Danae Mercer: I’ve Spent Years Advocating Body Confidence… Then I Bought Skims
With weight-loss drugs reshaping bodies and the return of the skinny ideal, shapewear sits at an interesting crossroads. Danae Mercer asks, do brands like Skims champion true body positivity, or do they reveal the contradictions of our current beauty standards?
I bought Skims last month. It may not seem like that big of a deal – Skims is, after all, a $4 billion company that retails around the world. The brand has expanded rapidly in the US and now abroad, with plans to open in our very own Mall of the Emirates at the end of the year. Hundreds of women buy Skims every month. But for me, it was a big deal.
As a body confidence advocate, I’ve spent over four years championing cellulite, self-love, and celebrating the skin we’re in. I show clips of my tummy rolls (so cute!) alongside my postpartum folds (so empowering!). And I remind other women to feel comfortable sharing their jiggles and wobbles too.
Skims, a shape wear brand founded by the arbiter of beauty ideals Kim Kardashian, feels somewhat contrary to all of that… Like the brand is pushing the very paragon of perfection I’ve been trying to push away; like its compressive fabric is pulling women back into the restrictive corsets of the past; like it’s everything I am trying to stop.
And yet, I bought Skims last month. I bought it, and surprising to me, I loved it. The tiny cream bodysuit made me feel supported, sleek, and a bit like my pre-partum self again.
For the first time in nearly four months, I felt pretty. All of this has me wondering: as beauty ideals shift yet again, is it possible to wear shapewear and still love yourself? Can you want to enhance this, hide that, and still be body positive?
“The feminist in me feels that the billion-dollar fashion industry relies on women’s insecurities,” says Kirsten Puttick Lloyd, Clinical Psychologist at BPS Clinic Dubai (HCPC, BPS, HPCSA). More insecurities means more money, she explains.
“So, as nihilistic as it may sound… I feel that shapewear – along with most items marketed towards women – does entrench harmful messages that our bodies are not good enough.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that by wearing shapewear, we’re hating our own skin, says Valen Valentine, a psychologist at Thrive Wellbeing Centre. Motivation matters.
“The key is to check in with yourself: Am I wearing this because it makes me feel good, or because I feel I should?” Valen asks. “Body positivity means appreciating and respecting your body as it is, while still having the freedom style yourself in ways that make you feel good.”
I turned to Ameni Esseibi, the first curvy MENA model, to understand a bit more. “Of course you can be body positive and wear shapewear,” she laughs. ” Shapewear is like make-up. It’s not here to make you pretty, it just adds that final touch.”
If that’s the case, then what about shapewear that doesn’t just enhance or squeeze, but actually ‘creates’?
In February, Skims launched their Ultimate Butt collection featuring a range of padded shorts, leggings, and bodysuits. Kim billed herself as the ‘Fairy Butt Mother’. She didn’t grant wishes – she gave curves. And indeed, the products did just that, with bootie padding adding up to two inches of volume.
The products went viral. I bought one – not for personal use, but to create a video talking about ever-changing beauty standards and how ridiculous they can be. When it arrived, I was six months pregnant. The super compressive, ultra-padded Skims bodysuit wouldn’t go up my thighs, let alone over my baby bump.
I couldn’t get it on. And now, now I don’t entirely know if I want to. Postpartum changed me. My body hasn’t ‘returned to normal’ like it did after my first baby. Things are still soft and smooshy and maybe they always will be. And while I don’t think it’s fair that women must exist in a world where we are ordered to be pretty before all else, while I hate that we’re sold shame and constantly told to shrink, I do understand the desire to feel good in our skin.
Sometimes that comes from walks and mental health and fitness.
Sometimes, for some of us, that comes from squeezing into a piece of shapewear. And body positivity, at least the kind of body positivity I want to advocate for, allows a woman to do both. What matters is that we show up however feels right for us – shapewear or no-wear – or any way at all.
Lead Image Courtesy of: Instagram/@skims
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia November 2025 Issue.