“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.”

– Do tights allow a woman a safety factor in not having to worry about accidentally showing too much?

An example was shown to me today. The lady who looks after the office services for the building was trying to sort out a problem in the office this morning and whilst bending over her skirt rode up very high. It was clear that she was wearing tights and no embarrassment occurred. However if she had been wearing stockings would she have allowed herself to bend over to such an extent?

– Like many others, I think a glimpse of stockinged thigh is worth much more than an eyeful of pantyhosed thigh and apart from being a gentleman and appearing not to have noticed, the advantage of an undisclosed sighting is that you may get another one!

At one time I was attracted to a lady in her ’30s with a curvacious figure who worked in a television rental shop. She wore the corporate navy blue suit but there was always something about her legs that suggested stockings rather than tights. There were no give away reinforced heels, seams or even bumps until one day she was kneeling on the floor fixing an aerial cable and she leant over exposing the profile of the lower hem of a girdle with, I think, rear and side suspenders through the tightly stretched fabric of her skirt.

So, she kept her modesty, but I got to know…

I had a big discussion with some lady friends of mine that wear stockings only on specific occasions (such as a sexy night out). They told me that they wear them to arouse their boy friends or husbands with the purpose of having sex. I totally disagree; I find it much more interesting and arousing, that a woman wears stockings on an everyday basis. The fact that a woman wears stockings and suspenders just because she thinks that she might have sex that evening is a turn off.

– I wear stockings or hold-ups every time I wear a skirt or dress. I have been wearing stockings since I was about 16 or so as tights did not agree with me. These days I tend to wear more hold-ups than “real” stockings, but I still wear “real” stockings maybe 3/4 times a month.

– I wear stockings on a everyday basis. On special occasions I wear black fully fashioned by Gerbe and I have not even thought about wearing tights. By the way, I am 39 years young, and my husband loves it even more than I do. Seeing me in stockings that is.

– I don’t wear stockings every day but I do wear either stockings or hold ups every time that I go out, even if it is just shopping. I would feel naked if I wasn’t wearing any hosiery and I don’t like tights. So you could say that, relatively speaking at least, I always wear stockings.

Stockings are just a normal bit of clothing that I wear, they just replaced tights.

I have yet to see a pair of pantyhose that can match the sheen, lustre, and overall raw sexiness of a pair of well crafted stockings. The basis of nylon’s attractiveness is based on multisensory appeal…I feel that visually and tactilely pantyhose lack the impact that stockings possess. Even the sheerest of pantyhose lack the denier and gauge that gives stockings their superior appeal.

There is nothing more sensual than a beautiful woman adorned in nylon stockings and a garter belt. Being a Scot residing in Australia, I would compare the introduction of pantyhose to no longer being able to purchase square sausage. Both these events can easily be referred to as ‘tragedies’. I am 53-years old and feel privileged to have spent my courting years around such sexily presented girls in the sixties and early seventies.

You must understand the absolute pleasure of seeing a peek of stocking top revealed from beneath a woman’s skirt. The scenarios are plenty and everyday – getting in and out of cars, bending over a desk in the office, crossing legs on a train, sat on a barstool in the pub. Most men would not only notice a woman in a short skirt with sheer hosiery, but would look to see if they were stockings. The tell tale bumps further up the skirt is often another good indicator. These are the things that make the world go round, that make life worth living!

I have a partner of a number of years who finds the wearing of pantyhose preferable to that of stockings. This is for a number of reasons: she feels that they are more flattering, keeping unsightly bulges safely hidden away. She will occasionally wear stockings for me because that is what excites me most. However as for myself I find them the biggest turn off imaginable. There is absolutely no eroticism associated with pantyhose, absolutely no glamour associated with them. I cannot think of anything so tedious as a woman in bra, pants and pantyhose.

Never mind condoms, the pill, etc. the biggest contraceptive just has to be the pantyhose.

I remember the frustration I experienced as a young man, running my hand up the leg of the girl of the moment only to find a nylon gusset at the top and the disappointment I felt at the time. It is a fact that I would have experienced sexual intercourse more often had it not been for girl’s pantyhose.

Stockings (and for me in particular lace holdups) are in every way superior than those articles of the devil, the pantyhose. I have seen women coming down stairs on the London underground showing the lace top of her stockings and it has added that extra boost throughout the day. Pantyhose would not do this. Just the thought of running my hand up the leg of a ladies leg to find the top of stockings would increase my heart rate. Pantyhose would not do this. I have seen women remove pantyhose and remove stockings and every time I find stockings far more sensuous.

Stockings are the sexiest attire ever invented, the glimpse, feel and removing of which are the biggest guaranteed turn-ons. Tights are quite possibly the least sexiest thing ever invented; passion killing, fun stopping, turn offs.

I have never met a man that favoured pantyhose over nylon stockings (hold up or suspender-garterbelt type) in today’s society from the USA to Europe and all the islands. Stockings are making a greater comeback than the euro did for the dollar.

Since the invention of silk stockings men and woman have been intrigued with their allure. This pace slowed down on the introduction of pantyhose. I believe it was a quick fix for the fast paced business woman until lingerie from decades ago became very vogue. We now have a stocking frenzy…