By Hannah Van De Peer
A woman wears underwear as “outerwear” to overcome her body dysmorphia – and dons lingerie, corsets, and boxers to go to the beach and on nights out.
Abbie Fidgett, 22, began experiencing body dysmorphia after enduring bullying throughout school and college.
She spent 20 weeks on a waiting list for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and declined to revisit the doctor after they wanted to weigh her.
She bundled up in winter coats year-round to conceal her body but in November 2020 decided to swap them out for underwear instead – after attempting exposure therapy wearing different outfits.
She has started to feel better and enjoys expressing herself through fashion.
Now, she plans to run errands wearing boxer shorts and a jacket and frequently wears lingerie on nights out.
Abbie, a content creator, from Stafford, West Midlands, England, said: “I began expressing myself through my fashion because it felt like I was finally doing something for myself.
“I feel confident wearing underwear as outerwear, and I’m so proud of myself.
“I love getting creative with fashion; it gives me my power back.
“I’m always wearing lingerie tops on nights out – I’ll wear my boxer shorts on holiday, along with a bikini top.
“When it gets a bit warmer, I’ll be pairing my boxers with a blazer or jacket to go to the shops.”
The bullying started when Abbie was in year seven, in 2012, and persisted until 2017.
While she used to be a “confident, outspoken” teenager, Abbie quickly became withdrawn and started feeling bad about her body.
She says bullies would make fun of her skin and weight, and it was “relentless” – lasting the entirety of her time at school.
She says her prom – which took place on July 7, 2017 – was the “worst day of her life.”
She said: “I struggled mostly in high school.
“I got heavily bullied – so for me, the priority was to just find any piece of clothing I could hide my body in.
“I used to wear big winter coats, even in the summer, to hide myself.
“I’d get stared at a lot, which I did find really embarrassing, but it was more bearable than walking out the door wearing something that showed my body off.
“I just wanted to be able to feel comfortable again and wear things I actually liked.”
Abbie visited her GP for the first time in the summer of 2017 – but she says there were no body dysmorphia-specific treatments available, and the waiting list for CBT was 20 weeks long.
She felt uncomfortable with the way her condition was being discussed by doctors – and she claims they told her they’d “get you out of that winter coat in no time.”
“I couldn’t get any CBT during high school because the waiting list was too long,” she said.
“I remember walking into my appointment in my big coat, stepping on the scales in front of the doctor, hearing them making comments.
“I left that appointment in tears.”
With the support of her friends and family, Abbie joined a gym in Stafford to improve her mental health instead and started seeing a personal trainer.
As her relationship with her body slowly improved over the years, she began exploring her love of fashion by experimenting with different outfits – and in October 2022, she started posting style videos on TikTok.
She said: “You can’t grow your confidence overnight – it was years before I felt good enough in myself to start changing up my style.
“The gym made me feel better – and it made me more body-confident, as well.
“I used to feel too ugly to leave my house – but slowly, I started experimenting with different looks.
“It was this voice of encouragement I had in the back of my mind, like ‘come on, Abs. You’ve got to start doing more for yourself’.”
In the summer of 2023, Abbie noticed a passerby in Stafford wearing blue-striped boxer shorts as outerwear.
Her love of analyzing other people’s outfit choices made her think she could pull the look off herself – so she decided to buy a pair.
Besides styling them for her followers on TikTok, she also plans to wear the same boxers for upcoming girls’ holidays, as well as in bars and clubs, and even while running errands.
She says she now feels confident wearing lingerie out-and-about – and it’s all about not caring what other people think.
“I can wear boxer shorts with a pair of heels, and head to a club dressed like that,” she added.
“Or, I can dress them down – wearing leg warmers and a blazer, just to run to the shops in.
“Now, I can wear anything I want. I’m sure a lot of people think I have a ‘weird’ sense of fashion, and think I dress strangely.
“But I don’t fear other people’s opinions anymore. I think I show people how to look funky.
“I wouldn’t be here today without the help of my mom – I used her as a verbal punching bag for so long but she stuck by me. She’s my biggest supporter.
“When you recover from body dysmorphia – it can still be a battle, everyone has their bad days but don’t let that affect your ability to express yourself.”
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