Can you talk to me about shapewear?

[NotJustThreeSmallWords]

I've never worn it before, however need a bit of smoothing round my tummy to wear my Christmas dresses.
I have no idea where to start. I've worn a corset once before and it gave me a panic attack cos I couldn't breathe!

Lower belly? there are some cycling short type of shaprewear you can wear. Best is to look at the spanx website and see the options

These are normally not that tight, you can choose looser size, but my recommendation is to go as tight as possible since they do stretch

I think I need something that'll cover the whole area from boobs to bum.
I've had a look on M&S and there's so many different types and levels of control.

And most of them have iffy reviews.

Spanx high waist are the best ones . They aren’t cheap but work better than anything else and don’t make marks on your things or your back . They also have a wee flap so you don’t need to pull them down .

The M&S 'wear your own bra' slip is the best thing I've found - doesn't roll up or down, no loo problems, and it really does smooth things out

Depends what your dress is like, but I swear by the Primark own range. I have the shorts (which come up to just under my bra) and also like a top thing which comes down to under my bum.

Primark? Hadn't even considered there!

I'm a fan of 'wear your own bra (and pants! ' shapers. They're basically a firm control slip, but you wear your own bra, obvs. I get mine from Next.

Spanx do the job, but they're such a faff to get on and off and so...clammy .