Would you wear Arm Tights? We test the new Spanx invention that promises to flatten your bingo wings
Spanx, the billion-pound underwear brand, has launched its new product in the UK this week; Arm Tights. Following the phenomenal success of their shapewear shorts (even Beyoncé wears Spanx, you know?) founder Sara Blakely is keen to apply her magical tightening, lifting, and smoothing fabrics to another of our problem areas, our bingo wings. So can Spanx do for our arms what they have done for our bums and tums? The Telegraph Fashion team put them to the test...
They have styling potential, says Olivia Buxton Smith
'Spanx for your arms?!' I exclaimed when the press release for Spanx founder Sarah Blakely's latest venture landed in my inbox. But despite my skepticism, intrigue got the better of me, and I couldn't help but request a sample pair of 'arm tights' (which retail at ￡28) to try for myself.
Why would anyone want to wear tights on their arms, I hear you ask? Given that Blakely is the woman that has revolutionised the underwear market and given women around the world the sculpted waists and bums needed to carry them through a decade of bodycon dress styles, I thought I’d better trust her.
Once I worked out which way around the arm tights were supposed to go (I originally put them on back to front), they were actually quite comfortable. Spanx's arm tights are both soft and seamless. They're not remotely itchy, and despite looking alarmingly small when you take them out of the packet, they do stretch a lot.There's also no denying that they do make your arms noticeably more streamlined, in the same way that Spanx's high-waisted pants do.
The arm tights take the form of a crop top (designed to be less bulky under your clothes), in basic block colours and are therefore easy to layer underneath shift dresses and sleeveless tops, instead of a long sleeve T-shirt or polo neck, for autumn. The only aspect I remain unconvinced about is that you can't escape feeling like you’ve got tights on your arms. Which is weird. Even if they are luxurious ones.
There is a fundamental flaw, says Caroline Leaper
I, and everyone I know who has ever declared their bingo wings to be a ‘body hangup’, all have one thing in common. We only dislike our upper arms when they’re out. A sleeveless dress at a wedding, a spaghetti strap top on holiday - these are the times that you might want a miracle sartorial solution to swoop in and hold up any surplus arm jiggle. On a day that I didn’t want to show my wings, I would simply choose a dress or top in my wardrobe with sleeves to cover them. There would be no point in having a sucky-in, long-sleeved layer underneath that, unless the outer top’s silhouette was also skin tight. Any other shape would ruin the streamline illusion.
My other issue with Spanx’s Arm Tights is that they only come as a crop top. While I could definitely feel my upper half being pulled in when I put them on, another odd problem presented itself; you get a counter spare tire around your middle. My stomach suddenly looked a lot larger as a result, like a muffin top in reverse, the solution for which, I’m sure, is to buy a pair of Spanx’s original high-waist pants to tuck it all back into. Ah. Perhaps that’s the point after all?