I may as well tell you now that you will not have my pantyhose until your tear them from my cold dead legs. They make me look better and help to keep me from freezing to death at work.
However, lately I seem to be seeing a lot of women going bare-legged. Of course, I live in a college town, so it could be one-a them trendy things those youngsters are all doing these days, but I also see it on TV, most notably on What Not to Wear. They’ll have some lady on there dressed to the nines, and wearing some dressy, expensive shoes, and no hose! Is it just Not Done anymore?
I did see one of my cousins wearing pantyhose the other day…with a pair of shorts. Now I do think that’s going a bit far, but I cut her a break since she is seventy-something years old.
So, uh…what are the rules where hose are concerned? I don’t mind being “out of it” but I like to know just how un-hip I am.
I almost always wear skirts to work. In the winter, I wear them with dark, opaque tights and flat shoes (loafers, mary janes, etc.) In the summer, I go bare-legged and wear sandals. In fact, I offically kicked off the summer season today, after shaving my legs for the first time in six months last night. (See above on "dark, opaque tights. ) I probably own some regular skin-colored pantyhose, which I would only wear if I were getting *very * dressed up and wearing heels, which happens less than once a year.
I’m 52 and have a boss-type position in an office.
When I moved to the Carolinas from the Lake Michigan area, I realized I was the only one down here wearing hose, so I stopped. Never looked back. Once in a while if headed to soemthing fancy in swanky dress I’ll wear them but almost never to work.
This is pretty much what I do as well, but I shave my legs a little more often. I’m 21, and it seems like pantyhose are a little old-fashioned. Plus, in my opinion, they make your legs look totally weird. Of course, in 20 years or so, I may change my mind.
I wore pantyhose with a dress to a funeral a few months ago, and I think I was the only one there wearing them. All of the other women were wearing strappy heels and no hose.
I rarely (weddings and funerals) wear anything dressier than a sun dress, so I don’t own a lot of dress shoes, and the ones I have require pantyhose. The next time I do buy dress shoes, I may consider some strappy ones that don’t require hose, because I certainly am not attached to pantyhose.
I don’t wear them. It’s tights or bare-legged, unless I’m doing something ridiculously fancy. I have yet to find a pair of pantyhose that I can’t kill in one wearing (okay–MAYBE two if I’m lucky). I’m not a fan of throwaway clothes. Tights will last me longer, and have the added bonus of being opaque. Ergo, if I forget to shave. . .not going to be a huge deal.
I am tragically un-hip as well. I never feel fully dressed without them. They also make my fishbelly white legs look better. Unfortunately, the general concensus is “DORK” with regard to pantyhose.
I won’t go without something on my legs, so it’s pants in the summer and opaques in the winter, I guess. I haven’t had the opportunity to wear hose in quite some time.
I will only wear tights, which are those thick opaque hose, and only in the winter.
Pantyhose is the bane of woman’s existence and I honestly can’t understand why any woman would choose to wear it. Buy cheap ones, and they tear. Buy expensive ones, and they don’t tear as fast but still tear. They itch. They either ride up your ass or fall down all the time.
I wear the thick hose because if I have to wear dresses in the winter, it’s cold. Plus I like the silky-soft feeling, and they’re black, which matches the general tone of most of my dresses. And they never ever tear. (Well, unless you are really brutal with them.)
In the summer you will never ever catch me in a pair of hose. I will avoid going to places which absolutely require it!
Plus one of the biggest reasons for wearing pantyhose is the color, and I already have a brown skintone! I don’t need to wear tan pantyhose over my…tan legs, it just feels stupid.
I am considering starting a campaign. Down with pantyhose!
Pantyhose are out, fashionably speaking. But obviously they are still available and some people still choose to wear them. To each her own, but I wouldn’t be caught dead in them.
Yeah! And roast them in hell for making few choices in colors!!!
I am so pale… How pale are you Ter? I am so pale that after I shave my legs the place where the folicle grows out is still visible because it’s so much darker than my skin!!
So finding pantyhose that don’t cutoff the blood stream, fall down or make my legs look stupidly dark or orange under $25 is No Damn Fun.
MIcheal Kors makes a ‘leg shine’ I’ve tried to use in lieu of hose but it’s a tad dark… :rolleyes:
I haven’t worn them in years. I do tend to wear pants, but still…
I knew they were out when the new Director of Development, a very high profile/out in the public eye type, came to meet my boss wearing a fashionable but conservative suite with sandals and bare legs.
I also usually wear casual dresses, no hose. But I need to buy some nylons this week for a funeral on Saturday. I consider nylons a disposable item; I buy a pair for $5 for a special occasion, and if they don’t run, great; if they do run, well, I expected it and that’s why I spent the five clams for a surefire new pair instead of sifting through the drawer looking for one without runs.
If I had to wear them every day, I’d probably think differently.
Oh, and I don’t shave my legs. I wear fairly long dresses and rarely wear shorts, and I’ve been blessed with very light, fine, slow-growing leg and body hair.
Actually, I’m not loving my hose today because I’m having a horrible static cling problem with this long flimsy skirt I’m wearing. Every time I walk, it builds up a charge and the skirt just winds itself around my legs. I thought about taking the hose off, but that would just look wrong to me. Also, I can’t bring myself to put bare feet in my dress shoes!
Usually, though, I find them sufficiently comfortable. I buy a 3-pack at Wal-Mart for some ridiculously low price and it lasts me at least six months…and I wear them nearly every day, wash them in the machine, and dry them in the dryer. High spandex content, that’s the key…
One piece of advice I always give, as it works for me - put some foot powder near where you take off your shoes. As soon as you come home, sprinkle some powder in there when you take them off. It will sit in there until next you wear them, and when you put your shoes on, your feet are powdered.
Prevents your shoes from being smelly. I put bare feet into my shoes all the time, and unless I am wearing sandals, I can’t help that my feet are sweaty. The foot powder thing has solved all the problems.
In New York, panty hose are still part of the dress code for women at a lot of the big investment and law firms, it’s kind of a casual, intuitive way to say something about a job (like white shoe, but for women) – I work in education and I don’t have to wear hose, but if someone gets a new job, I might ask “oh, will there be hose?” which tells me something about the company.
I think the dorkiness depends a lot upon the kind of hose. That 70s suntan color? Definitely dork. But I think a lot of the sheers and patterns available now barely register. I’m a fan.
For those that can’t stand to be without hose, but still want to wear strappy sandals, they make pantyhose that only comes part of the way down the leg.
Pantyhose are the work of satan. Just like 3" heels and platforms and such silly things.
I also think that (done right) they’re dead sexy.
I don’t understand why pantyhose is considered “office” wear. Just like three-piece suits and women’s flat dress shoes, I think it’s all part of a uniform signifying “I am a Western person dressing up for work.” IMO it doesn’t look particularly good. It just looks like you’re dressed up for work.
Also for years I have biked to work, meaning I often change into my work clothes in cubicles or shared bathrooms. Trying to thread my way into pantyhose (when I am also probably a bit sticky from the ride in; and there might be people waiting their turn for the bathroom) under such circumstances is not an attractive proposition.
Silk stockings and stilettos (again, done right), DO look particularly good. Not like you’re dressed up for work, but like you’re HAWT. (ETA: Or, what **Guin **said.)
So I am all for pantyhose, except in the workplace and other places you might want to be comfortable. It’s like a costume. It’s not for just “dressing up,” but for “dressing up as a sexy lady in pantyhose,” IMO.
My best friend feels the same way. there was a time in our lives when we had about 8 weddings to attend in two or three years. For the first few we wore pantyhose, but by dinnertime we both realized how uncomfortable it was, so we snuck into the bathroom to remove them. After this happened about three times we dispensed with the hose altogether and just started going without. Sweet, sweet liberation.
) I probably own some regular skin-colored pantyhose, which I would only wear if I were getting *very * dressed up and wearing heels, which happens less than once a year.
I’m 21, and it seems like pantyhose are a little old-fashioned. Plus, in my opinion, they make your legs look totally weird. Of course, in 20 years or so, I may change my mind.