Review: Deja Day Second Skin Black Recycled Highwaist Brief

Product link: Deja Day Second Skin Recycled Highwaist Brief from Playful Promises

In my list of places where Hims and Thems can buy lingerie for men, cunningly titled ‘Where can Hims and Thems buy lingerie for men?’, I break down the brands along three different lines:

• Lingerie for men; lingerie designed for the male body and catering for all styles
• Unisex lingerie, designed to fit all bodies and sexes; and
• Inclusive women’s lingerie, which I define as brands and outlets designed for women but catering for all genders

If this last definition seems unclear to you, fear not. The Deja Day Second Skin Black Recycled Highwaist Brief from Playful Promises is the example that will clarify that definition.

The design is just like a classic men’s brief. It’s cut fairly high in the leg, but it has plenty of room in the front to accommodate one’s package. There’s a lot of coverage in the rear, being not cut as high as the front – just like a men’s brief design. But these briefs have two very appealing design factors for Hims and Thems that men’s briefs don’t often have. 

One, they appear skin tight (hence the ‘Second Skin’ name) without actually being uncomfortably tight. It’s a really appealing finish and compared to the way that men’s cotton briefs often appear to sag and bag in weird places, it’s a much nicer appearance all round (especially on the bum, trust me). They smooth and flatter from every angle and if you were going to wear something tight on the legs, these would be perfect.

The second thing is that they are high-waisted (hence the ‘Highwaist’ name, I guess. I say, the marketing folks were really on their game.). When you have more than a touch of the Dad Bod (like me), having the higher waist helps keep things tucked in nicely. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Dad Bod, but some people are insecure about it and if so maybe this typeof brief is something that will help. It will show very visibly especially if you wear your jeans low-slung. But even if that happens, there’s nothing overtly femme about them.

The elephant in the room

You may or may not be surprised to learn that women’s briefs generally don’t have the Y in the front to allow easy toileting. These follow that convention.

Now, I’ve never found that to be a problem. The men’s briefs that I buy generally don’t have them. I have some of those fishnet back men’s briefs from ASOS and even though they have the Y flap, I find I still pull them down when I need to go. But it’s a personal choice and if you’re the type that does want to fish through the flap to go (something I’ve always found a faff), you’re not going to like these briefs and there’s nothing else for it.

But that minor point aside, these are great briefs. They’re good quality, they’re stylish and easy to wear. If you were thinking about extending your underwear wardrobe in new directions, these would be a perfect first pair to try. And being quite a minimalist design, if you were looking to dress them up in any way, you could easily match them with a harness ot something similar to add interest.

Deja Day are a Playful Promises brand. I’ve shopped with them a few times and have nothing but good things to say. Even when I had a problem logging in to my account, I had a prompt email back from the IT people trying to help. They have a great range of brands, in a range of styles covering the classically minimalist (like these), the very retro-inspired (Bettie Page Lingerie), and the burlesque-inspired Dita Von Teese Lingerie alongside more contemporary designs from Regalia, Wolf & Whistle and Hustler, there is a huge amount to choose from. Where I find that Playful Promises really stand out is their choice of models – not just the inclusive female models of all types, but the fact that they use trans, AMAB and nonbinary models too, which really speaks to me as a nonbinary AMAB person.

Which brings us back to where we started, and that definition: “inclusive women’s brands catering to all genders”. These briefs are so free of gender markers that they’re practically unisex, in a cut that perfectly accommodates a penis and testicles (without tucking!). As a brand and a lingerie seller they’re inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community, using nonbinary and trans people as models, a well as drag queens, and they pay respect to Pride every year. And if you think they’re just paying lip service to the LGBTQ+ community, then check out how they shoot down trolls on social media. As we said: an inclusive women’s brand catering to all genders.

Make sense now?

The lowdown

Diversity and Inclusion	I bought these partly because they were modelled quite perfectly by a masc-presenting nonbinary model. A
Sustainability	There’s a breakdown of care and composition on the webpage. These are 78/22 polyamide/elastane. Speaking generally, polyamide production processes are bad for the environment and polyamide products do not biodegrade. E
Vegan status	As I’ve mentioned elsewhere: while there’s no specific information on the website, polyamides are often vegan (even though, paradoxically, the production processes are toxic). This information is an area Playful Promises could improve on in order for shoppers to make responsible choices. B
Rating	I love these. They’re exactly my style – minimalist, gender-free, fitted and black. You can dress them up or down and they’ll wear under everything. A