Minneapolis Star Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS - Queen Latifah wears them. So do Jessica Alba, Beyonce, Eva Longoria and Gwyneth Paltrow. Oprah swears by them. "I don't wear panties, I wear Spanx," she declared on her show last month.

The growth of Spanx in the past seven years has almost revived a lingerie niche that was becoming passe - foundation garments.

Founder Sara Blakely, 36, started her business based on one simple need: She wanted footless pantyhose to smooth out the lines under her white pants. While selling copiers door to door by day and working as a standup comic by night, she cashed in her $5,000 savings to start her business.

Atlanta-based Spanx now sells more than $100 million retail a year. The company also makes fishnets with control tops, trouser socks with padded feet and supportive shapers and panties at different levels of control.

We caught up with Blakely last month to find out how her Oprah appearance has affected business.

Q: How did you come up with the concept?

A: I couldn't figure out what to wear under white pants. You could see a thong, you could see panty lines. I shopped for bodyshapers for the first time at 27 years old and was horrified. They were all too thick or left a line or bulge on my thigh where they ended. For me, what Spanx has done is give me the confidence to wear light colors on the bottom and certain fabrics. You can't feel 100 percent great in them unless you have a little bit of smoothing and structure.

Q: So many people who you wouldn't think need them, such as the women on "Desperate Housewives," use them.

A: I was a size 2 when I invented it. So it didn't surprise me at all. Most of the models have a little bit of cellulite and Spanx just airbrushes it. All the girls on "Sex and the City" wore them. When I first created them, I personally sold them to Renee Zellweger at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. She wore them under her yellow Oscar dress. She's so tiny.