Sunday, June 21, 2015

Reluctant Fashionista



Today we’re off to a wedding, an event that has caused me to stop and think.
No, not a reflection on how amazing it is that my husband and I are still married after all these years, or perhaps a realization of the serendipity that brought a guy from Massachusetts and a girl from Virginia together in the first place. I also haven’t been meditating much on the soon-to-be newlyweds. I don’t know today’s young couple; the bride is the daughter of a friend. 


          So while I wish them many, many years of happiness, my thoughts are on weightier matters. 


          Bare legs or pantyhose?

     I'm of a generation that remembers garter belts – before they figured only in male fantasies. Back when they were limp white flappy objects culminating in those clasps that would dig painfully into your thighs when you sat down. I remember the arrival of the miracle of pantyhose.  Girdles had disappeared by then and while no one missed their passing, the powers that pantyhose had to rein everything in again was welcomed. 


          We wore stockings to high school with our stitched-down pleated skirts, then later with our trendy A-line skirts. I even wore them in college the first year when we weren’t allowed to wear pants on campus - until schizophrenically everything changed the next fall and we were all lounging around in embroidered bell-bottoms. Liberation had arrived. 


          Now it seems fashion demands that we go bare-legged with our nice dresses and our heels. I can’t even use the weather as an excuse to cover my legs since the high today is supposed to be in the low 80s. 


          And yet, be honest folks. Does the world really want to see the bare legs of a woman old enough to remember hula hoops and skate keys? Yes, we all run around in shorts and sandals, but it’s harder to carry off those pale, age-spotted legs with heels. 


 

Plus, some people seem to be single-handedly bringing new life to the pantyhose industry.


        

      Regardless of my final decision, I can at least depend on the invisibility that comes with being an older woman.

15 comments:

  1. Living here in the south where the humidity is always sky high I gave up pantyhose a long time ago. The world will just have to deal with my old legs.

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  2. Pantyhose? What's that? I haven't worn those for so long I didn't know they still made them. I'd go with the old legs, for heaven's sake. :-)

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  3. I don't have a pair of pantyhose and nary a dress or skirt either...but I still say pantyhose are too hot anyway:)

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  4. Back in the old days when I exhibited and sold at art shows,my never changing uniform was a handwoven shirt and dockers. It was damn hot in summer, but I decided I was sparing fair goers the sight of fifty year old legs. However, one summer I made a study of all legs in shorts passing by. The majority of them weren't as decent as mine. I switched to shorts by the next weekend. It didn't affect my sales, and was much more comfortable.

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  5. Only for weddings and funerals. That's my edict for me. LOL

    p.s. due to blog trolls, I had to move. My new location is: https://mysunnynook.wordpress.com/

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  6. Yes, I have been in that situation and wondered the same. I usually go for the long skirt.

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  7. Go with the legs. Comfort is everything.

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  8. Plus, it's bad enough getting your legs in a pair of undies after swimming without pulling your panty house down to go to the bathroom and then pull them back up on sweaty hot legs.

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  9. I always hated pantyhose. I'd always get holes -- and they were uncomfortable. I'm grateful that the younger generation has just refused to wear them and put them out of fashion.

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  10. So this is something that I know absolutely nothing about, obviously, but I would think most women would welcome the opportunity to have bare legs. If I were a woman I would be one of those granola-ey types who never wore makeup or panty hose. I think.

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  11. For anything else maybe bare legs are okay, but for a wedding I'd wear the pantyhose, unless your dress is calf length. It's only for a few hours, right?

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  12. What would be most comfortable to you?
    I have NEVER thought that someone's legs look too old. Maybe it's just you thinking that. If I see any darker spots on legs, I assume they're freckles and find them charming.

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  13. Oh yes, those blasted girdles even when they weren't needed. Today, I let it all hang out, including a few varicose veins.Sure glad vanity has taken a back seat to comfort.

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  14. I never cared for hose, either the garter belt type or the panty type, especially during our summers! bare legs for me and if people are offended by my aging legs then they best not look.

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  15. I remember girdles! Hope girdles never come back! Women looked awful with their hips packed into a girdle, especially when wearing slacks. I don't like pantyhose either. I wear long skirts a lot. Your posts are always fun to read!

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Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.