Pantyhose

Love them or hate them Pantyhose are here to stay! Invented as an alternative to stockings, pantyhose (or tights as they are more popularly known by people outside of the United States of America) are lingerie garments that are generally worn by ladies.

Made of nylon, stretchy, elastic pantyhose came about in the 1960’s with a number of positive attributes including keeping the legs warm, fashion and imperfection concealment.

If you are a woman who has varicose veins, the good old pantyhose are the perfect garment other than trousers or skirts with unfashionably long hemlines to conceal them.

In the main, while ladies are the main wearers of pantyhose or tights they are not the only ones, gentlemen like them too. One of the wonderful multi-faceted attributes of pantyhose includes therapeutic relief and a method that is chosen by both sexes at that. In addition, the pantyhose (or tights) provide thermal protective relief, that is to say, they are darned good at keeping out the cold!

Pantyhose are available in a variety of styles. While men tend to conceal the fact that they are wearing this ingenious garment, the ladies have the option of a wide variety of colours and styles to choose from. Coming from the fashion angle, pantyhose are a big dollar business! Choose between silk, nylon, fish net, American Tan or Black, opaque or sheer and many more beside!

What are pantyhose? Essentially, pantyhose are made up of a strong elastic on the waist and the part that covers the thigh area is generally made of a thicker material than the remainder of the ‘hose’. In between the legs there is a strong section of nylon material that is referred to as the ‘gusset’. Despite being durable in their wearing, pantyhose have a tendency to ‘ladder’, which is when a tear appears in the material and can ‘ride up’ over a short time. If this happens to you, if a spare pair of pantyhose is not kept a spot of clear nail polish will stop the ‘ladder’ as an emergency method.

To finish up, why oh why the seemingly odd word ‘pantyhose’? Simple really. A straight forward merging of the words ‘panty’ (women’s underpants) and ‘hose’ (an abbreviation of hosiery, the word for undergarment) produce ‘pantyhose’. In Britain, we call pantyhose ‘tights’ whereas in the USA, the word ‘tights’ is used in reference to thicker more opaque pantyhose or spandex (but that’s another article!).