Ladies: Pantyhose or Stockings?

[Cubsfan]

And why one over the other?

If stockings do you prefer thigh highs or garters?

Colors, patterns or fishnets?

Shiny or dull?

Ever wear seamed?

These are questions more about regular wearing, not so much the bedroom.

[Mom-of-Andrew]

I'll jump in.

Everyday situations, such as the office, a family social function, etc, definitely call for plain 'ol pantyhose. It's just more practical. No worries about garter belts showing through, things getting twisted around and looking funny, or elastic on thigh highs rolling on you so you're trying to discreetly pull everything up where it belongs.

Going out on the town, when I want to feel sexy, I tend to dress in things hubby finds sexy. The details (fishnet, colored, seamed, etc) will depend on the overall effect of the outfit (and the outside temp LOL No fishnet at 40 degrees, but I might go with a nice pair of black rose pattern stockings...)

[Broomstick]

If I never have to ever wear either again I will be quite happy. The only reason I've ever worn them on a regular basis is that I was paid to wear them as part of "corporate attire" and office dress code. So in my case the answer is "neither".

[Ferret Herder]

If I never have to ever wear either again I will be quite happy. The only reason I've ever worn them on a regular basis is that I was paid to wear them as part of "corporate attire" and office dress code. So in my case the answer is "neither".
This, though I prefer garter hose or good stay-up stockings (Jockey used to make a great pair) when I do have to go to hose.

Wearing hose is somewhat out of fashion these days, though (at least still in Chicago and probably elsewhere, last I looked into it). I'm just glad fashion finally intersected with my preferences, at least for now.

[DianaG]

And why one over the other?
Neither, if I can help it. Pantyhose suck, I can't imagine wearing them anywhere other than the office, and only if it's really cold, in which case I'd much prefer tights. I prefer nothing to stockings as well, but they're better than pantyhose. That said, I'd never wear them to the office, too much chance of wardrobe malfunction.

If stockings do you prefer thigh highs or garters?
I prefer garters. More secure, and though there may be women in the world who can wrap an elastic around their thigh with absolutely no bulging, I'm not one of them.

Colors, patterns or fishnets?
For fun, sure, but use sparingly at work. As a rule, if your dress code requires hose, fishnets are NOT what they have in mind.

Shiny or dull?
What is this, the Ice Capades?

Ever wear seamed?
Only when I'm hanging out with Dita Von Teese.

[Bridget Burke]

Most of the time--neither. Houston women have gladly followed the fashion set up North and abandoned pantyhose, with exceptions for the most old-fashioned of corporate settings & formal events. I've confirmed these observations in the tunnel system that links most buildings Downtown--where employees in the more conservative firms walk to lunch, avoiding our famous heat; pantyhose are rare. Of course, slacks are also acceptable in most offices.

When cool weather comes, as it eventually does, we mostly wear tights, which are more comfortable & sturdy than panty hose. Black is the classic color--even with light-colored shoes, according to Vogue! But I'll sometimes indulge my taste for odd colors & patterns.

I remember the end of the panty-girdle & stocking era. So, no stockings for me! Unless I'm playing dress-up.....

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

Unless it's cold or a formal occasion, bare legs. For me, never ever ever pantyhose. No way, no how.

Stockings for sure. I'll do garters, but prefer the thigh highs that stay up on their own. Colors, patterns, seam... whatever.

Tights I will do, but not pantyhose.

[I Love Me, Vol. I]

This thread reminds me of something...



(rrrrriiiiiing)

Hello?

(silence)

Hello?!?

(heavy breathing)

Who is this??!!??

mmmmmm.... Hi there.

WHO IS THIS???!!!!!??

...What color panties are you wearing?

CLICK!!!!!!!!

[thirdwarning]

With a dress, panty hose, definitely. I've tried knee highs, but I need something to keep my thighs from rubbing together. (Working on that problem, but it will be a while.) Without anything I don't feel quite dressed. It might be different if I still wore them all the time, but I haven't for several years now.

Stockings and garters and all that strike me the same way the old fashioned "monthly" belt apparatus did. A reasonable solution at the time, but way outdated and unnecessary now.

[apollonia]

Hose sucks. If it's cold enough to need my legs covered, I'll go with tights, which I have in all kinds of colours and patterns.

There is no reason for shiny tights. Just no.

And while I do own a pair of seamed fishnet hose, the seams are a beast to keep straight and I'm only wearing them with a darn good reason.

[Serenata67]

nylons (pantyhose)... garters are just too much of a hassle for day to day. I like stockings and garters for sexy nights... but those don't always happen...

[Cyn]

I much prefer stockings over pantyhose

If stockings do you prefer thigh highs or garters?
Garter belt

Colors, patterns or fishnets?
I usually wear sheer, nude hose but with a short black skirt and flats, I'll wear patterns. Colors, not so much---gray, navy but not anything realy colorful; no reds, greens, nothing like that. Fishnets are a great pattern. My favorites are tan or soft black.

Shiny or dull?
Depends. Matte for everyday, shinier for evening

Ever wear seamed?
Never. Keeping them straight seems like a lot of trouble for not a lot of return.

[Lynn Bodoni]

If I never have to ever wear either again I will be quite happy. The only reason I've ever worn them on a regular basis is that I was paid to wear them as part of "corporate attire" and office dress code. So in my case the answer is "neither". This. If I get a job that requires wearing hose, I'd better be VERY well paid for it. When I wore the damn things, I kept an emergency pair at work, because I was always snagging them.

I MIGHT wear garters and hose, if I have something special planned, but I wouldn't be leaving the house wearing them...unless it was to go to a special dinner or something, with the best part later.

[Anaamika]

I will also never wear pantyhose. I am hoping eventually the stuff will just disappear. I'll wear stockings, or tights, very rarely.

[BobLibDem]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.

[Ferret Herder]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.
That's fine, I don't dress for you. :) You'll be relieved to hear I can't even recall the last time I wore a skirt, anyway.

[purplehorseshoe]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.

Wow, Bob. You're ... not what my guy friends call "a leg man" I suppose.

Or else you hang with some real uggos.

:p

[Jamaika a jamaikaiaké]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.

Look, your opinion is your opinion. Some of us men can't stand pantyhose/stockings. Also, as Ferret Herder said, they aren't dressing for us, so this comment should be just as irrelevant as yours.

[overlyverbose]

During my thinner days and in the summer it would've been stockings (gartered or otherwise) hands down. Even those used to come off the second I sat in my car.

Nowadays, if I had to wear either for work or for any length of time, it'd be pantyhose. The only reason I'd wear stockings now is if I didn't expect to be wearing the skirt long.

Whatever I was wearing, it would be sheer.

Fortunately, I wear pants all the time now. They're much, much more comfortable.

[liberty3701]

I wear knee-length skirts almost everyday, and I don't wear pantyhose or stockings, and I don't shave my legs! Shock! Horror!

Or, in other words, I wear what I want and what I think is comfortable; I'm not dressing for other people. Nor am I forcing them to look at my legs.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable many of us find hose? YOU try it sometime.

I am going to go out today on a couple of errands, and I will be wearing a dress and going barelegged. Anyone who doesn't like the way I look is invited to look somewhere else. Seriously. I don't dress so that passing strangers can ogle my bod.

[DianaG]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.
I'm 38 and untanned and I look just fine bare-legged, thank you very much. If I were lumpy or veiny or in any other way not aesthetically pleasing, I would wear hose (or, more likely, pants). For my own personal vanity, by the way, not for your good opinion.

As for the toes thing, it seems to me that shoes are the solution to that particular problem, unless of course you're implying that a woman should wear hose with open-toed shoes, in which case you can consider your license to give fashion advice immediately repealed.

[Glory]

39, untanned, I think my legs look just fine bare. My toes look great too - I am a big fan of professional pedicures.

You may scoff at my hideous bare legs here:
http://gloriana.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album02&id=cute_outfit1

I have worn panty hose exactly one time in the past 5 years - to my stepfather's funeral It was the type of southern, formal occasion that demands pantyhose - at least for me.

I hope to never wear pantyhose again. I work in a business casual company in Southern California. I wear a lot of skirts and capri pants with sandals. Panty hose is VERY rare here and I always think it looks a little fake and shiny.

PS - I also don't wear makeup.

[apollonia]

If you have ten toes facing 16 different directions, I suggest surgery or another type of medical intervention to solve the problem. Cramming said toes into hose (which rhymes), then wearing open-toed shoes, is a fashion faux-pas almost beyond belief. And it will not fix the problem.

[Broomstick]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose.
Well, thank you for informing me my skin color is unacceptable. My legs are white, get over it already. I don't dress for you anyway.

Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.
My feet look so effing good you I should charge for you to look at 'em.

[Cubsfan]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.
Though I wouldn't say it quite as harshly I agree to a degree. Though I much prefer the smooth, even look of a ladies legs in hose of any kind, I do enjoy nice legs and feet on any woman. The only ones who I find offputting are the ones who are Casper white and choose to wear short skirts to work the Monday after cutting down acres of bushes in their back yard in shorts (scratches) and picking 10 bug bites on their legs until they scab over. Ugh. White legs in and of themselves are just fine.

Only thing worse than an abused pair of legs is an abused pair of feet. If you have thick, crusty callouses, yellow toenails, scratches and bug bites and chipped nail polish on your toes then you probably shouldn't be wearing your open toed flip flops to the office, or open toed anything for that matter.

Bare legs and feet just aren't office appropriate unless you take basic care of them.

All of these can be hidden with hose for the most part.

[kittenblue]

Pantyhose all the way. My legs are too heavy for garters and stockings. Pantyhose make me feel dressed and professional and hold everything in nicely. Bare feet in dress shoes just doesn't feel right to me. And in the winter, hose helps keep my legs warm on the days I wear dresses or skirts. I can't imagine bare legs inside boots trying to clear snow off my car in the parking lot at the end of the day, but I saw several women doing just that last winter.

[Jamaika a jamaikaiaké]

Only thing worse than an abused pair of legs is an abused pair of feet. If you have thick, crusty callouses, yellow toenails, scratches and bug bites and chipped nail polish on your toes then you probably shouldn't be wearing your open toed flip flops to the office, or open toed anything for that matter.


WTF is wrong with callouses, scratches, and bugbites? People shouldn't ever walk barefoot in the forest?

Should I (a man) not wear shorts to the office if I went hiking/camping last weekend?

[Oakminster]

Ladies, take it from an unabashedly lecherous male. The correct answer here is stockings with garters. :cool:

[tumbleddown]

As usual, a question asked of women about their behavior is redirected and made all about men and their preferences. Because that's what's important.

[Freudian Slit]

Do women have any idea how bad you look bare-legged? OK, maybe if you're well tanned and under 25 you might look decent without hose. But for goodness sake, look in a full length mirror before going out. Or put one leg in hose and another out and compare the two. Or look at your feet- if your 10 toes are facing 16 different directions, it's not a good idea to let them do so.

You think women look bad bare legged? Are you one of those guys who thinks women look better in bras, too? I mean, yes, I get that bras are obviously appropriate for every day wear, but what kind of guy prefers legs to be covered up?

Anyway, I'm (just) under 25 and prefer to have bare legs and mine look pretty awesome without them. And I've never had my toes facing 16 different directions and I think if you've got that problem, pantyhose isn't going to correct it.

[kapri]

Neither, but if I have to wear them, pantyhose win. Just more comfortable and practical. I haven't worn actual pantyhose in years--I live in Florida, and almost no one wears them these days. I do wear opaque black tights with skirts in the winter nowadays; those have been trendy for a few years now, although I also wore them back in the 70s as well.

[Hazle Weatherfield]

I didn't even know that women still wore pantyhose. I don't even own a pair. I only see them on older women. I live downtown St. Louis and even the businesswomen I see aren't wearing them. I think they look weird!

[Cubsfan]

I work at a government agency in which most of the females that work there are under 40, probably under 35, and they all dress fairly stylishly with short skirts and high heels and I would say that the overwhelming majority wear hose to work. I'd say almost 50% of the people that work here are female too. The only time I don't see alot of hose is in the winter when I see alot of tights.

This is coming from a guy who notices this.

[Nava]

I hate, hate, hate regular hose. If I have to wear sheer whatever, I'll go for slacks and the ones that are like socks ("garter stockings" in the OP, I guess). I don't even wear skirts to weddings if I can help it, in order to avoid that torture instrument. In a skirt and in most climates I need either full hose or pettypants, and I'd just rather wear real trousers.

But last year I discovered two great things about Scotland:
1) they sell lots of "fishnets" with pretty schemes,
2) and the weather is actually cool enough for me to wear them comfortably. This includes heated buildings.

So for the first time in... *counts*... 27 years, I bought a skirt without someone holding the economic equivalent of a gun to my head. Actually, I bought three!

[Lamia]

I hate, hate, hate regular hose. If I have to wear sheer whatever, I'll go for slacks and the ones that are like socks ("garter stockings" in the OP, I guess).You may be describing "trouser socks", which were not mentioned by the OP. Trouser socks are usually made of nylon and are much thinner than regular socks but somewhat thicker than hose. They usually come up to mid-calf or a bit below the knee. (Here's some (http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=53154&CatID=53154&Grptyp=SIZ&ItemId=1619f61&cmRef=http://www.jcpenney.com/products/C58575.jsp) available from JC Penney.) They're designed for wearing with trousers, but you can also wear them with long skirts. I wore trouser socks all the time when I was working in Asia in a more "business formal" environment, although now I just wear regular socks to work.