Is it uncool to wear pantyhose?
Sexy, smooth legs are back, baby
“I’m shopping for a holiday party dress, but I just don’t think I can do bare legs anymore! Not after so many months in cosy clothes! Plus, I’m feeling like my pasty late-fall legs need some help. In the ‘old days’ I would just grab a pair of pantyhose and feel more pulled together and polished in my dress-up gear. But I’m worried pantyhose are old-fashioned. Are they cool or uncool?”
News flash: Pantyhose are back in fashion! Even sheer pantyhose. Even nude pantyhose! I think this reveal is big enough to occupy its own paragraph.
I’m with you; I don’t think I have worn sheer hosiery since about 1995, when I began emulating the chic European fashion editors who braved all weather with bare legs under their chic pencil skirts. This mass move away from stockings was a full-scale swing of the fashion pendulum, one that lasted a quarter-century (unless you work in finance or on a flight crew, where stubborn dress codes for female employees have endured).
In 2015, the New York Times called not wearing pantyhose “a power move, one that indicates the vigour of youth and the muscle tone of Pilates and possibly further implies the brevity of a stroll from a hired car to a reserved table.”
In those bare-legged years, I must have tried every glowy, glittery, bronzy leg makeup that hit the market, leaving a trail of schmeared stains on sheets and sofas. The winter-palid leg look is one few can pull off (see Pilates and limo ideals above), and everyone has little imperfections — varicose veins, scrapes, bruises, scars, ripply skin — we would rather cover up.
Perhaps it took a pandemic of pyjamas and sweatpants to make us yearn for silky, smooth legs again and the pleasurable formality of hosiery. The trend re-emerged with leggings under skirts for spring 2021, a throwback shout-out to the early years of this century. Then this October, Harper’s Bazaar ran a shopping spread of covetable tights, complete with an assortment of sheer options.
I grew up on Hanes and L’Eggs commercials on TV, and pantyhose were sold as youthful, sexy and empowering. So, I’m ready to go back. And just think of the entire generation that has never worn stockings and can now play with a brand new accessory!
So, bring on the pantyhose. Except, we don’t call them “pantyhose” any longer: part of the hosiery rehabilitation project has included a name change. The word to use now instead is “tights.” “Tights” used to just mean opaque leg coverings, but now includes sheer styles. Tights is a British expression, an import from the country whose royal women are quite literally not allowed to go out of the palace without sheer tights on. Americans tend to use the word “nylons,” in reference to the breakthrough technology that replaced silk stockings with nylon versions just before the Second World War.
“People really don’t like the word panty,” says Xenia Chen, a Toronto tights entrepreneur who formerly worked in finance (and struggled with a stocking mandate). Her company, Threads, offers direct-to-consumer tights with an optional subscription service.
She came up with Threads when she got tired of “either spending $10 a pop on drugstore tights of terrible quality,” or spending six times that for European brands such as Wolford or Falke. These rip, too — they just break your heart a little bit more. “I thought, ‘How come we don’t have a better product that is thoughtfully designed and wellpriced?’” She also noted that “control top” hose “often made you feel like a sausage in a casing.” So she did her research and found out, to no one’s surprise, that most hosiery conglomerates are run by men.
What was a big surprise, says Chen, is that once she started selling online (placing ads via Facebook) she discovered there are also a lot of men out there who want tights of all weights. “About 40 to 50 per cent of our business is now men,” she says. “We are hopefully making headway with the societal stigma. A lot of men are very selfconscious about buying in stores, so they prefer to order online, and the packaging is gender-neutral and discreet.”
Threads uses 3D construction to improve durability and though they don’t last forever, especially the sheer ones, Chen says they should last about a year (longer for opaque) if you cold-water wash them in a laundry bag and lay flat to dry. They’re also made by a familyowned factory in Italy, so she can guarantee labour practices are fair and the supply chain for the tights is OEKO-TEX certified.
Sheer black and sheer nude are the line’s bestsellers. “There is something about a pair of sheer black tights that really pulls you together. It takes your outfit from 80 to 100.” And in the language of social media, “It is like a real-life Instagram filter for your legs.”
‘‘ There is something about a pair of sheer black tights that really pulls you together. It takes your outfit from 80 to 100. XENIA CHEN TIGHTS ENTREPRENEUR
SEND YOUR PRESSING FASHION AND BEAUTY QUESTIONS TO LEANNE AT ASK@THEKIT.CA.