The Story Behind Ender Legard...
"Buy Less, Choose Well, Make It Last." — Vivienne Westwood
Those words have guided everything I've built here.
Who We Are: London's Backless Shapewear Specialists
My name is Asia Smaga. I'm a London-based tailor, corsetry designer, and the founder of Ender Legard — the world's only brand to hold a patent on a backless shapewear bodysuit design. Since 2005, I've dedicated my career to solving a problem the lingerie industry largely ignored: how does a woman with a fuller bust confidently wear a backless dress when there is no bra back band to offer support?
That question became my life's work. Ender Legard is my answer.
From Couture Atelier to Backless Bodysuit Pioneer
My path started in a tailor's studio, cutting and constructing for one of the UK's most respected couture designers. That training taught me to think in three dimensions — not just how a garment looks, but how it moves, supports, and behaves against a real body over a long day.
When I branched out on my own and debuted a Limited Edition collection of bridal corsetry at a London exhibition, I had no idea what was about to happen. Joan Burstein — the legendary founder of Browns Fashion and one of the most influential figures in British fashion history — spotted my work. She introduced me to her daughter Caroline, owner of luxury bridal boutique Browns Bride. That chance meeting changed everything. I realised my tailoring and corsetry skills could fill a genuine gap in the market: beautiful, functional foundations for brides and women who wanted to wear backless and low-cut dresses without compromise.
Stockists including Kleinfeld Manhattan, Barneys New York, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, and Net-A-Porter followed. Celebrity stylists discovered us. Carrie-Ann Inaba described our lingerie corsets as "better than diamonds." Celine Dion, Minka Kelly, Jessica Alba, and Sarah Jessica Parker — who appeared on the cover of Net-A-Porter's The Edit in our Carmen bodice — all wore our work. Bridal designers from Sassi Holford and Savannah Miller to Jane Bourvis and Ellie Sanderson openly recommend us to their brides. Staff at Oscar de la Renta Los Angeles requested our contact details after seeing one of their customers wearing our bodysuit at a fitting.
It was extraordinary. But if I'm honest, what has always mattered most to me is the bride who writes to say she finally found it — the thing that lets her wear the dress she fell in love with.
Made to Order in London: Our Sustainable Approach to Shapewear
At some point, I made a decision that went against the grain of how fashion typically operates. No bulk production. No warehouse full of unsold stock. No guessing what women might want and manufacturing thousands of units in the hope of being right.
Every single Ender Legard backless shapewear bodysuit is made to order, by hand, in our London studio — and that is not a limitation. It is the whole point.
Why Made to Order Matters
When you place an order, I make it for you. There is no excess. There is no waste. No end-of-season clearance rails. No fabric offcuts from a production run that never should have happened. No garments ending their life in landfill. In an industry where overproduction is one of fashion's most damaging habits — where an estimated 30% of clothing manufactured globally is never sold — we have chosen a different way.
Our made-to-order model also means something else: every piece gets the attention it deserves. The fit is considered. The construction is precise. The materials are chosen because they earn their place in the garment. When customers tell me their bodysuit "fits like a glove" or that they wore it all day at their wedding and forgot it was there — that is not an accident. It is the direct result of a process that refuses to rush.
Our Sustainability Commitments
- Zero excess stock. Every garment is made only when it is ordered.
- No exploitation. Every piece is handmade by us in London — we do not outsource to cheap labour to hit a price point.
- No waste production runs. Our collection is intentionally focused; we do not manufacture for trends that will be irrelevant in six months.
- Designed to last. Our bodysuits are investment pieces worn again and again — at weddings, for evening wear, with backless tops and dresses long after the big day.
- Conscious packaging. Beautifully presented without unnecessary excess.
We are proud to be a small, independent London label that puts quality, craft, and conscience above volume. As Vivienne Westwood put it: buy less, choose well, make it last.
That is not a marketing line for us. It is the reason we exist.
Expert Sizing Guidance — Personalised for Every Body
What to wear under a backless wedding dress is one of the most Googled questions in bridal fashion — and for good reason. For women with a larger bust, a D cup or above, finding a low-back shapewear solution that actually provides underwired support, eliminates visible panty lines, and stays hidden under a backless dress is genuinely difficult. Most high street options sit too high at the back, don't come in bra-cup sizing, or rely on adhesive that fails after a few hours.
Ender Legard backless shapewear bodysuits are designed specifically to solve this. Each style is available in bra-cup sizing, with underwired cups for real support, and a low-back construction that sits well below the waistline. They work for halterneck wedding dresses, plunge necklines, square neck dresses, high neck backless styles, and dresses with side cutouts.
But fit is only part of what we offer. I personally advise every customer. I ask about your dress, your measurements, your cup size, your concerns. I've helped women who'd been searching for months, brides who'd nearly given up on the dress they loved, women who genuinely believed backless was not possible for them. One customer — a 32F — told me I had "single-handedly saved the day." Another said I was "the only person on the entire internet" whose designs worked for her body and her dress.
That's not something an algorithm can replicate. It comes from twenty years of understanding how fabric, structure, and the female form interact across thousands of body types, dress cuts, cup sizes, and occasions.
The World's Only Patented Backless Bodysuit
Ender Legard holds the only patent on a backless shapewear bodysuit construction of its kind (# GB2548925). Our designs are not replicated from anything else on the market — they were developed from scratch, through years of tailoring expertise, to solve a structural problem that off-the-shelf lingerie cannot address.
When you choose Ender Legard, you are choosing a solution that is genuinely unique — available nowhere else in the world. That is why bridal boutiques across the UK, US, Australia, Europe, and beyond recommend us to their brides, and why designers from Sassi Holford to Grace Loves Lace and Made With Love send their customers directly to us.
"ENDER LEGARD’S bodysuits are amazing and work so well under our dresses! They’re brilliant for our backless designs, and we recommend them to all our brides." - Tove Haavisto, London boutique manager, MADE WITH LOVE
Wear Exactly What You Want
If you've been searching for a solution to wear your backless wedding dress, your low-back evening gown, or any backless top or dress that you've been putting off — I'd love to help.
Browse our collection of handmade backless shapewear bodysuits and get in touch. No question is too small.
With love,
Asia Smaga
Founder & Designer, Ender Legard
London, since 2005