Regardless of how awkward they make a trip to the bathroom and irrespective of the threat that you might someday actually have to be cut out of them (yes, it happens), most of us aren’t going to be giving up our magic super-control industrial strength knickers anytime soon. They’re a real “Sure, I’ll become a Natural Beauty and stop wearing them, Gok. WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!!!” undergarment, indispensible for office parties or first dates or school reunions or bumping into ex-boyfriends at weddings.

I’m not sure that I can see FLABuLESS compression sleeves going quite the same way. Shapewear for arms, these are available in 3/4- and full-sleeve lengths and promise to suck in bingo wings and other such un-taut areas of concern. They can only do that, of course, by encapsulating your arms – which means that if you’re planning to wear a little strappy number, your compression sleeves will be on display. Umm, now I know that the idea is to give a more streamlined silhouette, but if you’re going to be covering them up anyway is there *that* much difference in wearing a shrug cardi?