clevermanka | Oh my stockings and garters

Entry tags:

family,
memory

Oh my stockings and garters

When I was a pre-teen, my mother tried to teach me how to put on my own tights. This was the way-early 80s, and heavy cable-knit cotton tights were popular and easily-found for little girls who liked to wear skirts in the winter months. My childhood body was shaped something like a potato, so skirts were a year-round necessity. Despite my mother's patient instruction, I still wound up with the cable pattern wonky, the waistband twisted out of shape, and the crotch somewhere around mid-thigh. By my teens, I'd graduated to Actual Pantyhose, and I never got more than three wearings out of a pair before I'd put a finger through the panty top or somewhere in the thigh.

Shortly before she died, my grandmother took me aside and said "Why don't you buy a garter belt and some stockings. They're easier. I never liked pantyhose, either." This, along, with her wedding ring and KitchenAid mixer, I count among her final and most precious gifts to me. I should note, this was a woman who didn't like underwear in general.

So, at the tender age of fifteen, I began my love affair with stockings and garter belts as a practical alternative to pantyhose. I didn't think of them as terribly sexy. They were simply a welcome relief to my struggles with that hated pantyhose waistband. Any prurient appeal took a backseat. A way back seat. Like the back-facing seat of an old station wagon back seat.

I remember the first time I put them on (for church!). I got them on perfectly (in short time, I would graduate to seamed hose with nary a crooked line), clipped them, and then paused. I put on my robe and headed out to the kitchen, where grandma sat with her coffee. "How do I go to the bathroom?" I asked. She didn't even look up from her newspaper. "If you're wearing shorts, they go on the outside."

After that, the only thing I didn't understand was why pantyhose had become so popular. The only use for them I could see was for wearing under miniskirts. I knew for darn sure that 90% of the women I saw wearing hosiery under their knee-length or longer skirts were not wearing stockings. I just couldn't understand why.

Now I know. Probably most of them didn't grow up with my grandma. Poor things.

Note: If you are interested in purchasing a practical garterbelt, not some silly frilly thing that wouldn't hold up a piece of paper much less a stocking, but don't know where to start looking, please see my suggestions in a comment to

pointoforigin about garter belt styles.

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Why? Probably chaffing. Although, in my experience, pantyhose has an even chance of CAUSING chaffing/friction burn.

Why? Probably chaffing.

Solution? Bloomers! =D

Very much so, I have found. Bloomers or bodyshapers. It's all good.

This is a great entry!

I need to renew my affair with garter belts.. or as we called them in England, "suspenders". I might wear more skirts this winter. Hmmm. Maybe I need to get with you on tips for finding good ones.

And another great thing about stockings.. a hole in one of them isn't a complete toss away.

a hole in one of them isn't a complete toss away.

God, yes! How did I forget to mention that? Thank you for piping up!

I'm seriously considering ordering one of the examples I linked in that comment. They've got some cute knee-high socks, too... Poke around that site and if there's something you're interested in, I'm happy to split shipping.

Will do!
I like that shorty one as well.
But damn, only in white.. must get myself a new dunk tub for dyeing.

That would be awesome, since the vintage bra dye gal from Wild Man Vintage never returned my emails about custom dye jobs. Nice way to get extra business, lady.

I am pretty sure that I can figure it out, just given the right tools to do it. I know Mum used to dye hers when they'd get dingy... and that was in the days of plain old Rit.

Yay!

...called them in England, "suspenders"...

ROFL! Ok, this is another instance of the differences between English and American that never fails to delight and amuse me.

I used to wear thigh-highs, and I loved them.

I may have to try one. I hate hose.

If they work for you, I imagine thigh-highs would be roxxor. Take a look at that website, yourself, and if there's something you wanna order, I'm sure

roya_spirit wouldn't complain about splitting the shipping three ways.

I discovered stockings in my early 20s, in an 'ooh, wear that to bed!' way. But gosh, if they aren't more practical! What i hated about pantyhose most of all was that fat roll the waistband created, no matter how skinny you were. It just wouldn't go away. Unless you pulled them all the way to your bra. Which is unappealing in so many other ways. :\

Oh, yes! That horrible flesh roll! So painful in addition to being unattractive. *shudder*

Had the same trouble w/pantyhose when I wore them.

Shifted to garterbelts for a long time. They are SO FREAKING AWESOME!
They go on, fit, and stay where they should!
I discovered the practical aspect of using the restroom on my own.

I love your Grandmother! I also hate most underwear. lol.

Haven't needed/wanted to wear hose in years. If I ever did, it would be the garter variety!
So I will check your link... 'cause I no longer know where to buy them.
y

Ha! We are too much alike in some ways.

<3

I tried a garter belt in my 20s, and ran into two problems. The first was that it kept falling down, and the second was that I had the "how do I pee?" dilemma.

You know, it NEVER occurred to me to put on underwear over the garter belt. That actually resolves *both* my issues, I think, because the underwear give a little added support (and the fact that I've lost some waist fluffiness will help quite a bit too, and that my prior attempt was in fact a frilly thing that wouldn't hold up a piece of paper and now I know better).

I hate pantyhose because they take 'chafing' to a whole new level of "Oh god, oh god, why did I add SANDPAPER to the equation?" but had come more to peace with them since the weight loss decreased chafing issues overall, and will probably now make the shift completely to garters instead, except for my two short skirts, one of which I can wear with cute knee-highs anyway. You've totally revolutionized my thinking on garter belts with the simple phrase "hey, panties on the OUTSIDE," and it feels very silly not to have thought of that when I was struggling with it fifteen years ago. Thank you so much!

Much love,
Rowan

This makes me ridiculously, illogically happy.

My very first job was a salesclerk at the lingerie counter of a family-owned department store. Something of that desire to help people be happy with their underwear has stuck with me through the years. I'm so pleased to be able to help you, too!

I love this.
OMG I LOVE THIS!

And am now fantasizing about wearing garter belts with my Bloomers!!!!

That's exactly what I'm planning on doing, and what got me started making the bloomers in the first place.

Last winter, walking to work, the only part of me that got chilled was the three inches of thigh between the top of my stocking and my panty line. The fact that it took me nearly a full year to solve this problem is no small embarrassment.

oh my, I remember clearly the whole thing in the late 60s/early 70s in England, even as just a lass, where women wore minis and boots and were soooo glad that the maxi coat became stylish because they were tired of arriving at work with blue thighs.

I had to give up on pantyhose back in college, thanks to their propensity to cause yeast infections, at least for me. I have come to opt for longer skirts over time, because on a daily basis I tend to be too lazy to want to wear a garter belt (and with a longer skirt I can get away with kneehighs, or boots in the winter), but for any sort of dress up or fun wear, I'm a garter girl all the way.

I have come to adore Secrets In Lace (http://www.secretsinlace.com/category/Garter_Belts) for serious garter belts (by that I mean 6 garters, metal clasps, with strong, proper fitting belts, with more than just 2 or 3 hooks in the back), which also happen to be quite pretty, in a number of instances.

Pricey, but they are the seriously real thing.

Secrets in Lace also sells some fabulous open bottom girdles (http://www.secretsinlace.com/category/Girdles). And of course, actual stockings (http://www.secretsinlace.com/category/Stockings)...it's becoming harder to find decent actual stockings, as so many companies just want to sell thigh highs, which are so not the same thing (and I've never really known anyone they actually work on).

But then, I'd be a sucker for any place that sells a good bullet bra (http://www.secretsinlace.com/category/Bullet_Bras), ya know?

D.

Those are very pretty, but I can't spend that much dough on freaking underwear. If I need an extra strap on a belt, I'll just add one. Extra garter clips are cheap (like me!).

JC Penney had stockings by the ton. Target also had them for quite a few years, both with and without seams.

Those are some very pretty undergarments.
and I'd CRY if I tore a hole in a 10 clam stocking.

But oh sadness... the usual crappy sizes in bras, and DD being the largest cup! WAAAAHHHHH.

We need to start a new biz ladies,.. vintage bras with real sizing.. who can write the business proposal? *grin*

i think you are right, i think they probably did become popular because of the mini skirt, and then stockings became so fetishised...

i am not a big fan of underwear, if i am wearing jeans i don't wear knickers, but i have very soft waistbanded knickers for wearing with skirts. but i rarely wear tights, either, i rarely wear skirts now, and i the tights i do wear are the only kind i can, because of being tall - woolfords, very expensive but they last forever, matte black LONG tights. soft and no strangulation. i can never buy medium/ 'one size' tights, because i get that thing of the crotch hanging down, and it makes me feel like i peed myself.

i get that thing of the crotch hanging down, and it makes me feel like i peed myself.

Never a good feeling.

no, and it must tell in your facial expression...

Oh please, please, linky link to tights you like?

I have the same tights issues, I can't fit properly into any of the "size ranges'.

get your wallet out!

http://www.wolfordshop.co.uk/Legwear/cp500004950/cl1/vt01/

nothing NOTHING is cheap. but they do 'long'. i have been wearing basic black ones for donkey's years http://www.wolfordshop.co.uk/Cotton-Velvet/cp500004959/si500448817/cl2/vt01/
they remain soft after washing, unlike other brands, and, like i say, no pissy knicker sensation from them crawling down.

the fancy ones are fun, though probably not to be bought in quantity unless you are a millionaire or a shopping addict who is impervious to cost.

Yes, yes, yes! I hate pantyhose, and far prefer garter belts and stockings. I ordered my first set on the sly as a kid from an underwear catalogue for elderly people I'd found at my grandma's house, since I'd been struggling with the pantyhose my mom gave me for "dressing nicely" for weddings and operas and the like, and even though I didn't totally understand how stockings worked, any alternative seemed better. Needless to say, my first set was nothing like the glamorous, fetishized image most people have of stockings/garters nowadays.

I've gotten prettier ones over the years, and got to wear an awesome vintage-styled set for my living history job with the Park Service a few years ago. And although I don't wear stockings super-often (I'm not much of a skirt gal), I definitely have not purchased one pair of pantyhose since, and wouldn't. Ever.

/Cool story, bro

Thank you! And thank you for sharing your stocking story, too! I bet most of us who start with decent (i.e. real) garter belts and stockings stick with 'em. It's the poor souls who are introduced via Frederick and Victoria that give 'em the old heave-ho after a few frustrating attempts.

I bet most of us who start with decent (i.e. real) garter belts and stockings stick with 'em.

Too true, too true. Also with the underwear-on-the-outside trick. I had to figure that one out on my own (wearing them on the sly and all), but I always find it sort of astounding that when I try to share this tip with other friends who are trying out stockings and garters (on a lark, rather than out of serious consideration for switching, usually), they just think I'm crazy. I guess it's been so inculcated in recent generations of women that underwear is always the closest garment to your body, underneath everything else, that even if putting a garter belt underneath doesn't affect the function of underwear, they just can't conceive of doing so. And then they wonder why garters are so "inconvenient"!

People who refuse to remove themselves from ignorance do not deserve the joy of garters and stockings.

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Oh my stockings and garters

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