If I hadn’t looked at pantyhose for 20 years, I probably wouldn’t qualify as a “fashionista”. I can give you my curriculum vitae for what qualifies me to talk about style, but I don’t think anyone would believe me…
However, I maintain that pantyhose are uncomfortable and make your legs look unnatural. If you don’t like how your legs look, there are better options, like a long skirt/top combo, palazzo pants (which are super back in style) with a cropped jacket, etc.
Especially in the OP’s case, where the weather might not cooperate-there is nothing worse than your feet squishing and slipping around inside a pair of shoes with wet hose. I know she already has the dress, and it’s not a tragedy if she goes with hose and a beige low-heeled wedge, but she asked for my opinion, and my opinion is that hose suck.
On the upside, I love weddings, and the new episodes of Say Yes To The Dress: Atlanta premiered last night.
I don’t wear nude hose unless it’s something formal…and I have really cool shoes. I love my short cocktail dresses, but unless it’s summer, I wear them. I cringe at my wrinkly knees. Everything looks better with the hose than without…unfortunately. In summer I have a tan, still hate them…but oh well.
I get that you’re insinuating that I judge the people that wear the hose, but no. I just judge the hose. Lots of awesome people have regrettably worn hose. It happens.
I never stopped wearing hose. I have long, skinny, vein-y feet with legs that have many bursts of spider veins, red spots and freckles and I just feel better having all that covered, especially when I’m dressed up. My dressy shoes are sling-back pumps, and I’ve always worn them with hose.
Interestingly, both Ds like to wear hose with shoes/heels for dressed up affairs. D2’s high school show choir has all the girls in nylons as part of the “uniform”; theater required nude dance tights for all female roles last month. They don’t know me as a bare-leg mom, so they are used to the look.
@HImom, I can understand why someone who lives on a tropical island sees no reason to wear hose. Those of us who live in cold climates simply look ridiculous with cold, white, bare, mottled, goose-pimpled legs sticking out in the middle of the winter. In fact, I cannot recall the last time I saw a woman dressed like that here, California red carpet looks to the contrary.
When I was first of hose-wearing age, there was no such thing as pantyhose. We had to wear horribly uncomfortable garter belts with stockings. When I was at school in England in the 60s, we wore long knickers over those in the winter, to cover the area of bare flesh at the top. It was cold and damp, and the central heating was vestigial.
Believe me, when pantyhose came into existence, we embraced them as the height of comfort and convenience. I still fail to grasp the idea that they are so very horrible. I used to like a variety of Hue pantyhose that came in pale colors with dots and other patterns, and in black with a back seam–very retro and cool! I almost never wear them now, I admit, which is one reason I love tea-length skirts and pants. But when I do, they are usually see-through black with black shoes. I never, ever wear them when it is hot. Ugh.
No, I’m not implying anything about anyone at all, merely stating a personal preference. My body feels suffocated when I wear hose–have never made peace with that garment. Sorry if my phrasing implied anything else.
I know many folks who happily wear hose and look amazing in it.
Hose has changed. It’s not the sausage-looking tan L’eggs anymore. You can get hose, like DKNY nudes, that looks very invisible. And I agree w Consolation that people in the north just look stupid with bare legs in the middle of winter when there is ice and snow on the ground, and opaque tights aren’t really appropriate for all outfits.
@Consolation I grew up in Boston but now live in Atlanta. In the wintertime we’ll wear knit leggings or knit tights with tall boots and long sweaters, but hose don’t keep you warm enough and, conversely, make you sweat, so they’re not popular down here with my peers (40 something moms).
As for legs not looking great-I play a lot of tennis all year round, and nobody has perfect legs, and everyone’s legs are out there to see. I become vampire pale over the winter, and bruise easily. Nobody gives a crap if I show up looking like my kneecaps have gone a round with Mike Tyson because I was pulling down Christmas lights from the roof last week. Seriously, we’re there for tennis and not getting all judgy on legs (or anything else for that matter). If I’m going out at night and showing my legs, I’ll do some self-tanner on them-some have a bit of concealer and can make legs look just as, um, uniform as hose without all the discomfort.
Growing up in Boston we always had so many layers on-I remember not shaving my legs from october to april because those suckers never saw the light of day, anyway.
Well, there’s your answer. You live in Atlanta. That’s different from living in a cold climate with ice and snow on the ground.
I live in Chicago. I like to wear capri-length bottoms for working out. However, I have longer pants that I pull over them when I’m coming and going. I would look like an idiot running around in 0 degree weather with ice and snow with bare legs. I’m going downtown to dinner and a show this week. I will probably wear a dress. Not all dresses work with opaque tights, but I will freeze if I don’t have something on when I’m schlepping around downtown. I may wear pants and skirt the issue (ha! see what I did?!) entirely.
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse at this point, but we do get ice (a lot) and snow (occasionally) here in Atlanta. We’re not walking around with bare legs either. We just don’t wear hose because they don’t actually keep you warm in the winter.
well, I’ve advocated nude fishnet hose (small weave, not slut weave) in the past for an invisible look with dress outfits, but I’ve also been laughed at before :-).
@MotherOfDragons, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that hose actually keep one’s legs warm. You won’t often see women around here wearing them except in the evening or at more formal events. Otherwise they wear pants, boots, tights, leggings, etc.
While in Atlanta:
Okay, you don’t live in Florida, but let’s be realistic about the leg makeup thing!
(Sorry about the formatting: it won’t let me fix it)
Ah, I see that Mother of Dragons lives in Atlanta and has 40 something peers. It is possible that those of us that have late 50’s and 60 something peers and live in the northeast may have a different perspective.
(The hose issue is one of the most widely argued topics on CC!! Don’t know why we can’t seem to settle/accept that it is a personal preference - no matter where you live - and that most likely either way - with or without hose is going to get heads nodded yes and heads nodding no in your area!)
Disclosure: No hose for this NW Ohio 12 month a year dress wearer! Tights yes, hose no!)
I, for one, am dying to know what @MotherOfDragons ’ style credentials are! Not that I need to know for credibility’s sake, but I’m just super curious, after this tease upthread:
I’d believe you! All sorts of impressive people post on here from myriad different fields; I wouldn’t be at all surprised to have, say, a fashion journalist or costume institute curator in our midst.
Can you give us a hint, at least, if you don’t want to disclose identifying information?
With respect to hose, I think climate is beside the point. OP is talking about the Central California Coast, not the Yukon. And, it may be that the very most fashionable women in the country would not be caught dead in them, but that they are still a viable choice for reasonably fashionable middle-aged women who don’t like their legs.
I’m in the late 40-early 50 crowd, and I wear hose. Modern hose, if chosen properly, is no different than tights really - no icky control top, no snagging, running, etc. It feels silky and luxurious and makes my wrinkly knees look awesome. It can be worn and washed many times, just like tights. It comes in all patterns and colors, like this:
I also think many of us are also talking about getting dressed for a cocktail party or dressing where we are wearing not only a killer shorter dress, but all dolled up. I’m sorry, but my wrinkled knees, a little cellulite that might show up if I sit…even a little bruise here or there…is going to ruin the whole effect.
