If there’s one piece of advice Kim Kardashian could give women in business, it’s that you need more than one pair of sleeves. More specifically, you need one pair of Skims “arm shapers” and then whatever top you choose to put over it.
Kim debuted her “arm shaper” invention on Instagram Thursday, April 7, while teasing an upcoming line of shapewear for Skims. “This is an arm shapewear that really holds in your arms,” she said in the video. “I’m really excited about [it] because I’ve never found any shapewear that’s for your arms that holds all of this in. I’m obsessed!” The arm shapers are basically a pair of sleeves that wrap around your torso, under your chest, to smooth out your arms and back. According to Kardashian, she would wear these sleeves under a Skims bodysuit (which, in case you don’t know, is already supposed to be somewhat smoothing) to “flatten” the “arm bulge” of her upper arm.
Apparently Kim isn’t the first person to launch shapewear for arms. Arm compression sleeves are a thing that you can buy at Macys or Victoria’s Secret, but it’s not a super popular kind of shapewear, and it’s definitely not something I had personally ever heard of before stumbling upon Kim’s Instagram. As a woman with arm fat to spare, I can see the appeal of something that smooths your arms, but… is that not what sleeves are for? If you’re wearing a top that is tight enough around the arms that you feel arm shapers are necessary, aren’t those sleeves already doing some shaping?
Beyond the debatable necessity of shapewear for your arms (must we find another body part to be insecure about?), this new garment raises one critical question. Here I was thinking Kim Kardashian lived in her bodysuits, but now I have to wonder, has she been wearing these the whole time? How many layers of clothing does Kim Kardashian wear in a day?
