The Women Who Dare to Go Bare-Legged : Stockings: Some reserve panty hose for only the most formal occasions. Others won’t touch the things.
It’s hot. It’s humid. You’re about to slip into a pretty linen dress and a pair of sling-back heels. Now comes the big question: Do you dare leave home without your panty hose?
Some women will, some women won’t and some women avoid the issue by sticking to whatever looks good with leggings and unitards.
If you’re searching for guidelines, members of the bare-gam contingent say legs must be smooth, shapely, slightly tan (too toasted is not recommended for health reasons) and free of defects such as spider or varicose veins. Age isn’t a factor, but skin texture is. Skirt length is not as important as the shape and structure of the garment. ( A rigid business suit, for example, requires stockings.)
And the occasion has to be a consideration. A meeting with the parole board to beg clemency for your client is not the place to bare your legs. And even staunch hose-haters will wear them to black-tie events.
There is no doubt that one woman’s stockings are another woman’s poison. “I hate panty hose,” snaps Donna Stia-Ker, a model-turned-publicist. “All I own are very dressy sheer black ones for evening. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a natural colored pair.”
As far as Stia-Ker is concerned, “L.A. is way too hot for panty hose. They’re too constricting, too uncomfortable even for business meetings.” Her tips: Bare legs look best with a pair of sling-back heels. In colder weather, wear opaque tights, preferably with flats. Leggings, she says, “are for the gym.”
Patricia Fox, director of fashion and marketing for Saks Fifth Avenue, considers designer Carolyne Roehm “the epitome of style” in bare legs, very high heel pumps and a little something from her “short, body-conscious collection.”
At I. Magnin/ Bullock’s Wilshire, a corporate spokesperson calls the no-hose concept “very chic, if it’s on the right person. It has an aristocratic look. It’s part of the communication of the rich. It’s like men who wear loafers and no socks. I think of it as being very Ralph Lauren. All those people in his ads would wear hose at certain times. But they would show up at the right afternoon parties with no hose.”
For retailer Shauna Stein, “panty hose are probably one of the worst inventions ever because they are so ugly. There’s nothing sexy about them. If I had a less busy schedule, I would enjoy putting on a garter belt and stockings, but it takes time and thought. It’s not as easy as going without stockings.” Many of her customers, however, are like the psychologist who told Stein she would feel highly unprofessional crossing and uncrossing bare legs in front of clients.
Mary Elson, a free-lance broadcast journalist, is typical of women who fit comfortably in both camps. She likes bare, tan legs. But panty hose and leggings, she says, “are fun and make you look very feminine as well.” Her tips: Experiment with all the latest colors and patterns. And if you are tall, as she is, try the Christian Dior label.
It is poorly fitting panty hose that drive many woman to buy a tube of self-tanning cream and opt for the bare-legged look. As one dignified socialite put it without mincing words: “Why can’t manufacturers do something about the sizing? Either the crotch is between your knees or the top goes all the way up to your armpits.”
