Bare legs are the norm around here at least in more casual settings. I can't remember the last time I saw someone in nylons at work. I wear fleece lined tights with boots in winter but that's about it for me--and usually with dresses. There's nothing worse than having to endure the hosiery waist band roll down and a skirt waist band. It's unbearable!

I can’t stand wearing hose. It feels too constricting to me. But I also don’t wear a lot of skirts or dresses and don’t work in a professional setting so the point is moot with me. I do think, however, that the new Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, looks absolutely appropriate without hose, even beside Harry in a suit. I’m not sure what I think about women dressing without hose in other professional settings.

I always wear sheer hose with dresses or skirts from the time it’s “ wrong” to wear opaque tights ( around end of March here) until October or so. I run cold so I’d never be able to wear bare legs in air conditioning plus I don’t like the look in professional setting , at least , mine, and at my age. I am at point I don’t care about the “ no hose” contingent, meaning, pantyhose as fashion faux pas, that has been very vocal for awhile, though may have eased up more recently.
I agree, “ runs” in stocking are annoying and expensive. Have just had to build that into budget. That I really can use fewer total skirt options but need my tights budget.

I do struggle with true casual summer dresses- really just don’t wear them- because I don’t wear open toe sandals anymore ( except very casual, at home time). The sneaker trend may help me here.

I am comfortable going hose-free at work. But I am also comfortable showing my toes and I know a lot of people don't care for that here. The dress standard is pretty variable at my work. We have suits, chinos, pencil skirts, sundresses and yoga pants and sneakers. I do wear nude hose in late Autumn and early Spring when it's too cool for bare legs but opaque tights feel too heavy. I don't find them uncomfortable but they are expensive and they do snag easily. It feels wasteful, which is the main reason why I resist wearing them. It drives me crazy when they ladder on first wear. My opaque tights, on the other hand, seem to last forever.

I live and work in a very casual environment, so my comments on this are probably moot, but for me, it is more related to temperature than anything else. I happily wear dresses and skirts without hose all summer. And in winter, I most definitely wear hose or tights. To go bare-legged in winter in my climate is the height of seasonal foolishness. (Confusion is not the word for it!)

I do tend to wear midi skirts/ dresses and that probably plays a role in my comfort level. It is not as if I am revealing a lot of bare leg.

Yet, I also wear sandals and bare arms. And as my grey hair attests, I am not young.

I don't mind wearing hose -- I actually find them less constricting and more comfortable than leggings (albeit more fragile, at least the sheer kind). And nude sheers may seem like a fashion faux pas to some, but I don't feel that way about them -- I'd wear them in winter to a dressy event, for sure. But I have to admit that I wear dresses and skirts far more often in summer because they feel more comfortable without hose and I'm awfully glad for the option not to wear stockings! Especially since my summer climate is hot and humid and I don't have AC.

I agree with those who suggest you might try microfishnets. They run much less than regular hose and add an interesting element of texture.

Side point here - As all the Australians posting here (and me too) wear nude hose at times I think we down under have missed out on the disapproval!

I wear them a lot and particularly appreciate that they make shoes much more comfortable. However I'm also fine with going bare legged to the office in summer.

Since Angie introduced the option of mini fish nets, I wear them and they seem to last. I am wearing nude ones now. I think freezing stockings before wearing lengthens their life. I also hand wash in cold water and sometimes shampoo immediately after taking them off. I have had elastic fail on favorite pairs of knee highs after a couple of years. So discouraging.
I wear dresses and skirts with bare legs with casual pieces on hot days, but do not usually find stockings uncomfortable. I buy most discounted at Marshalls/TJMaxx or Nordstrom Rack. What I cannot find now are taupe colors.

Very interesting! As a fellow Australian it has never occurred to me that bare legs would be in any way troubling, even in a conservative office. I wonder what the Big Law women wear?
Anywhere I have worked was fine with bare legs, even in my brief career in marketing, which was very image driven. We were allowed to wear open sandals to work if we had a pedicure (lol, these rules were one of the reasons I went back into academia!)
I wear bare legs for nine months of the year (it's warm where I live) and then switch to opaque tights for the rest of the time. I like the way tights look, but also their durability and CPW!

I need to find mini-fishnets. I remember Angie's post and failed to act because I didn't think it applied to me as a non-dress wearer. However, that might have been short sighted on my part.

To be honest, I'm not sure I recall seeing professional skirt suits in the workplace at all. Pant suits, or more likely trousers and some kind of top, are far more typical among those those who choose to dress businesslike.

Ginger -- You are right. I was at a conference on Thursday of last week. I noted that the men were all wearing suits and ties. I did not see one single woman (including myself) in either a skirted or pant suit. I was wearing silk slacks with sleeveless lace top. Maybe over-casualization has deeply and adversely impacted our professional lives. Maybe I do need to own one really good suit.

Although I’ve been out of the workplace for many years, I often go to dinner with my husband and the outside accountants when they’re in town. I worked for one in Houston in the 80s, and wore a skirt suit and stockings every day, even in summer. To a one, these women wear black pants and black jackets.

I did not wear trousers to any job I ever held after university, until I was in my 40's and my employer at the time implemented the first of several changes to the established dress code. Furthermore, I always wore hose/nylons. I would buy 10 packs at a time (buy 10 get one free!). Regular were never a good fit and I didn't like the girdling of many styles. I found that Queen sized solved the problem though my weight and measurements did not match the package descriptions.

About 10 years ago I read a book called 'How Not to Look Old' by Charla Krupp (who was a regular contributor to 'Glamour' magazine. She suggested that bare legged was the way to go, or failing that, the finest stockings one could afford! I decided to try bare legs during the warmer months. My skirt and dress lengths are to-the-knee or lower. In winter I wore darker hose, micro fishnets, and trousers. I have to admit that going bare legged was way more comfortable than wearing hose, and this thread is the first time I've ever heard that there could be a prohibition against bare legs with skirt or dress in a work environment.

Just like everything else, there are trends in hose. Before I retired I saw mostly bare legs during warm weather and coloured hose, patterns, and tights in winter. Hose with some shine made a comeback when Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge made hose with a bit of sheen her go-to.

I can't imagine seeing a woman in a very corporate environment (law, finance, CEO etc) wearing a skirt suit or dress without hose. To me, that would be like a man wearing dress shorts to work . Weirdly personal and odd. That said, the majority of women I see in my sales life aren't in a corporate environment - so it's something I rarely have to consider. I do remember one particular occasion about 3 years ago when I had a meeting with several people at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights - in the high heat of summer. I wore a sleeveless silk top and skirt, and felt vastly underdressed and too fashiony. Silly, almost. Bare legs and arms were totally wrong for that situation = too informal and beachy looking. Anyways, I don't mind wearing fishnets at all , and even regular hose don't bother me ....they give a polished and refined touch to an outfit (for those extremely rare occasions when a polished look is required).

I hate hose, but I work in a super casual environment where jeans and sneakers are acceptable (I think everyone is a step up from completely casual, basically). I have stomach problems, and hose are too constricting and deeply uncomfortable, especially in the summer when it's humid outside and often roasting in the subway stations. I mind tights in the winter less, as they provide warmth, but I have to make sure they're not too tight on my tummy, or I won't wear them.

I've avoided skirts and dresses for ages because I hate hose, which were mandatory when I was younger, and we usually weren't allowed to wear pants either. And panty girdles were required with straight skirts and dresses. Late middle-aged middle body weight gain makes the panty roll down even worse.

This spring, however, with so many longer and at least knee-length dresses I went a bit nuts, and now am faced with the problem: older legs. Veins, scars, although in pretty good shape.Too much skin damage to suntan, don't do well with tanning products, left with leg makeup. I know it doesn't bother Angie to show pale legs with veins, but my legs are considerably older. Sigh. I will wear my dresses and I did buy some pantyhose and Air Stockings. We will see.

I have noticed that when I meet with bankers/business people, the women nearly always wear pants now.

Good discussion. Thanks.

I wonder if this is partially a regional thing? Though I'm retired, I still interact frequently with women in Big Law, Big Accounting, C-Suite, etc. I almost never see anyone wearing nude stockings in that environment with a skirt-suit or dress. The few that do, I think that is just their personal preference and they probably make the same choice in a social context, too. The exception is planned court appearances. I'm told that women wear pants-suits and skirt-suits without stockings to court in other parts of the country, but I have no direct personal experience with that.
Anyway, I was personally thrilled when forgoing nude stockings became acceptable, because I despise wearing the @#$% things. I feel that I've reached the age where no one is paying the slightest bit of attention to my legs (or probably any other part of me - LOL!) so I've gotten comfortable with the fact that they, like the rest of me, are showing their age.