What to Wear Under a Sheer Dress, According to Someone Who Designs Lingerie for a Living

There are two schools of thought when deciding what to wear under a sheer dress: choosing something that disappears as much as possible, or wearing a bra and underwear you’re perfectly happy to have on show. At Undies, we do a little bit of both, but there’s plenty of room in between.

A slip, bodysuit, or pair of shapewear shorts can give you more coverage while still letting the dress itself stay sheer. You know how some dresses are transparent enough that what’s underneath becomes part of the outfit, while others just need a little help underneath? It’s like that, except you get to decide how much you want people to see.

What works best depends on the dress. Some fabrics only need seamless underwear or nipple covers, while something more transparent might call for a bodysuit, slip, or matching bra-and-brief set. (And yes, showing a little lingerie can look great.) Nude shades can disappear against your skin, while black, white, or a brighter shade tends to show through on purpose.

Some sheer dresses are designed with visible layering in mind, but others leave the styling completely up to you. Here at Undies, we’re Team Whatever Works With the Dress, but you do you. Below, we spoke with lingerie designers and fit experts, who broke down what to wear under a sheer dress, from bras and underwear to slips, shapewear, bodysuits, and nipple covers.

---

Meet the Experts

Martha Upton is the founder of Tita, a brand creating reusable silicone nipple covers that can be worn discreetly or shown off. She started the company after realizing the reusable market was largely limited to what she describes as a “simple nude circle.”

Kristina is the co-founder of Murashki, a New York-based designer lingerie and ready-to-wear label. The brand’s name comes from the Russian word for “goosebumps,” reflecting the feeling of excitement and pleasure the designer hopes to evoke.

---

Slip Dresses

A slip often makes sense when you want the sheer dress without necessarily wanting your bra and underwear on display, too. Kristina recommends them when you want “to feel comfortable and confident in sheer clothing while keeping the body more covered.” In other words, you still get all the sheerness you signed up for, only with a little more coverage underneath.

She’s partial to nude or skin-tone slips, which “creates a subtle layer underneath without competing with the sheer outer piece.” The designer adds, “It allows the focus to remain entirely on the dress itself, while giving you the freedom to wear a sheer look more comfortably during the daytime as well.”

And no, the slip doesn’t need to perfectly match the dress. If the goal is for it to disappear, getting reasonably close to your skin tone is more than enough.

Bodysuits

Maybe you want more than a bra and briefs underneath, but a slip isn’t quite what you had in mind. Enter the bodysuit. It covers your chest and torso while still letting plenty of the dress show through, so you don’t lose what made you buy the sheer thing in the first place.

You can go two ways with it. Pick one close to your skin tone and let it disappear under the dress, or choose black, white, whatever, and let people see it. We’d also check yourself from a few angles before heading out (better to know before you leave the house). Beyond that, there really isn’t much to overthink.

Matching Bra and Underwear Sets

There’s nothing wrong with letting your lingerie be seen. In fact, Kristina says a matching bra and underwear set can make a sheer dress look more cohesive because “the bra and underwear share the same color, fabric, and aesthetic.”

That doesn’t mean you need to pile on lace, bows, or straps, all of which can take attention away from the dress itself. For that reason, Kristina prefers “clean, elegant silhouettes” and says the beauty often comes down to the fabric, simplicity, and how the pieces sit against the skin. We’re with her on that. If the dress you bought is probably the reason you wanted something sheer in the first place, the lingerie underneath doesn’t need to steal its thunder.

Nipple Covers

Nipple covers are probably the smallest thing you can wear under a sheer dress, but that doesn’t mean they have to be invisible. Upton came to that realization while getting dressed for a wedding, when she reached for the same nude set she normally wore and thought, “Why am I wearing these? My dress is black, I feel great in it, and there’s no reason the thing underneath it has to feel so boring and purely practical.”

So yes, you can still go the invisible route. Or don’t. Tita makes stars, butterflies, shells, and other colors, which gives you a few more options than the standard nude pair hiding under most sheer dresses.

According to Upton, “Sometimes you want your nipple covers to be invisible, sometimes seeing a little star or butterfly underneath your dress gives you that extra confidence boost, even if you’re the only person who knows it’s there.” And sometimes, as she points out, you may not want to wear anything at all.

Wearing Nothing Underneath

Going bare under a sheer dress is very much a know your dress, know where you’re headed situation. Kristina emphasizes it’s “really about confidence — and knowing the occasion,” adding, “There is something incredibly elegant and daring about letting the dress, your silhouette, and nothing else do all the talking.”

The main thing is knowing what you’re signing up for. How sheer is the dress, where are you wearing it, and are you actually going to feel good once you leave the house? That could mean wearing it out somewhere you’re completely comfortable with the transparency, or saving the look for a night in with your partner. Kristina even pictures “a romantic dinner at home, candlelight, your favorite heels, and just the dress.”

Her only real rule is that you should be able to enjoy wearing it instead of worrying about how much is showing. “After all, a beautiful dress and a beautiful figure don’t always need much else,” the designer insists.