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Nutty. I only put nylon on my legs for formal occasions; and sometimes for a little fun. I don't think I've actually bought pantyhose in at least a decade!
this is a damn shame. nothing like a woman wearing stockings. i guess i'm old fashioned.
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Bare-Legged Ladies: Hosiery Reveals Office Divide
By Christina Binkley
Hose or no hose? That's the working woman's dilemma around this time of year. The weather grows warmer, and the debate heats up: Are bare legs proper?In today's casual workplaces, many women have peeled off the panty hose, and it is now common to see bare legs even on conservative Wall Street and at business events. Yet the transition has highlighted a generational divide. For women who entered the work force before the 1990s, hose were considered as necessary as underwear. But many twentysomethings have never worn panty hose at all.
The fashion shift has left some baby boomer managers feeling that their hose make them look frumpy. Kathy Garland, the 54-year-old chairwoman of the Northern Dallas area for the National Association of Women Business Owners, says she finally threw out a bag full of hose last week. An executive coach herself, she noticed a few years ago that she was the only woman wearing hose at a formal business fund-raiser. "Younger women don't even think about panty hose," she says.
There are certainly weightier issues to ponder these days, what with a presidential election and a war going on. But to managers in offices encompassing several generations, panty-hose policies are an opportunity to set fair rules.
This is the issue that lately has occupied the mind of Jim Holt, president of Mid American Credit Union, a small financial ins ution in Wichita, Kan. Mr. Holt is 58 and a three-decade member of the U.S. Army Reserves. He joined Mid American, which has 50 employees, four years ago, inheriting a dress code that prohibited, for women, such things as boots and mules, or backless shoes. The company required "hose" at all times -- even under pants.
When Mr. Holt attended a dress-for-success seminar that year, he got advice that caused him to loosen the reins on women's boots and mules. But not bare legs. The rule, "nylon hose and dress shoes are to be worn at all times," applied even to business-casual contexts. "We're not New York or San Francisco," Mr. Holt says, wearing ironed khaki slacks, an ironed golf shirt, and crisply creased socks. "We're the Midwest."
If there is a male equivalent of panty hose -- forcing wearers to balance comfort and formality -- it is probably the tie. Ties aren't required at Mid American. "The revolution has already taken place in the tie area," says Mr. Holt. He wears ties only on Mondays for his weekly Rotary Club luncheons.
As for fairness, it's hard to say whether ties or panty hose are more uncomfortable. One male reader of this newspaper, after making a bet with a female co-worker, attempted to discover the answer by secretly wearing panty hose under his business suit for several weeks. He claims ties are worse.
About a year and a half ago, Mr. Holt hired Kristen Spear as executive director of administration and human resources. Ms. Spear is 28. Like Ms. Garland in Texas, Ms. Spear found that wearing hose to professional events sometimes made her stand out awkwardly. Yet it was her job to counsel wayward employees on Mid American's dress code, which she did dutifully if not enthusiastically.
One bare-legged 23-year-old clerk in indirect loans -- where she dealt with customers by phone -- confessed she had never owned a pair of hose. Hose are "so foreign right now to Gen Y or Gen X," Ms. Spear says.
Ms. Spear encouraged Mr. Holt to reconsider his stand on hose. "According to her local research, hose are optional," Mr. Holt said in a recent email to me.
He relented just last week. "I didn't want to be so old-fashioned that people would be like, 'Do you require corsets, too?'" he said.
Mid American's newly loosened dress code, allowing bare legs, will be announced to employees in coming weeks in a series of meetings. Women at the credit union would be well-advised to listen closely. Mr. Holt says that when evaluating employees' performance in dress, as well as workmanship, he'll make a distinction between "who is meeting the minimum standards and who is exceeding them." In other words, hose will be optional but advised.
I suspect it is only a matter of time until Ms. Spear's point of view wins out entirely.
For the time being, Ms. Spear says she'll wear hose to board meetings "or if there is reason to exude the highest professional appearance. I will not wear them if I will be in the office all day, because I believe one can be professional-looking without wearing hose."
http://biz.yahoo.com/wallstreet/0806....v=6&printer=1
Nutty. I only put nylon on my legs for formal occasions; and sometimes for a little fun. I don't think I've actually bought pantyhose in at least a decade!
I rarely ever wear panty hose, especially under pants -- it's too damned hot for that nonsense. Panty hose are also not very cost-effective since they snag so easily. And even though a lot of women do this, they look silly with peep toe shoes, of which I have several pair. I thought the whole purpose of peep toe shoes was to show a little pedicure, not to cover everything up with hose. I guess its a matter of preference, though.
I used to always wear them if any part of my leg was showing, but goodness it gets too hot! During warmer months I've taken to not even wearing them with knee-length dress skirts.
Mel - I'm with you. It's tacky to wear nylons if the shoe is open-toe or peep-toe.
I haven't worn a pair of panty hose in ages. I think I wore a pair of sheer black ones to fatsacks moms wedding last October, and as I recall, I couldn't WAIT to take them off.
Back when I DID wear hose, I bought toe-less ones for peep-toe and sandals, but the last time I looked for some, I couldn't find them.
This thread is worthless without legatars.
this thread is useless without pics
Now that is something I'm game for!! I won a "Best Legs" contest at my gym last summer!
I call bull .Now that is something I'm game for!! I won a "Best Legs" contest at my gym last summer!
Why couldn't you just wear the ones that look like aren't really even wearing hose, nude I believe?
that sounds like a challenge
I couldn't stand the girls that didn't wear hose with outfits that clearly were hose worthy at my last job, like dresses and skirts. Didnt it cause static electricity hen you sat down? I always wore them when I thought it was needed (skirts, dresses, etc.). That was most of the time. When I wore pants I wore thigh highs. Now, I'm in a casual environment and will even still wear the thigh highs if I wear heels.
Only grannies wear pantyhose these days.
I prefer wearing no-show cotton socks with my shorts & Shox.
I've worked in a corporate office for the past 8 years and I've yet to see a woman wear a skirt much less pantyhose. They all wear pant suits it seems.
I hate pantyhose. They're evil.
I wear thigh highs if I need to, but it's VERY rare that I need to.
Pantyhose make me think of girls who didn't feel like shaving their legs.
More bull .
That I wear thigh highs, or that I rarely need to?
Mrs. ASF quit wearing pantyhose because she got tired of fending off my attacks.
"I like the way the line runs up the back of those stockings. I've always liked those kind of high heels too...No, no, no, no...don't take 'em off, don't take 'em off! Leave 'em on, leave 'em on...yeah that's it...a little more to the right!" -- Diamond Dave
"I want some toooooooooooooo"
Growing up in Oklahoma and joining the workforce well before 1990, I wore pantyhose with everything. Dresses, skirts, and pants. I never even considered going bare legged. When we moved to Texas 8 years ago, I lasted about six months until I tossed out all of mine. It was just too warm here and everyone was much more casual. Now I only buy a pair when we go to formal functions. My mother would probably have a coronary if she knew I went to church without pantyhose.
You go to Church without pantyhose....Growing up in Oklahoma and joining the workforce well before 1990, I wore pantyhose with everything. Dresses, skirts, and pants. I never even considered going bare legged. When we moved to Texas 8 years ago, I lasted about six months until I tossed out all of mine. It was just too warm here and everyone was much more casual. Now I only buy a pair when we go to formal functions. My mother would probably have a coronary if she knew I went to church without pantyhose.
MMM, you're my kind of gal....
If there is a legatar conversation, I bet I'll win it.
Women are always envious of my legs.
That you rarely need to. I doubt the gams are that good.
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