The moment that decides my opinion on a pair of briefs is always the same: getting dressed for a long day where you know you'll be sitting down for most of it, meetings or a car journey or both, and realising by hour two whether the pair you grabbed was a good decision or a mistake you'll be fidgeting through until you can get home and change. Good briefs disappear. You forget you've got them on. That's the whole test, really, and most of them fail it somewhere around the waistband.
They're not the right choice for everything, and I think people expect more from them than they should. Under anything very fitted and pale, a visible panty line is still a visible panty line, no matter how expensive the pair, so for close dresses or leggings you're better off with something seamless even if it's less comfortable over a full day. And if you run warm, cheaper synthetic blends can leave you clammy by the afternoon, which no amount of pretty trim will fix. Briefs are also not the place to be sentimental about a tired elastic. Once it's gone, it's gone, and no wash will bring it back.
What separates a decent pair from a disappointing one comes down to a handful of things you can actually check before you buy. Cotton gusset, always, even if the rest is a synthetic lace or a satin blend, because that's the bit doing the actual work against your skin all day. The waistband should sit flat without digging a line into your hip when you sit, which you can test just by trying them on and sitting down in the changing room rather than standing admiring them in the mirror. Stitching should lie flat too, no rough seams across the leg that you'll feel on a long drive. Cheap elastic goes slack within a few washes, while a better one keeps its bounce for months.
Looked after properly, a good cotton pair should see you through a year or more of regular wear before the elastic starts to soften. Wash them cool, skip the tumble dryer if you can, because heat is what kills elastic fastest, and let them air dry instead. They'll fade a shade before they lose their shape, which is a fair trade. The one thing that properly ruins a pair is a hot wash with a dark load, somehow they come out both bobbled and grey at once. Keep lace trims away from anything with a zip or velcro in the same wash, because that's how you end up with snags you can't fix.
Picked by Leanne Doyle. More in Lingerie.
