acceptable.”
“I felt that I was constantly being told, through TV and magazines, that my body wasn’t good enough,” she said. “And, in order to be considered ‘acceptable,’ I had to inflict some sort of pain upon it to fit into an archetype of beauty. Because of this, I’ve been wearing shapewear for a long time, maybe since I was in fifth or sixth grade.”
Now, Lizzo wants to redefine shapewear as something that is comfortable and makes women feel confident. “I had an epiphany like, ‘Who can actually do something about this?’ I decided to take on the challenge of allowing women to feel unapologetically good about themselves again,” she said.
The YITTY line will launch with three collections. Nearly Naked is designed to be lightweight seamless shapewear for everyday use. Mesh Me are more fashion-forward mesh pieces that can double as outerwear. Major Label, a variety of soft lifestyle pieces. Pieces in the YITTY collection will come in a variety of colors with music-inspired names like Tempo Lavender and Moody Bitch Taupe. “These color names alone should make you feel like that bitch when you’re putting the product on,” Lizzo said.
The line, which will be sold on www.YITTY.com and Fabletics, will launch on April 12 at 8 AM PT. You can sign up on the website now to get updates on the official drop. Trust me, you won’t want to miss out.