How to Style a Bodysuit: The Luxury Handbags Guide

The bodysuit is the most useful thing in a designer wardrobe and the most commonly mis-styled. It is not a top. It is a base layer that happens to be finished well enough to wear on its own, and the difference matters when you are deciding what goes over it.

Start with the layer, not the outfit

A bodysuit solves a problem tops create: it does not ride up, it does not gape at the waistband, and it gives you one unbroken line from shoulder to hip. That is the whole point. So the first rule is that whatever you put over it should be the piece doing the talking.

The LaQuan Smith collection is built on exactly this logic, which makes it a useful worked example. The house cuts bodysuits in stretch jersey with the seams placed to shape, then shows them under tailoring rather than as the finished look.

Under tailoring, which is the easy win

A nude bodysuit under a pinstripe waistcoat and a wide leg trouser is a complete outfit with two decisions in it. The bodysuit disappears, the tailoring reads sharp, and there is no shirt bunching under the waistband. This is the pairing LaQuan Smith showed on the runway, and it works with any tailoring you already own.

Get the tone right and it does more work: a nude tone under an open jacket reads as skin and lengthens the torso, and a black bodysuit under the same jacket reads as a hard base. Try the nude short sleeve bodysuit under the champagne pinstripe jacket.

Under something sheer

Sheer blouses and mesh pieces need a base that does not fight them, and a bodysuit is the cleanest answer because there is no hem to show through. Keep the two tones related. A chocolate bodysuit under a chocolate mesh jumpsuit reads as one garment; a black bodysuit under the same piece reads as two, and not in a good way.

With a printed skirt, and nothing else

This is where most bodysuit looks come apart. If the skirt is doing something, the bodysuit should do nothing. A plain black bodysuit under the sunset ombre maxi skirt is the correct version of this outfit. Adding a third element, a patterned jacket, a statement belt, a second print, is how it stops working.

On its own, if the back does the work

A bodysuit can be the outfit when the construction is interesting enough to carry it. The test is whether it still reads as designed from behind. The black bodysuit with a plunge neckline and open back cutouts passes; a plain scoop-neck jersey bodysuit does not, and needs a jacket.

Five things that go wrong

• Treating it like a top. A bodysuit under a high-waisted trouser is a base layer. Under a low-rise anything it is just a leotard.
• Wrong tone under sheer. Match the bodysuit to the sheer layer, not to your shoes.
• Too many hard pieces. Leather trouser, leather jacket and a zip-front bodysuit is three statements competing.
• Ignoring the leg line. A high cut leg elongates and is designed to sit above the hip bone. Pulling it down defeats the cut.
• Over-accessorising. The silhouette is the accessory. Keep the jewellery quiet.

Sizing

Stretch jersey moves with you, so take your usual size. LaQuan Smith sizes in letters, XS to XL, and publishes no instruction to size up nor down. A bodysuit that is too large loses the line it was cut for, so do not size up hoping for comfort.

Browse the full LaQuan Smith collection, our designer tops, and read who LaQuan Smith is, brands like LaQuan Smith, and the Spring Summer 2026 edit.