Big pants: Our guide to the year's most unlikely trend

As the stars swop thongs for tummy flattening knickers, our guide to the year's most unlikely trend

Do away with diets, and you can forget exercise: the fastest way to a flat tummy is a pair of Big Pants. Don't take my word for it though, there's a growing celebrity appreciation society embracing large lingerie.

It all started with Hugh Grant's close encounter with Bridget Jones's Big Pants in the film version of her eponymous diary.

Those who suspect Big Pants can't be sexy should note that it hardly stopped him in his tracks.

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More recent members of the club include Sienna Miller, whose bold Big Pants sans skirt look at the Factory Girl premiere brought them to the attention of the fashionista crowd.

Then there's Beyonce, who blinged up her pair by covering them in sequins on her latest U.S. tour. And earlier this week, skinny Kimberley Walsh of Girls Aloud was pictured sporting a pair of Spanx body-squeezers under her dress after a night out.

I'm not surprised that the stars are turning against thongs in favour of the comfy pleasures of Big Pants - not least because you'll never lose your dignity in front of the paparazzi in a pair of sturdy smalls that would make your granny proud.

Five months into my pregnancy with my son, I was initiated into the Big Pants club. My knickers had morphed from flimsy slips of sexy silk into something large enough to keep all the fans dry at rain-soaked Wimbledon.

As I pulled up bloomers that were bigger than my pre-baby blouses, I admit I mourned the loss of those prenatal itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny panties.

But I was soon won over by the fact that I wouldn't have to endure the all-day wedgie effect of wearing a thong, or have to dig around in an unladylike fashion to rescue my G-string from parts it should never have reached.

What I lost in sex appeal, I gained in comfort. So even once the baby was born, the Big Pants stayed.

They proved their worth all over again as the perfect way to hide the fact that far from snapping back into shape after giving birth, I was still sporting a belly that once had strangers asking me when I was due.

This magical ability to hide a multitude of sins (and that box of chocs you know you shouldn't have eaten) lies at the heart of our love affair with Big Pants.

Even when you haven't been able to stick to your diet and your dress is a size too small, you can rely on your trusty pair of superfirm control pants.

The power of Lycra will suck you in from knees to chest, sculpting a waist that didn't seem to be there when you got up this morning.

Behind many a slinky siren there lurks a pair of polyester passion killers with a bulletproof tummy panel and industrial strength, butt-sculpting seams. Even Gwyneth Paltrow is known to have worn control pants after having her son.

But be warned, there are a couple of drawbacks to these drawers.

First, look out for the ugly cousin of VPL (visible panty line). VFL is the visible line of fat that oozes out above the waistline of your control pants, creating an unsightly set of love handles.

But you could always pull up your pants an inch or two more and move your dispossessed fat to boost your cleavage.

Second, remember that if you seduce a bloke thanks to your Big Pants' power to give you a sexy shape under a dress, when you get him home, always undress in the dark.

Even if your man shares Hugh Grant's fictional fetish for granny pants, there is nothing that will kill his passion quicker than watching his date shoehorning herself out of skin-tight pants to reveal a belly three times larger than advertised.

Stick to those rules, though, and Big Pants are definitely a girl's best friend. Now that celebrities have discovered this ticket to an instantly taut tummy, there's no reason you can't, too.

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