Bra-vo! Help is at hand for bashful boyfriends who get in a twist over Christmas knickers

Buying lingerie as a Christmas gift is so fraught with possible pitfalls that men waste £30 million a year picking the wrong size, colour or style.

But a new service promises to take the embarrassment out of the exercise — and stop men making an expensive mistake.

Debenhams is launching a clinic for couples to teach boyfriends and husbands how to navigate the mysteries of the lingerie department.

Lingerie expert Eleanora Christie-Clarke, who has been working at the Oxford Street store for 18 years, said: “Often men don’t know the right size and they tend to go for the designer stuff with more lace and satin, thongs and suspenders either in red or black.

“I suppose (they choose) items they think look sexy and expensive. Sometimes because they’re embarrassed they pick something up quickly and stay around the edges of the section, so they can make mistakes because of that.

“A lot of people come back and exchange it for something they want, or keep the item and change the size because they feel like they have to because it’s from their boyfriend.

“The other day I had a woman come back with a size 18 and she was actually a size 10.

“Women and men don’t buy the same thing, with women choosing everyday comfort and if they find something that’s pretty as well that’s very rare.”

The store estimates men waste up to £30 million on the wrong lingerie in the run up to Christmas Day, with women returning items or tucking them away at the back of a drawer. To fix the problem, the Oxford Street branch is hosting its first couples’ clinic on December 4, from 6pm.

Models will showcase the lingerie and experts will advise couples on fit and style. Men can also go without their partners for one-to-one tuition.

Sharon Webb, head of lingerie at Debenhams, said: “We know that many men don’t feel at ease in lingerie departments so our first clinic will be in a relaxed environment where people can get one-to-one attention.”

Tee Ahmet, 29, from Edmonton, who works in marketing, has already signed up. He said: “I have never been brave enough to buy lingerie and if I had been I don’t think it would have gone down particularly well. Hopefully this will make me feel a lot more comfortable.