STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

avalon21 · BCBG

Does anyone wear pantyhose anymore?

Kelly · Hermes

I don't wear them if I can help it. Sometimes in the winter it's too cold to go bare-legged but I don't think my outfit would look good with colored tights, so I suck it up and wear them. But only a couple times a year. My mom wears the spray-on stuff, but I didn't even know until my aunt said something about it, so I guess that's a testament to the natural look of it. I'm guessing she uses Sally Hansen - no way would she spend more than drugstore prices on something like that.

I do always wear pantyhose to funerals, though. And I'd probably wear them on an interview or any other situation where being conservative would be better than being fashionable.

-- Edited by ttara123 at 15:22, 2008-07-30

kenzie · Chanel

The last time I wore panty hose was to a job interview. I don't even own a pair at the moment. I hate them. They're evil. Whoever invented them hates women's legs and wanted them to suffocate.

blubirde · Chanel

I've worn thigh-highs in interviews and that's it. If I could, I wouldn't wear them then either. I hate them and they totally ruin my skulking ability with their noisy rubbing.

I got to court without them these days. Granted I live in Texas and it's really impractical given the heat, but quite frankly, anyone who stares that long at my legs deserves whatever leg imperfections I have that seem to render pantyhose useful.

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

The Bush white house requires women to wear pantyhose at all times, even under pants. Some senators on the Hill have adopted that rule for their staff, notably Kaye Bailey Hutchison (former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader). It's always weird when you're on the Hill to look at a woman's feet, realize she's wearing hose with her shoes, and then realize that it's all up there under her pants too! Yuck. I've been told that the hose are "slimming" though. So there's that.

I despise hose and won't wear them, but I was always told in school that law firms expect them in interviews. Oh, and the professors at my law school made a really big deal about the girl who won the moot court competition while wearing pants. (Gasp). It was very Pleasantville. But in the midwest, there was a theory that you had to wear them. However, now the girls I know from the Northeast say that anyone who wears a skirt suit to an interview is going way too sexy.

So, um, yes. In my experience republicans and midwestern lawyers wear pantyhose.

Kelly · Hermes

Dizzy - that's weird. At the white house they couldn't even just wear knee-high hose under pants?

I've never heard of skirt suits being too sexy, that's interesting. I don't think I would ever even consider wearing anything but a skirt suit to an interview. Not that pant suits aren't fine, they're just not "me" and I certainly never thought of a skirt hurting anyone's impression. Of course, I don't live in the Northeast, either!

-- Edited by ttara123 at 18:46, 2008-07-30

tara t · Marc Jacobs

Shit! i have an interview tomorrow for an HR posisition at a conservative law firm and i have no pantyhose! sorry i swore.

Kitty · Hermes

Hells no!!! I find them disgusting.

HeatherLynn · Gucci

I wear them to interviews but thats about it. My mom works with the government and wears them for the same reason Dizzy mentioned.

jettie · Kate Spade

I don't wear them at all really now that I live in southern california (although I rarely wear skirts, I'm more of a pants girl). However, when I lived back east I'd wear them in the winter if I wore a skirt. A skirt suit in the cold just seems weird bare legged. And I also work/worked at a company with a fairly conservative dress code...

Domino13 · Nine West

Dizzy, your response was hilarious. Midwestern lawyer here. Pantyhose every freakin' day. I also think it is a product of my age (44), and the industry I work in. (Financial).

Metric · Gucci

Yep, almost every day. I wear kneehighs under pants or pantyhose with skirts. I hate the way my legs look and I hate wearing shoes with bare feet.

I wear very sheer, your-legs-but-better kind. However, super sheer hose run horribly and don't last long.

I might seem really old fashioned but don't think that bare legs look professional. JMO.

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

yuck no

but i love tights.

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

I don't wear them ever. One of my friends did say that hose were part of the dress code at her job (public accountant) when she first started 3 years ago but not sure if they relaxed on that one or not. My firm luckily doesn't have that rule and if they did I'd probably break it like the no sleeveless and no open toe and heel shoes. lol

Bastet · Kate Spade

Dizzy wrote:

The Bush white house requires women to wear pantyhose at all times, even under pants.

Wow, that's awful, I'm glad I don't work there! Um... how exactly are they going to enforce that? If someone wears knee highs under her pants, hopefully they wouldn't demand that she drop trou to prove that they're hose. bleh

I work in DC and it's waaay too hot to wear them in the summer. They're not comfy and open-toed shoes (which I live in when it's how) with hose look silly. That said, my office is business casual year round and even more so in the summer. I will wear hose to job interviews or if I have a very important meeting where I need to wear a suit and my closed-toed dress pumps. None of the attorneys at my office wear them, so I don't stand out. I just lay off the blue toenail polish during the week. wink

In the winter, I wear tights with my skirts, because I love tights. Or I wear pants.

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

For clarification on all the people who asked. My best guess, based on conversations where I was trying not to show how weird I thought it was, and so couldn't ask very probing questions, is that the hose is meant to be sort of a girdle. It helps cover the bumps that would otherwise show in pants. It also keeps women from wearing shoes without socks, which is too casual. I don't think they do a strip search, but you can tell a difference. So the people who care probably do know if the rule isn't being followed.

Basically though, it also seems to be a way for the office to say, "You SHOULD wear a skirt at all times!" without explicitly forbidding pants.

PS - D.C. is REALLY hot in the summer, and open toed shoes aren't ok in a lot of offices, either. Although I have seen many otherwise well-dressed women doing the sandals with hose thing. I'm not sure if that's a southern thing or an age thing, or a little bit of both.

-- Edited by Dizzy at 14:58, 2008-07-31

Kelly · Hermes

Hmmm. But so many pantyhose have that weird wiggly seam in the front, so I would think that you would see even more "bumps" with a lot of pantyhose under pants. I mean, that seam is crazier than any kind of cellulite or pantylines you could have.

In conclusion: what a nutty rule.

avalon21 · BCBG

LOL! I am so happy I am not the only one that hates them! I feel sorry for the women that do have to and agree with ttara123 that it is a nutty rule!
I don't have perfect legs and want to try the makeup solutions that were in the More article - has anyone else ever tried it?

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

Not if I can help it. They're so gross. What Metric says about not wanting to wear shoes with bare feet is an issue for me too, but I wear HUE footies for that.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

I've never had a problem with them. I wear them in the fall/winter when tights won't work (or wont look professional enough). I also wear them under pants sometimes (again only when its cold0 to smooth things ou.