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Another question about pantyhose

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Rather than hijacking Carla’s thread, I’m posting my latest thoughts on it here, to ask what you’ve done for leg coverings with skirts and dresses. This has been my little progression:

Patent leather Mary Janes (white in summer, black in winter) with ankle socks until 6th or 7th grade when my mom informed me I WOULD shave my legs. Not sure how she enforced it, but I did it, yuck.

Pantyhose through high school and the start of college. Generally purchased at the grocery store, where “Queen” meant tall and /or wide, all the same size. I hated them and hated that the weird, matted look of hair under them meant I had to shave my legs.

Discovered garter belts and stockings as Victoria’s Secret took off. They were thin, so looked like hosiery, but never got twisted if I put them on straight (as easy as socks), and never slid down to give me webbed legs. I generally wore black or other opaque colors with matched sets. Discovered in my 20s that guys I was dating didn’t exactly mind if I wore these. Rarely shaved my legs during this time. I also went bare-legged with sandals or with ankle boots.

During my PhD research in Berlin, a coworker of mine introduced me to the wonders of heavy tights in winter. They were spendy, but were shaped like me, so as long as they weren’t worn out & saggy, they did not slide down. For the first time, I could wear short skirts with my boots in the winter, yay. And they’re warmer with long skirts than garter belt + stockings. Still not into shaving.

I don’t remember what I did as mom of a small kid. Then we moved to Florida where I didn’t want anything extra on my legs, tyvm.

These days I like the heavy tights—fleece-lined have come into being, and into my life. I haven't worn my new underwear item with clasps for stockings, but I will! But in the springtime, I was wearing tights so thin I wondered if they count as, gasp, panty hose! I’m not sure where the cut-off line is, but these were Wolfords, so I may have already crossed over. I shave my legs every couple weeks, or every few months, or when they’re itchy.

How about you? Do you love pantyhose or hate ‘em? What’s your favorite solution with skirts or dresses, and has it changed over the years?

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Dressing

19 replies

Latest reply was from Stagiaire Fash

Kate

Veteran

Yes, with your Wolfords, you have crossed over. But aren't they fab!!

As a teen, I remember L'Eggs, the panty hose that came in a plastic egg. The egg was amusing, the panty hose, not so much. Dreadful texture and colors.

The only panty hose I ever liked were those made by Christian Dior. We're talking 30 years ago, CD. They were like gossamer. Beautiful hose, gorgeous colors. Pricey and fragile.

Love the #3 advert! Thanks for the laugh.

ophelia

Veteran

Well, you asked...I’m old enough to remember when they were required at many jobs & I had to wear them daily. Hated them. A friend & I would fantasize about building a giant bonfire out of them, like some women allegedly did w/ bras in the 60’s, but hose would create toxic fumes. Garters never worked for me because they caused visible lumps in my skirt where they attached to the hose.
I own & very occasionally wear them & I never forget they are a petroleum product. And I still hate them.

Synne

Veteran

Omg, that last pic!! Haha!

I remember a urban legend making the rounds here of (petroleum) nylon tights "frost burning" into the skin of a girl who wore them outside in winter in below freezing temperatures.. she had to have them surgically removed. Yikes.

I like the sheen and glow of nylon tights. In fact I feel very chic and glamorous, but maybe I'm deluded, lol. My bare legs are always covered in unexplainable bruises, seldom shaved, and ghastly pale.

Eta: I never wear nylons for long. Typical party wear, worn for 4-6 hours tops. Inside in comfortable temps. Having to wear them for hours on end, in blazing heat, etc, a totally different story I'm sure!!

nuancedream

Veteran

Kate, I remember, "Nothing beats a great pair of L'eggs!" in that ghastly orange suntan color that matched no one's skin tone! I wore Jockey brand pantyhose for a long time because I did a national print ad for them 30 years ago, but they no longer make pantyhose.

Kathie

Veteran

I like, and wear, hosiery of all types, including pantyhose and tights, but only with closed-toe shoes and never with sandals, and never in our beastly humid summer weather in the mid-Atlantic. My heaviest pairs don't get as much wear, but "almost" opaque black tights got a lot of wear in the winter pre-pandemic. I like the look of super sheer pantyhose to even out my skin tone for dressier events, and never feel constrained in them, even with a control top.

Anonymous

Actually the suntan color works well on me- nuancedream! Not sure which brand I'm using though...

Sooo right about them not fitting at the crotch :/ Also the waist (too big) and the legs (too short).

I haven't found a single pair I've ever been that happy with, so usually end up in pants in cold weather instead. Spring, summer, fall of course I go bare legged with skirts and dresses.

But for me, leg shaving is never optional! Even if I'm camping I will find a way to shave every day. Dead of winter too!

Irina

Veteran

I don’t wear dresses or skirts in the colder months but I wear some kind of pantyhose or tights from November to April for warmth under pants or jeans. In the fall, my go to nude & sheer, sometimes patterned black pantyhose. I mostly buy Calvin Klein but they don’t last long. The best opaque tights I bought are from MaxMara (bought on sale). 3 years old and still going strong. My attempt to add variety failed. I bought footless tight from Uniqlo and don’t like them at all - too long on me and I feel cold in them

N

I've pretty much always worn tights, we had a skirt as a uniform from ages 11-16 and I wore thick ones. I always used to wear flesh coloured ones too because my legs were so pale, i'd make sure to get the lightest colour mind so you could barely see it was there. I was never bare legged in the UK. When I moved to Japan I wore rights for a while but in summer the heat here is insane (the humidity!) And i'm going to be a bit TMI but I never knew your vulva could sweat! I never had that problem in the UK but after moving to Japan boy everywhere can sweat (and I sweat buckets!) Anyway...in Japan everyone wants to be pale and lighter so when I go out with with my very very pale legs I don't feel as conscious about it. First time in my life i've bared my legs without worrying.

Anyway, I am definitely not one if those that likes shaving my eyesight is quite bad (no glasses in the shower) and my legs are really long so I always always always miss some. I think I'm going to buy an epilator one of these days. My mum had one (that she used infrequently). She wasn't a big shaver either. I remember her going to the hairdresser one day with her pits full of hair and she showed the hairdresser and was like "I don't care!". I think I do owe my body confidence to my mother. She was happy with herself with no make up and basically au natural. I'm not sure where she got it from as my grandmother always used to wear lipstick. I basically stay au natural, I don't really like overly made up make up looks or fuss over anything. I only really shave when I feel like it for myself (not for others).

(Sorry that was a right ramble there wasn't it? Full life story Haha)

cat2

Veteran

My first nylons were for cheerleading and they were intentionally all that L’Eggs suntan color. Back then, we tanned to match the tights. I still wear a full range of sheer nylons and opaque tights, although none in that excellent color. I second the Max Maras as the best, but I have not been able to find any here recently.

Joy

Veteran

I started wearing stockings in the days when girls were not allowed to wear ps to of ant kind. Even in college. Does anyone else remember those times or having to wear snow pants to school under skirts to school and take them off in the cloak room. I refused to wear them after grade school but did wear knee socks. I was really skinny so stockings did not fit me. Garter belts were considered only worn by “bad” girls and women. In fact even stockings with seams were questionable at one time. In the later ‘60’s I started making my own in wild patterns and colors. At least I could make them fit my skinny legs. My legs were and still are, my best feature. So I did what I could to call attention to them with mini skirts and wild stockings. I still love stockings that even out my leg skin tones and add warmth when needed. I even wear one pair layered on top of another for extra warmth when needed. I have happily shaved my legs for many years until hair no longer grows on them.

You live in a country where men consider women’s body hair sexy, at least a few decades ago they did. So go anatural if you want to.

rachylou

Veteran

I wore knee socks as a kid. No socks in high school. Panty hose until my mid twenties and trying to wear them all day long in an office gave me terrible digestive problems. Garters I always found unreliable. I switched to thigh highs.

But somewhere in there, I have to mention that I did buy hose in high school… the old fashioned kind that came in a box, that you HAD to wear with garters and had no stretch. The box was fun; the hose was saggy. Lol.

ETA: If I’m dressing up a bit and going out at night, I take Angie’s advice and double up. Because I only wear thigh highs, I then add a Jockey shorts slip for warmth.

Pps: Tights are another story. I consider them separate from hose.

rachylou

Veteran

I say, Joy, what? When were seams and garters bad girl stuff? I mean, originally, weren’t those the only kind of stockings? Lol, I guess our department store was kinda stuck in the forties…

Kate

Veteran

Now that tagline is going to be stuck in my brain all night, nuancedream! Ghastly is just the word for that
orange suntan color, and ghastly it certainly was against my uber pale legs. A real crime against nature, that color. Other brands did pick up the suntan color name, but none that I ever saw had the same otherworldly hue that the L'Eggs pantyhose did. I do love my Wolford tights, but I haven't worn pantyhose in decades, and was delighted to ditch them and share my pale legs with the world.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Thanks for playing, everyone. Your responses are fun to read, even if I am now having flashbacks to that awful “suntan” color, lol.

Rachylou, there are garters and then there are garters. My grandma wore flat white ones that matched the belts she had worn with her maxi pads, all very therapeutic looking. Victoria’s Secrets’ were modeled on a different version, one that probably existed at a higher price point but that many of us knew only from those “adult” stores along the highway, lol. Thigh highs seemed nice, because they’re longer than most stockings, but they didn’t stay up on me.

How did I forget the digestive issues that panty hose bring?!?

Ophelia, I guess I’m lucky I never had to wear hosiery at work; the skirts & dresses I typically wore garter belts with, including the purple and green 2-piecer in my “unpacking” post, were loose enough to be forgiving. I’d love to join your nylon destruction party, but agree the smell would rival burning car tires.

Kate, interesting that you also put Wolford on the “tights” side of the line.

Joy, I’m amazed that you could make your own! Shaving used to be unusual here but sadly, it has become the norm here too.

Lol at the agreement on #3, but I won’t pry into peoples’ marriages.

Irina and Cat2, thanks for the tip & concurrence on Max Maras. They are available here for €14, which seems reasonable to me, if they will last.

Synne and N, even in the days when we thought laying out to get a tan was the thing to do, I can’t recall ever being concerned about the color of my lower legs, which is very light. Even if my upper legs weren’t dark, I didn’t wear hose with shorts.

Nuance, cool that you did that ad campaign. I’ve never had anything be seen nation-wide.

Sorry if I didn’t hit everyone by name. I enjoyed every response, and the many chuckles.

Kate

Veteran

I didn't even realize that, SF. I think I started using tights meaning hose because that's the term Wolford uses to refer to all its hosiery products, though in the past I tended to think of tights as much thicker and heavier.

N

Oh yes, in Germany people never shaved as much as say the UK. I always liked that, kind of sad to hear its become the norm too.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Kate, I’m mostly just laughing. I suspect that what I was actually finding so disagreeable all those years was the nylon fabric as much as the pantyhose construction. So although I say I don’t want to cross over to the other side, I’m mostly just having fun.

N, it bums me out too. Fortunately, old ladies get a pass on silly “beauty” rituals if we want.

unfrumped

Veteran

I like some kind of hose or tights with skirts and dresses most of the time except for outdoor casual summer wear. That means nude-for- me pantyhose, as sheer as possible, indoors for mild weather or very dressy events , except when sheer black may be better for the outfit colors , and then opaque tights including fleece tights in cooler weather.
Since it can be hard to make pantyhose work in warm weather - either my own comfort or they just don’t look right, even by my “ standards”, then I find it hard to bare- leg do dresses for semi- dressy events- outdoor summer weddings especially- so am likely to try to build capsules based on dressy pants in cooler fabrics.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Unfrumped, how did avoiding the whole question and going for pants not occur to me?