Stockings: healthy or just plain outmoded?

(Edited from contributions to the Stockings HQ discussion forum)

- I consider wearing stockings has to be healthier than pantyhose. I base this upon the principle that a flow of natural air is a means cooling/stopping moisture forming. What do you ladies think?

- This was one of the reasons I changed from pantyhose. Regardless of what the manufacturers say, nylon/lycra does not breathe well, especially in confined spaces.

- Do most women not realise this? How would you convince one of your girlfriends this is the case?

- But don't most pantyhose now have that cotton crotch to provide breathability? Also, aren't there pantyhose that are basically hose and panties combined or where the upper part is actually a cotton panty?

- Dear girl, how would you like to breathe with a cotton mask over your nose and mouth for eight to 12 hours every day? Assuming that you are already wearing panties when you don your pantyhose you now have covered your most delicate parts with two impediments to fresh air.

Somewhere in the recesses of my twisted mind I have concluded that the man who invented pantyhose was a scientist and the man who invented stockings was an artist. The things with which we choose to adorn ourselves speak volumes about the kind of person we believe we are. Corporate recruiters know this and (correctly or incorrectly) form instant judgements about a candidate by his or her clothing, grooming, etc.

In my view pantyhose with cotton panties sewn in are neither panties nor hosiery. They are simply lowest common denominator coverings for one's southern extremities. They are typically worn by a woman who gives little thought to the care and feeding of her most feminine parts and does not understand how to create romance, allure and sensuality in her everyday life.

Try this, buy some stockings and a garterbelt. Wear them just twice a week for thirty (30) days. See if you don't begin to feel special every time you wear them. See if your significant other doesn't begin to treat you with a bit more, shall we say, "passion". See if you don't begin to tease the shorts off us poor men. See if those of us that you chose to let know that you are wearing stockings don't become blathering idiots in your presence. Soon you will wear them because you want to and you will get something out of them that you will never get out of pantyhose: pleasure.

What has gone out of style? Class? Elegance? Sensuality? Romance? Allure? Femininity? Eroticism? Sexual Power? No, my dear, what has gone "out of style" is the extra 60 to 120 seconds it takes every day to fasten one's stockings. Style is a function of fashion and there is no fashion in pantyhose... just function... or should I say dysfunction?

- Sorry guys, what I'm saying is, when I have to schlep myself down to the subway station at 6AM in the morning and commute to my very demanding job where I will spend the next 12-14 hours without a break and mostly on my feet, then schlep back to the subway for an equally rotten evening commute, arriving home no earlier than 8PM, the LAST thing on my mind is "creating an air of elegance, allure and romance"! That's the fact, Jack! It's called "modern life"... get used to it!

- Thank you for your response to my post. Thank you also for a small glimpse into the unremitting hell that is your life. I am not trying to be snide or unkind here I am merely offering a quick analysis based upon the daily agenda you described in your post. If I were driving the "Stockings Ambulance" this week I would make an emergency run to your house at once. My crew and I would gain entry and, after elevating your legs, commence restorative therapy. We'd begin with a foot and leg massage and end with your refreshed legs encased in 10 denier tan fully fashioneds held in place with a six strap pink garterbelt. We'd top the whole thing off with some lacy-sheer bikini-cut panties, a cream coloured satin half slip from Secrets in Lace and a few splashes of Obsession in just the right places. Our crack crew would then bid a hasty retreat leaving you with a small stock of stockings and garterbelts fit for daily use. Handling stockings emergencies is a tough job but someone has got to do it.

You see, as someone famous once opined, most of us "live lives of quiet desperation". Many of the stockings wearing women in our group have schedules at least as hectic as yours. But the difference is that they have made a conscious choice NOT to "get used to it". They have decided to seize a small measure of control and turn the mediocre and the mundane into the meaningful and marvellous. They refuse to become mindless drones. They refuse to bend to the utilitarian fashion of the "modern" world. They choose, instead, to create under their skirts their own small islands of elegance in the oft polluted oceans of our lives. Stockings do this for them and we have nothing but gratitude and admiration for the women who wear them.

Make a small island of elegance in your life. Start a quiet revolution under your skirt.

- Look dude, before you have an aneurysm, allow me to explain where I'm coming from. I'm not "anti-stocking," if one could even be somehow considered so (the very concept seems silly). I'm just an average modern-day career girl. Sometimes I wear slacks, sometimes I wear a suit, sometimes a skirt and blouse, sometimes a dress, and on weekends I sometimes wear jeans and sometimes I wear shorts and a crop top. Point is guys, I wear a wide variety of clothing representing a wide variety of fashion choices.

Dudes following me so far? Good, I'll continue to go slow, I promise! Now then, my workplace tends to be a little on the formal side, but not extremely so. I can wear slacks and often do so, but when I wear a skirt or dress, I do wear hosiery, except on Fridays when management lets us go a little more casual (just a little mind you!). So, if I wear a skirt or dress on Friday, I'll go barelegged in the summer months. However, I do keep my legs looking good, nicely shaven or waxed and applied with lotion in the morning so they don't get all dry and ashy.

Still with me? As for hosiery, I wear pantyhose because that's what about 99.999% of all women wear, are accustomed to wearing, and have been wearing for, oh, 35 or 40 years now. (Get with the program, guys). Now then, I did say, mind you, that I sort of liked the funky retro look of gartered stockings. They'd go great under a vintage dress when I go out clubbing or under a formal gown at a cocktail party or wedding. Men like 'em, after all. But why the heck would I want to wear 'em everyday? It's the 21st century, dudes, not the 1940s! Now I know you're gonna whine, "But women back then were better and more elegant, etc., etc, ad infinitum!" Well, maybe they were, maybe they weren't. But check this: the women who wore gartered stockings were the VERY SAME WOMEN who, en masse, readily switched to pantyhose when they were invented! Why? Well, the time was right, fashions changed. In fact, fashions ALWAYS change. If they didn't, we'd all be wearing skins carved off of dead mammoths.

In conclusion (that means the end, dudes), I don't wear stockings on a regular basis because almost NO ONE does anymore. It's not "the style". Things have changed. I'm not against stockings, in fact maybe I'll buy a pair or two, but they'll be a special occasion deal, not a regular part of my wardrobe.

- I have been watching this discussion for some time. I am not a cranky old British "dude." I am an American "dude" (usually cranky, old, I don't know) who teaches theology at a major institution here in the US. By the way, while I hear the word "dude" many times a day I never hear it used by females. Just an observation.

Anyway, your point about the women who deserted stockings for pantyhose being the VERY SAME (your emphasis) women we once described as elegant is certainly valid but misses the point entirely.

To a great degree you are what you wear. You mentioned that on Fridays your employer permits a little more informality in dress. "Casual Day" has been an American institution for about 10 years now. But it may interest you to know that a recent Wall Street Journal article noted that many Fortune 500 companies were ending this practice altogether. Why? Because they had determined that productivity, attitude and morale was markedly lower on Casual Day.

Companies early on chose Fridays as Casual Day because, except for Monday mornings, Fridays were the least productive times of the week. Younger employees were clamouring for a less formal dress code so management, fearing that a less professional mode of dress would negatively impact performance but hoping that it would improve morale, decided to concede Fridays as the day when the least damage could be done. Voila, Friday was casual day.

Now, 10 years into the great experiment we find that the VERY SAME people who were able to be very productive from Monday afternoon through Thursdays and somewhat productive on Fridays are now even less than somewhat productive on Fridays and the only thing that has changed is their mode of dress. If casual Fridays were so sought after, if they were supposed to have been so popular, if they were supposed to enhance morale, why have they failed? They failed because, once "liberated" from professional dress, the VERY SAME people who performed to an acceptably high professional level while dressed professionally performed at a casual, sub-substandard level on the day they were permitted to dress unprofessionally. That is what we call a big "Duh". Its American slang for something which should have been obvious from the beginning.

Instead of improving morale by giving employees a little leeway in dress Casual Friday only deteriorated morale by frustrating those who depended upon the performance of others to make progress themselves. The performance just wasn't there on Fridays and productive employees started to complain. Supervisors also complained that, in subtle and not so subtle ways, they were getting less co-operation and respect from their subordinates. And, some companies that were heavily involved in face-to-face customer contact discovered that their customer complaints were higher than normal on Casual Fridays. It was attitude. People tended to behave as their mode of dress dictated. If they looked in the mirror and saw professionalism they tended to project professionalism. If they saw casual they tended to project casual. Oh, and these were the VERY SAME people. Duh!

We don't think the women have changed. We think their attitudes and image have changed. We liked women being feminine and intelligent. We liked sexy and formidable. We appreciated beauty and performance. We liked a manner of dress that commanded respect and made us want to give it. Pantyhose are nylon trousers. They are stockings and garterbelts gone casual. And, in this forum we give them and their wearers all the respect they command. but put these VERY SAME women in stockings and our attitudes change, their attitudes change and life is beautiful again.

You have already conceded that you would wear stockings for a special occasion. Wear them as often as possible because life is a gift. That's why we call it the present.