Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Kate Perry are three celebrities who have admitted they are fans of Spanx. Spanx is the new girdle, or 'body-shaping underwear' that was made famous by Oprah.

There is an entertaining recent review of Spanx at The Times. Here's an excerpt;

Spanx was recently endorsed by Cosmo editor Vanessa Raphaely, who says that women can discard exercise in favour of a pair.

But, unlike makeup, which is simply supposed to act as an enhancer, the panel-beating girdle is a self-defeating act of deception because, at midnight (or whenever it is you decide to take it off), you turn back into a pumpkin. This must be disheartening for a member of the opposite sex who thinks he is bedding Beyoncé but, when the lekunutu comes off, he is really saddled with Bridget Jones.

It turns out Beyonce probably wears Spanx too.

The Undercover exhibition at London's Fashion and Textile Museum traces the evolution of underwear.

Ella Macpherson is one of the designers featured and she showed up to help launch the exhibition. She says designing lingerie has been her passion for the last twenty years.

Men's underwear is undergoing some amazing cosmetic enhancements. As an example, shown above is The Package BoosterThe package booster is basic underwear but with a padded crotch and butt area. The pads are removable so if Mother Nature gave you too much on one side but not the other you can always adjust.

Kudos to the marketing people at Equmen. We couldn't imagine how they could sell the concept of men wearing girdles as a handsome and attractive idea but they have succeeded admirably. Check out the sexy men wearing Equmen girdles in the video below.

See more about the growing popularity of girdles for men (or 'male control wear') here.

See a fun slideshow of advertisements from the 1950's, 60's and 70's. The theme is mostly maidenform bras and girdles.

Victoria's Secret is opening a new store in Manhattan today. This store will be their new flagship. It's at 722 Lexington Avenue.

Heidi Klum and Adriana Lima will both be there today at the opening.

Agent Provocateur is sure to raise a major controversy with their most porno-like dominatrix new lingerie video called "The Season of the Witch".

See the full interactive(!) scandal-provoking video here.

April Spring is the designer of a new breed of women's underwear called FOXERS.

We wanted to interview her and ask about FOXERS.

CM: How did you ever come up with this idea and where were you in your life when you decided to stop whatever else you were doing and focus on selling comfortable and sexy underwear?

April: Hello Meg, Thank you for your interest in FOXERS. I came up with the idea to put the men's cotton boxer top, which has a history of peering above the men's jeans, while sitting at an outdoor cafe in Penang, Malaysia with my husband. I was noticing another thong showing on what could have been a cute outfit, when I said to my husband, we need to make a panty that is o.k. to stick out. Later I purchased a pair of boxers and a pair of women's boyshorts and had them sewn together to create what we now call Foxers boxers, which are patent pending.
I started this career in 2004 when my husband's career took him to Malaysia for over two years and I decided it was the perfect time to make the transition from Investor Relations and Boutique owner representing Florida Designers to Fashion Designer; a dream since before I was 10 years old. While in Malaysia I studied fashion illustration, piano, Mandarin, Malay, and researched apparel manufacturers. During fashion school I was invited to represent the U.S. at the second annual Silk Week in China as the American Designer. This is when I decided that Fashion Design was my new career which followed my passion.

CM: When did you make your first sale? What stores can people find FOXERS in now? We've noticed you have a very attractive and innovative website. How long have you been selling product from your site? Are your online sales a high percentage of your total revenues?

April: We made our first sale to my sister April 18 2007 and she is so proud of this; and our first wholesale representative based in the Chicago apparel mart launched six stores in the mid-west for us June 3, 2007 and we grew to almost 60 stores in approximately 90 days. We have stores all around the world and approximately 100 plus in the U.S. We have new distributors opening in Canada and Australia, and we have a store in Dubai.

Thank you for the nice comments on our website. We receive so many great emails about how easy to navigate and shop our site is as well as the clean design. We opened the site April 26, 2007 and we have done almost no advertising for the site but it is growing rapidly since we have celebrity associations and I was a guest on The Big Idea. The online sales represent approximately 10 to 20% of our sales since 2008 depending on the activity in publicity.

CM:That's a very rapidly growing lingerie business! What do you see ahead for FOXERS over the next three years?

April:Yes, we are growing rapidly but cautiously. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and run with too many ideas. However, we have been blessed to have so much success with our launch, but this doesn't come without many hours of dedication, a keen judgment of who to trust as business partners and where to go next. We have a long term plan to have FOXERS as a full clothing line for all sizes and both men and women as well as pets too. We just had our first men's FOXERS photo shoot last week and pre-launch fashion shows are going on every week since May 9 in Hampton Roads, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. We hope that we can maintain the excitement, grow steady to cover the globe with the garments we have and build a solid foundation for a long term reliable and fresh clothing brand, FOXERS.

CM:Thanks much for the interview. If you ever get that funky underwear fashion show on your website transferred over to a YouTube video, let us know, we would love to show if off here.

Sean "Diddy" has a hot new model, Aaron Pope, to pose for his new Sean John's underwear. Hopefully this will not be a sweat-shop enterprise, a serious accusation that's hounded Sean Combs in the recent past.

Eva Mendes, age 34, is the new face for Calvin Klein underwear. We'll be seeing her underwear commercials worldwide soon.

Mendes, who used to be teased in school for her buck teeth (and who is now known for her 'best celebrity teeth') replaces Natalia Vodianova, age 26, (in photo below). Natalia, the famous Russian model, was Calvin Klein's choice for the past three or four years. Natalia has given birth to three children since starting her modeling career and marrying a Russian real estate heir. Below is a racy video with Natalia for Calvin Klein Underwear;