Pantyhose, tights or bare legs?

[Goofycampers]

O.k. I really hate wearing dresses and skirts in the winter but I just can't go bare legged when I do. But my DD says pantyhose are out of style. What do ya'll wear?

 

[mtemm]

bare legs or tights. I tend to wear knee high boots a lot when I wear skirts...warm and cute!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am not sure what types of dresses and skirts you are talking about. Very dressy dresses would not work with what I do. Anyway, I wear long dresses and skirts (mostly with boots) often and spend a lot of time walking out of doors. I wear leggings under them. Between the length of the skirt and the hieghth of the boots you don't really see the leggings much and they are so warm.

 

[Goofycampers]

Yeah I have a couple of pairs of boots I wear, but sometimes for church I'll wear something a little dressier. I sometimes wear tights but I admit I wear pantyhose too, which I hate-just uncomfortable. I guess it's my age but I feel strange going with bare legs in the winter.

 

[java]

BARE LEGS! or tights in the winter. Pantyhose no no no!

 

[NikitaZee]

Bare legs or tights. For very dressy - bare legs.

 

[MM27]

In the winter I wear tights.

 

[Pakey]

Since it doesn't get very cold here, I do bare legs.

 

[Christine]

Depends where you are going.

I can tell you that I work in a building with several thousand employees. It is rare that I see a woman NOT wearing pantyhose. Oh, certainly, in the summer they don't but not now and not when they are trying to look professional. In a traditional, conservative workplace where fashion is not the top priority, pantyhose are still "in style" and in the norm. Even in very young women.

Now, back in December, I went to a wedding and none of the 20-something women had on hose and it looked fine because they had the types of dresses on that generally don't work well with hose (fun party wear).

It really depends what you are wearing and what the event is that you are going to. Also take into account how nice the skin on your legs looks and how it looks bare up against a dress. What is in fashion is whatever makes YOU look your best and that might just be a pair of pantyhouse. If you do wear them, make sure they are high quality, sheer, and that you aren't wearing them with strappy sandals.

 

[aprilgail2]

Pantyhose are fine---if you are EIGHTY! Otherwise bare legs!! I work at a place with hundreds of women and I can count on one hand the number that wear panty hose---and those are the older women!

 

[nashville_minnie]

I haven't worn pantyhose/nylons in more than 10 yrs, at least, I think that they are beyond out of style.

I don't wear dresses/skirts in cold weather, but if I had to, I would just go bare leg & try to park very close!!

 

[dislaney]

bare legs or tights. I tend to wear knee high boots a lot when I wear skirts...warm and cute!

That is exactly what I do!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Yep, another voice for "what looks best on YOU."

If you need pantyhose/stockings to improve the appearance of your legs, then get a very sheer, high quality brand and wear them. Fashion is what works for a given person, not some silly trend that features all acting like little robots, eh?

Tights can be loads of fun, especially if they have some texture to them (if that works for the outfit).

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Bare legs. I have some pigment in my skin so it doesn't look weird and my legs don't look like a road map or scarville either. I do have a scar but it's from a knife fight I had when I was younger and it's too high up to see...






*j/k about the cause of the scar being a knife fight

 

[momof1princess]

pantyhose are out? geez, i wasted 3.00 on a pair of pantyhose for DD12 to wear with a semi-formal dress for a masquerade ball next saturday!

 

[AustinTink]

pantyhose are out? geez, i wasted 3.00 on a pair of pantyhose for DD12 to wear with a semi-formal dress for a masquerade ball next saturday!

Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I LIKE the look of pantyhose with a formal or semi-formal dress. I think bare legs make a formal dress much more casual and kinda cheap looking. In fact, I'm going to a gala in April and I'll be wearing this dress...

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=235907&CategoryID=5449&LinkType=PDPZ1

with stockings and slingbacks.

 

[Christine]

Kim Crow weighs in on the great pantyhose debate
By James Sweeney
July 22, 2008, 4:03PM
This is a column about pantyhose. For the purposes of this discussion, we are talking about only pantyhose, the sheer nylon standbys -- not tights, not opaque stockings, just hose.

Now, ladies, I beg you -- put down the phone, don't fire up the e-mail, just hear me out.

When I was a fledgling Style editor, with that brand-new scent just three short years ago, I naively wrote a question-and-answer column using recent reader e-mails. Several were concerned about the stylishness of pantyhose, to which I concurred that, yes, the fashion powers that be had, for the past decade, declared nude hose to be passe (AGAIN -- PUT DOWN THAT PHONE AND KEEP READING).

But, I continued, it did not necessarily mean that one has to follow such a rule, it being the sort of "if everyone put on skinny jeans and jumped off a bridge, would you?" kind of nonsensical debate.

Readers ignored that bit of the column and concentrated on the passe pantyhose thing, as if it were something I'd come up with on my own.

The vitriol was startling -- one sweet-voiced lady in her 70s wished spider veins on me -- but I did learn quite a bit about human nature. It's not enough to shoot the messenger. You must rack her, stake her to an anthill on a sunny day and throw her into a vat of boiling baby oil, too.

So it is with great trepidation that I dip a non-nylon-covered toe into this subject again. I heard from several frustrated readers last week when our Fashion Flash subject voiced her displeasure about nude hose, saying "I don't really understand why people wear nylons at all. They should be dropped from the fashion closet."

Oh, honey.

"I'll tell you why I wear hose -- I have to for work; it's the dress code."

"Tell that girl when she gets about 10 years older, she's not going to want to bare her legs either. She'll get varicose veins, broken capillaries, her skin will get dry. She has no idea what she's in for."

"I tell you, half these legs I see now, I don't want to see. Women should take a good look in the mirror before they leave the house."

One woman stood out. She said she really wants to be stylish and, in fact, works hard at it, but she absolutely has to wear hose -- a conservative office, shyness about her legs, all the biggies -- so what should she do?

I think her call gets at the heart of why this subject is such a touchy one. Hose wearers don't want to be dismissed as dowdy fashion don'ts because, in fact, the reason they wear them in the first place is because they DO care how they look.

Let me say this as plainly as possible. If you want to (or have to) wear hose, by all means do so. Pantyhose have never been the fashion disaster that, say, acid-wash jeans with matching jackets have.

Hose haters generally seem to react to the old "Saturday Night Live" Church Lady look -- baggy hose in a sensible shade of Silly Putty tan that matches absolutely no one's skin.

But if you do hose right, this is not a problem. Choose a color as close to your skin tone as possible. If you're pale, tan hose do not miraculously make you look like you just returned from the beach. If your skin tone is dark, stay away from sheer white or nude hose, or you'll look dusty, like you just installed a concrete driveway.

Choose your footwear wisely. Keep the sandals for the weekends, the less-open looks are better. A nylon-clad foot in a shoe with a small peep toe won't incite a citation from the fashion police, but one with a reinforced toe just might.

Did I mention that along with matching hose to your skin tone, pick out a proper-fitting pair? It can be done -- there are hundreds of kinds of hose out there, in all price ranges. The Church Lady simply didn't have the options we do in 2008. Sizes range from petite to plus-petite to tall and plus-tall.

If you can do this, maybe those who don't wear hose can do you a favor, too. Maybe they will moisturize their heels before they leave the house. Their feet will be clean, their nails freshly buffed or polished.

And yes, they will shave -- both their legs AND their big toes.

And if both sides just showed a titch more tolerance for differing fashion views, that would be nice, too.

But please leave me on the sidelines on this one. I blister in the sun. Not to mention in that vat of boiling oil.

 

[tinatark]

I think pantyhose look better in certain circumstances - esp. with dressier dresses, and only with closed toe shoes. I will wear boots/tights with some dresses in the winter. I like to wear a longer skirt (an inch or so above my knee) with fishnets and boots - just a little risque!

 

[D&DDisney]

It really depends. If you are going for dressy then some type of nylon looks good. Bare legs or tights really do cheapen the look.
I've seen some women with BARE LEGS that look hideous - young and old.

 

[Carys]

Depends where you are going.

I can tell you that I work in a building with several thousand employees. It is rare that I see a woman NOT wearing pantyhose. Oh, certainly, in the summer they don't but not now and not when they are trying to look professional. In a traditional, conservative workplace where fashion is not the top priority, pantyhose are still "in style" and in the norm. Even in very young women.

Now, back in December, I went to a wedding and none of the 20-something women had on hose and it looked fine because they had the types of dresses on that generally don't work well with hose (fun party wear).

It really depends what you are wearing and what the event is that you are going to. Also take into account how nice the skin on your legs looks and how it looks bare up against a dress. What is in fashion is whatever makes YOU look your best and that might just be a pair of pantyhouse. If you do wear them, make sure they are high quality, sheer, and that you aren't wearing them with strappy sandals.

Glad someone posted this - I've seen pantyhose threads on here before where everyone declared them passe. In conservative business dress workplaces, pantyhose is the norm. If it's chosen and worn properly, when you see someone wearing it you wouldn't notice or think about it. That is, buy the correct color to match your skin tone/season, don't buy too big/small and end up with elephant wrinkle ankles, don't buy too cheaply so you can see the mesh, etc. Yep, patterned tights or bare legs may be more fashion forward in other workplaces, but in conservative workplaces, know and love thy pantyhose. Wouldn't step out in a suit without mine


(I do love the look of patterned tights and boots though!)