I wear a bra because I have to. I have a set of shoulder grooves too. 
Hose under pants? I have no idea. I only wear hose under duress. Or short skirts.
As to the nail polish/lipstick? I guess because they think it mkes them look prettier. I prefer a more natural look.
I’m fairly small chested, and I always wear a bra, even when lounging around the house. It’s probably mostly vanity – if I don’t wear one, not only do I look like I’m smuggling TicTacs, but gravity causes Itty and Bitty to run away and hide. Small does not always mean perky, alas. But most of my bras are pretty comfortable.
As for nails, mine are usually done in a shade of blue or silver – it’s just a fun splash of color, like makeup I don’t have to worry about running or rubbing off or getting in my eyes. It also keeps me from constantly feeling the need to clean under my fingernails, since I can’t see the miniscule bits of dirt that collect.
And most of the time if a woman is wearing hose under pants you can see it – women’s dress shoes tend to show most of the top of the foot. It’s more formal than socks, and with full-length hose you don’t have to worry about keeping em pulled up (for some reason knee-highs always wander downwards on my legs, despite my beefy calves). And … haven’t you heard of control-top pantyhose? When you have a little extra on your stomach, like 99% of women do, slacks can emphasize this. Control-top hose are an inexpensive countermeasure.
I moved this to IMHO because there’s no one reason women will wear bras and/or hose.
I’ll throw out a few guesses on the red nails and lipstick. The red lipstick enhances the beauty of the lips and the face in general, IF THE RIGHT SHADE IS CHOSEN. As for nails, used to be that women buffed their nails with a piece of chamois skin. The pink glow from the buffing looked attractive, so they tried to improve on this. They used some sort of rouge on their nails, I’m not sure what sort, I just know that it was a powder that they buffed into their nails. I think that henna was sometimes used as nail coloring as well, but I’m not sure of that, it’s just an impression I’ve gotten from reading.
Some women wear ONLY pantyhose as nether undergarments. Some just like the feel, some prefer not to have the dreaded VPL (visible panty line). Some women usually wear pantyhose, but will wear panties during menstruation.
I, personally, hate pantyhose. The crotch always crept down towards my knees, and I just plain hate the way the fabric feels against my skin. When I was in the habit of wearing pantyhose, I’d generally wear a control panty (like a girdle, only it was soft) OVER the pantyhose, and that kept the crotch of the pantyhose in place.
Incidentally, if you’re a large breasted woman, I advise trying a bra with camisole straps. Another example. These straps are wider than normal bra straps, and they adjust in the back. Adjusting is a pain, but you only do that a couple of times, anyway. I always felt that hardware pinch when I moved my arms, if it was on the front of the bra strap.
Me too. I bet a lot of what the OP has seen is really knee highs, not panty hose. Wearing socks with loafers and pumps is kind of tacky, but knee highs or ultra thin dress socks look fine. Not to mention they fit better with those types of footwear too, since they’re designed with panty hose in mind.
As for bras… I suppose that women wear or don’t wear them for the same reasons men wear or don’t wear underwear. Some guys don’t like to let their balls hang out because it’s uncomfortable, and breasts are like that too.
What I don’t understand is the “it’s too hot to wear a bra” comment that inevitably comes out. Breasts sweat, yes. Maybe wearing a bra makes this worse, but they’ll still sweat anyway if you don’t wear a bra. And stick to your ribcage. ick. It’s not more comfortable to go braless in hot sticky weather IMO.
Thanks for those links, Lynn. I’m always on the look out for something more comfortable than what I currently have.
Whenever this happens to me, I’m reminded of that taller comedian, can’t think of her name. She said she just started utilizing the extra space, “I can tuck my purse in there, maybe the diaper bag, business papers…” 
One thing not mentioned about wearing hose under slacks, is sweat. Imagine what a pair of non-breathable dress shoes would smell like if one wore them bare-footed over a few days. Blech! Something we all probably learned about the day we forgot to wear socks with our gym shoes. Ahh, I just rememered the comedian, Paula Poundstone.
Women in their, say, 40’s start wearing support hose to help stave off the effects of gravity (ie. saggy ass) and help prevent varicose veins. So said my ex who wore them under her scrubs to work everyday.
Regarding bras. Can’t add anthing else in regards to the reasons but I have a whole fetish for women’s bras and women’s breasts in general. There’s nothing more sexier than nice breasts in a bra. Although the French suck in almost every other aspect, when it comes to women’s undergarments, they have my respect. 
I wear a bra as little as possible, which means only when I’m out in public. I’ve even come to like cooler weather because sometimes if I’m wearing my jacket, I figure no one will notice if I’m braless. The problem comes when it gets warmer. You wouldn’t believe the sweat that builds up between breast and abdomen! The lift of a bra then allows for cooling air circulation.
Hey, I know that I found religion while watching Flashdance.
Bras:
Hurts when you don’t
Enhances figure (really, you do not want to see my DD post breastfeeding breasts without a bra - they get in the way when I button my pants).
For small breasted women, they can enhance the figure. Think “WonderBra”
Nipple camoflauge.
I turn my bra around to put it on and take it off. Can’t do a darn thing with the fasteners behind my back. When I was still the size they were available, I wore front hood bras.
Red Lipstick and Nail polish:
As has been mentioned, red is considered a neutral in nail polish and lipstick.
Men think its sexy. So I’ve been told by several boyfriends and two husbands. I’m sure this is not universal, but it seems to be fairly common.
Hose Under Trousers:
Larger bra sized woman here (38-40 C-D?). I hate bras and wear them as infrequently as possible. I love sarongs and wear them all summer. And always get asked what I have on underneath (nothing, hehehehe).
I have done the under-wire thing (torture for women, how many guys would wear a wire under their balls?). Gave it all up for the “barely there” camisole type bra (kind of like a sport bra but way looser). Very comfy, no support (who cares?). If I didn’t work I would never wear a bra.
It’s an extra layer of fabric, and since I have yet to find a cotton-type bra that is comfortable, it’s normally a largely-synthetic layer. I sweat like crazy under a bra when it gets hot and ESPECIALLY humid, which unfortunately it is pretty much all the time around here. I don’t have enough in the way of boobs for them to stick to my ribcage anymore, thank Og, though I do get sweaty underneath them.
Nail polish? I don’t know. I think it’s fun, but since I’m constantly fighting both a nasty nailbiting habit and the horrible awful nails I inherited from somebody, I usually don’t have enough nail for it to be worth the bother.
And panty hose are evil, evil, evil. Lordy I hate hose, in any form.
Amusing, but still serious essays about the logistic annoyances associated with being a busty woman:
http://www.popgurls.com/article_show.php3?id=395
I’m not a terribly busty girl, but I always feel naked when not wearing a bra. I mean I just fell all… jiggly and unnatural.
I’ve never had a problem with the hookage of the bra either, ever since I was young I would always take my bra off flashdance style under my clothes, (Not that I was inspired to by the movie, but that just how I do it)
Bra:
I hate bras. “Tit slings,” as a friend of mine called them.
However, I wear them to look better. I have C/D breasts that are NOT perky. Not a problem in the winter when I can wear a coat, but it doesn’t work in the summer. Plus, it reduces jiggle, and I’m jiggle self-conscious without bra.
I can’t stap a bra behind my back (I do that snap in front/twist around maneuver), but I can undo them, no problem. Just hook and eye. I don’t understand how people DON’T know how to work them. I know they don’t, but it just SEEMS soooo simple to me.
Lipstick/Nailpolish:
I don’t wear lipstck, because none of it looks right. Either makes me look like a hooker or doesn’t match my skin at all. As for nailpolish, I wear black, blue, or purple. I did wear red when my hair was red, but it was a subdued maroon color. I generally just match nail color to hair color at this point.
Pantyhose:
I hate them all.
Bra: In my youth I frequently went without, and now as a result I need the underwiring. It doesn’t bother me: I love underwear, and love an excuse to buy it. Never had any problems with discomfort, but that’s possibly because I spend quite a lot of money on bras. I don’t have any dificulty doing them up and undoing them, but I know a man who can unhook a bra twice as fast as I can.
Red nail varnish: Don’t have the nails for it, or any other color.
Pantyhose: Only under skirts.
The reasons most women who wear make-up do so are to enhance their coloring; to call attention to their best features and minimize things they’re not so happy with; and to make themselves look younger and more refreshed/energetic. If they choose their colors right, you shouldn’t really come away with an impression of the make-up. You should think “Look at her pretty green eyes!”, not “Look at the woman with the green eye shadow!”
Some women look great in red lipstick. Others wear it because it’s in fashion at the moment (I haven’t checked, but I don’t think it’s particularly “in” this year - but it has been in the past), still others because they think it’s what they “should” wear. I tried and failed for years to find a lipstick I liked, all the while avoiding pinks because I’d been told pink lipstick was only for teens, it was “too little-girly” for a grown woman. Unfortunately for me I should have been looking for matte pinks (and mauves and other related colors) all along, as they are my best colors. :rolleyes:
I think you mean huge bra…
I have large breasts and always wear a bra. I feel very uncomfortable without one. Imagine these large, heavy, pendulous things dragging you down so you want to hunch over. Bleah.
I also believe that my continued bra wearing has prevented my breasts from sagging any more than they have. Because of their size they’ve never been perky, but I shudder to think what they’d look like if I hadn’t gotten into the habit of wearing a bra. Many women who allow their boobs to sag and flap in the breeze will find that after the years pass, their breasts sag lower and lower and lower . . . until eventually they can tuck their titties in under their belts.
That’s a look I intend to avoid.
WOW :eek: