“I have seen a number of posts here recently lamenting the ‘fall of elegance’ and the frequency of slacks, bare legs, opaques, etc, and I wonder if it is necessarily a bad thing.
“Even if computers were available to the mainstream in 1950, a forum like this one could not have existed. Stockings were just another item of clothing. NOW when we see them we get a thrill – our pulses race – we rush to tell our friends about it! Like ball gowns, hats, gloves, tiaras, etc, stockings and thigh-highs have gathered an aura of mystique and exotica.
“If I could be transferred by time machine back to 1950, for about six months I would be goggle eyed, looking for suspender-bumps, girdles, slips, etc. And after a while it would be old hat! The thrill would go and life would be that much greyer…
“By becoming a rare item, stockings have gained the ability to give what James Joyce (incidentally, an underwear freak) would have called an ‘epiphany’.
“As to the universal wearing of slacks, the wish for stewardesses to wear them, etc, I can’t blame them. True, stockings make a woman sexier than pantyhose, and pantyhose are still sexier than slacks or bare legs… but when one has to do a job, one wants to be as unrestrained as possible. I know on hot Brisbane days like today I give thanks to the gods that I can wear swimmers or shorts, and not have to go around in a suit. If I were a woman and had to wear pantyhose or other nylons, a girdle and a tight skirt I too would be pushing for a reasonable dress code.
“I congratulate those here who elect to put up with the occasional disadvantages of stockings in return for the way they make them feel. But by the same token I can hardly blame any woman who elects to don slacks for casual or ‘everyday’ wear.
“Imagine if Christmas came every day – wouldn’t we all get sick of it?”
“If I had the chance to travel back to 1950, when all women dressed appropriately and looked so very feminine in their lovely dresses and skirts and wore gartered stockings everyday and always acted like ladies, I’d jump at the chance! And forget about staying for just six months, I’d NEVER want to go back
“I am old enough to have dated women when stockings were the norm. I always anticipated the silky-soft thigh flesh above the welt. It never got old.
“I have been doubly blessed to have married a woman who has chosen to wear stockings almost every day for the last thirty years. She is as beautiful and elegant today as she was the day we wed. Have the stockings and the fashion statement they make contributed to my continued passion for her? Without a doubt. They have enriched our life together. I still, to this moment, feel as stimulated by her as I did the first time we met. Would it be the same if she wore pantyhose? I don’t know but I am glad I don’t have to find out.
“I do, however, know this. When my male clients describe the woman of their dreams and I ask what she is wearing they almost always say ‘a garterbelt and stockings’.
“No, familiarity has not bred contempt. Seeing my wife in stockings each day has not made me take her for granted. It has had quite the opposite effect and I am so glad!”
“I have to agree with you. Most people, male or female do not stop to think about what they are going to wear on their legs and feet. I would think that most women simply reach for the tights first thing in the morning.
“We revere stockings on this forum because of their intrinsic elegance and sexiness – not to mention rarity value. We are unusual in taking our enthusiasm to the point of debating it on this forum. And much as we might like the government to pass legislation forcing Aristoc to reintroduce mass production of Harmony Points and advertising campaigns aimed at women to wear stockings, high heel shoes and skirts every day, it would never happen. I would not like to be told to wear a three-piece suit every day.
“Dress standards have ‘fallen’ but dress has become a way of expressing oneself and we have to salute those ladies who express themselves through stockings and suspenders. That doesn’t mean that we should condemn the others who don’t.”
“Wrong! Born in 1928, I can assure you that I and my contemporaries never tired of glimpses of stocking tops, garters and bare thigh traversed by garter straps which disappeared above. We were just infinitely more successful than anyone today. It may be that many aspects of today’s life are better than before. But I would relish the opportunity to return to that part of the past.”
“I like the feeling of being dressed properly for work every day. In fact, I was in a new pair of two tone shoes and sheer black stockings the other day, and received no end of glances from men on the street! I’m probably about one in every ten women wearing a dress or skirt every day – I like that.
“But, by the same token, I like knowing that I have the flexibility to wear what I like depending on the weather, knowing I am not at the mercy of some outmoded dress code. I recall stories from older women about the misery of winter when pants were not an option for them. That’s one of the nice things about living now. Being a lady – and also a gentleman – is more than the clothes on your back; it’s the teaching and correction you’ve been given from the time you’re a child – and in my case, not a small amount of Catholic guilt!”
“Some thoughts:
“1. I’ve always been a stocking fan – even when stockings were the norm (I was born 1954).
“2. I have known many women who refused to appear unladylike even in the hottest weather. They always dressed in suits, dresses and wore nylon hosiery.
“3. I have remained the same in my admiration for feminine elegance. The world has changed around me.
“4. Granted, you make a point on the practicality argument. Question: is it practicality or changing (‘degrading’ or unisex) fashion sense? At one time women did many of the same jobs they do now but dressed more femininely (factory jobs excluded where even the 1940s’ ‘Rosie the Riveter’ wore jeans). At one time women ‘wanted to look like women’ or ‘ladies’, a description that has now taken on sexist overtones. This was a desired gender look and statement. It did not mean they thought themselves second class. It’s that they knew they were a very different (some thought superior) gender, and revelled both in the interior psychological and external (clothing, makeup) manifestations of it.
“5. Because it is slightly more ‘uncomfortable’ to wear dressy clothes (even for a man), does that mean one shouldn’t – particularly in business and to some degree generally in public spaces? The trade-off is that I often feel psychologically ‘better’ wearing smarter clothes. And I do at times enjoy making a fashion statement. And many people (men as well as women) do not at all think it uncomfortable. They like to look nice and hate appearing shabbily dressed.
“6. As for the ‘mystique’ that certain feminine garments and undergarments have taken on, it is unfortunate that it has come to this. I wish for no ‘epiphany’, I’d love to see this in everyday life.
“7. Yes, I may get tired of Christmas every day. I never get tired of looking at an elegantly dressed woman. Never.”
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