(Edited from contributions to the Stockings HQ discussion forum)
"As for stocking case studies… well there are so many, without even scratching the surface of the various 'pantyhose' incidents that I can recall. Here are a few, in no particular order:
"A girl I worked with, a very thin redhead whose 'stocking bands' were nearly always showing under her hem. Once I remarked on it and she admitted 'yes, it drives me mad'. I remarked that earlier they had not been showing and she said 'Yes, I had just been to the loo and hiked them up… but the damn things just slip down again. I need a new belt!'
"A girl I dated for a few years when she was 16 and I 21. I never actually saw her have trouble, but she once told me that one particular brand of stockings would never stay up and she was forever having to go to the toilet and re-fasten them.
"I once asked a woman I was dating 'Do you ever wear real stockings, with suspenders?' And she said "Yes, but you can never get them tight enough. When I was a receptionist I hated having to come out from behind the counter to attend to a visitor because my stockings were always baggy at the knee… it was very embarrassing." This conversation took place in the early '80s.
"I once sat down waiting for a bus next to a woman wearing (as I later found) thigh-highs. They were VERY baggy, and taking my courage in her hands I discreetly remarked on it. She blushed and said she hadn't noticed, and began to berate her young son (about nine years old) for not telling her. She remarked that when she got on the bus she would sit up the back and get her son to stand in the way as a 'modesty shield' so that she could adjust things, but that she was dreading having to get on the bus and 'walk the gauntlet to the back' with her hose in that state.
"I suggested she stand up and I would discreetly inspect the damage, and she agreed gratefully. I was able to tell her quite truthfully that the hose were *very* baggy, and that if it would help I would stand up in front of her to hide her while she adjusted things. She accepted my offer, and I watched from the corner of my eye as she fixed things. She was blushing furiously. She said 'It's ridiculous… they're a "tall" size, and too big. It's very embarrassing.' Finally, seeing they were still loose, I even (after asking her permission) fixed them for her, kneeling down and smoothing them up. This was one of the greatest thrills of my life!
"Once I dated a woman who, while not being particularly attractive, used to wear stockings and it drove me wild. She was always having them slip down so that the bands were showing, and one time when we were going to a restaurant asked 'Can we sit at a table without a glass top… because of my stocking tops?' More than once we had to dive into a corner for her to pull them up. Even when at her house, sitting on the couch, she would start to hitch them up, and apologise if I turned my head and caught her doing so.
"One time, she wore a larger size than usual and we were going to the movies. The stockings were continually bunching at the knee and she admitted it was driving her mad. 'Can't you pull them up' I asked, hopefully, and she said 'not in public!' We ended up trying three places to give her privacy to fix them. At two of them people came by and interrupted her… finally in the movie theatre she sat on the inside of the aisle and pulled them up. By the time the movie finished and we went for a drink they were sagging again. In the bar she refused to get up and go to the bar because 'I am too self-conscious about these stockings!' This happened in the early '90s.
"Once, for a period in the '80s, I was good friends with a lesbian girl and we used to go to nightclubs together. One time she was wearing her stockings and said 'they are so uncomfortable! They're driving me mad' so she started to take them off while I kept watch. A man walked by and caught her, and later she berated me for not keeping watch more carefully. 'It was embarrassing!' she said. 'Being caught taking them off.'
"Once walking along the main street of the City where I live I saw two girls walking along, and one was constantly stooping and pulling up her thigh-highs. I heard her say 'I have to go somewhere and pull my stockings up'. I followed her into the restaurant and managed to get behind them in the queue, got to know them and ended up sitting down to lunch with them (I am pretty confident in social situations)… when she hitched them she said 'excuse me' and I asked what the trouble was. She blushed and told me she was 'having stocking trouble'.
"And of course, one is always seeing the tell-tale band of stocking top on trains and buses… or even sometimes showing under a skirt. One tip, ladies, if you wear stockings. Remember skirts have slits at the back, and often ride up. Don't be satisfied just to check first thing in the morning that your tops aren't visible… check every hour or so, because stockings ride down and skirts ride up. And men, if ever you see a girl in a long skirt, discreetly check her out at the back… you never know what you might see!"