I found this photo online from 1992 of models showing off their leggings, worn over sheer pantyhose. This was a big trend back then!
Modern hosiery brands like Fiore actually launched several styles that imitate the look, having a sheer foot and an opaque leg. Some have even very nice designs around the ankle.
Personally I have never tried to wear those myself, but I must admit that they do sell pretty well. What are your thoughts? Do you find this look attractive?
I found this photo online by accident, a group of Russian women competing for the Beauty Queen title in 1993. It doesn’t sound like it was so long ago, but these women look so different compare to the ones currently on television. Most importantly, I notice they are all wearing pantyhose, except for maybe one in the red jacket.
Pantyhose are still here! But the photos are not directed anymore like above, selfies took over. Some girls wear pants.
I can’t find any photos online of candid auditions / castings, can you? Somehow from what I’ve seen, pantyhose is no longer there. Not much clothes at all in general. I tried to search for Canadian beauty pageants, but also, no luck.
Just recently I interviewed a pantyhose entrepreneur from Russia (that interview is coming up soon) and from what he is saying, it sounds like pantyhose-less hype is spreading there too.
Today I went to a second hand store to browse some vintage pantyhose. I left with a full bag of them and even managed to already sell 4 pairs on the same day to a person who collects a specific brand called Woodsonia.
There is one pair by Discretion brand that advertises itself as multi-colour basic tights for fashion, dance, and exercise. Yes, exercise! I wish I could show up to the gym wearing something like that.
Even though majority of vintage hosiery here was made in Canada or United States, I managed to find a pair of Ravinia
pantyhose from Ecuador. I had no idea they even make pantyhose there!
As I was browsing, I noticed a woman, most likely transgender based on her appearance, checking out shoes. She kept on mumbling something about someone not cleaning up the mess, referring to everyone as “bitches”.
Woodsonia tights, sold right away
I thought that maybe something happened before I got there and tried to calm her down by asking her if she liked pantyhose as I was sorting through whatever was there on display. She told me that she likes it and even came over to look at it as well. I asked her what size she wears and then she abruptly went back to the shoes, talking to herself out loud and referring to (most likely) me as a “butch dyke”.
I minded my own business from that point and didn’t interact with this person any further. Considering what I was wearing (leather jacket, mini skirt, tights, and high heels as shown on the photo here), I don’t think I looked like a “butch dyke” at all. My only reasonable explanation to this is that she could be on drugs or could be experiencing some mental health issues.
There was another situation expecting me at the cash register. The cashier, while sorting through the big pile of pantyhose I got, suddenly stopped half way and decided that she needs a break. She told another cashier to take over and left. This is the first time I see cashiers change in the middle of a transaction.
Do you see what I have to go through in order to fish out all of these rare vintage brands? I’m still working on uploading everything on eBay.
I found that sometimes second hand stores will have a few vintage hosiery items here and there. Every time I am in the area, I check to see if I can come across anything interesting. I assume that probably some older ladies kept these, but then had some massive clean out or a big move and ended up donating their tights to a charity second hand shop like Salvation Army or Goodwill.
Here’s an example of what I found – Wonderbra off white tights. It makes me nostalgic to look at these packages, kind of reminds me of my childhood when my mom was just teaching me how to wear pantyhose with skirts.
Also, kind of shocking, but these were made in Canada. Now hardly anything is worth manufacturing here.
It is hard to tell how old exactly this item is, but I think probably around 30 years because it is 100% nylon.
I listed it on eBay – vintage Wonderbra tights. Some people like to wear all nylon hosiery, and some buy it for their collection of vintage clothing / packaging.
Yesterday I saw some red leaves on my neighbour’s tree and realized that for the whole summer I only wore pantyhose and no stockings. So I decided not to wait and make this day special. For no specific reason, I felt that it’s time to open that pair that I carried on so many trips in my suitcase and never managed somehow to find the right evening to actually put on.
I put on a new garter belt, some D&G perfume, and opened a pair that I had already intended to try for a few years – vintage Aristoc stockings sent to me by a fan. The shade was Brandy Snap. Just reading the name of the shade made me feel as if I was part of the Hemingway’s novel.
For my whole night out, these stockings were extremely durable and still look flawless. They have no seam on the leg, but there is a seam running from toe to ankle. However, they are not at all stretchy since they are made of 100% nylon and it was a little tricky for me in the restaurant to sit down and get up without worrying that my garter belt may go undone. Luckily for me, this garter belt turned out to be actually good quality and held on strong for the whole evening.
vintage English hosiery
I would like to thank a gentleman named James for sending me this pair of stockings as a gift. He is probably completely not expecting me to blog about it since it’s been a while, but he’s welcome to contact me for more photos.
In case you are wondering, Aristoc is a well-established brand from England and these stockings are made in England. They are advertised as sheer, stretchy, seamfree, and made of micromesh. They also had an insert in the package with washing instructions saying the following: “Remove rings and wash stockings by hand, squeezing gently in warm lather, then rinse thoroughly. Dry by hanging from toes, avoiding all artificial heat. Stockings should be washed by themselves, and when wet must not be in contact with other garments as cross-staining may result.”
As many of you may know, I love to try different brands including vintage ones. A friend of mine has a huge stash that I am trying to sell for her and part of it I keep for myself.
Here’s an example of something I’ve never seen before on the market. There is a value pack, 2 in 1, containing pantyhose and matching nylon panties. Who on earth would wear nylon panties without any cotton? I guess I see why this idea didn’t catch on.
Based on the illustration panties and pantyhose are to be worn separately. I can’t really imagine why someone would combine the two given that both are made out of the same material. On top of this all, both items claim to be one size fit all.
For me this is just really bizarre, so I can’t resist but blog about it. I uploaded both pairs on eBay that I had and they both sold right away.
In a local shop in Vancouver I managed to find a pair of vintage Kayser stockings and I tried it on with a fancy garter belt. Here’s a sneak peak from a public parking lot when nobody was looking.
This garter belt was acquired from Dolce Amore Lingerie. In case you are interested, they have the same one for sale, size S, on their site. Buy it HERE. Or ask me, I am best friends with the owner.
Siebruck Hosiery Ltd, a Canadian manufacturer in Montreal, Quebec, had a cool brand on the market in the 80s and 90s. Cover Girl brand was a registered trade mark (not sure if there was any conflict with the same name used for cosmetics), available in local department stores in Canada.
Buy it here for $4.99
I think of those times and sadly exhale. There were hosiery mills in Canada and departments stores with shelves full. Now, except for Mondor (even though they could partially outsource some of the processes), there is no hosiery industry here anymore.
According to some research online, we can even see that Siebruck had a patent for the ornamental design on the hosiery packages.
However, Siebruck didn’t go out of business because of lack of customers. They went bankrupt in 1996 because of a lawsuit for “unreported sales in excess of $1.5 million”. Ouch, Cover Girl was trying to cover up some serious cash. The president of the company, Herman Gruenwald, tried to present a counter-claim for $3 million dollars for damaged reputation, but obviously didn’t get too far with that.
I got one pair of these from my friend who bought them about 30 years back. That means, that Cover Girl was still innocent and popular.
It’s about size Large, burgundy colour. 100% nylon. Of course it’s in the shop section for the price that she wants for it.
Note: If anyone doesn’t really care about getting it, but wants me to model it for them, let me know. Maybe we can work something out. At the moment it’s unworn and will be sold this way, unless of course it’s requested otherwise.
Click to Buy it Here for $4.99
For those people who think that run resistant pantyhose is a new thing, have a look at these from 30 years ago.
Woodsonia was a house brand of Woodward’s department stores in British Columbia and Alberta, which operated for a century before being sold to The Hudson Bay company in 1993.
My friend had a stash of these vintage pantyhose at home and she gave it to me to sell. She bought it herself all those years back, but kept it new and untouched.
100% nylon and non run – sounds like impossible combination? At least some of the modern brands use lycra fusion to create such resistance, but here they say that it’s all about the stitch.
From a quick search online, we see that Woodsonia brand doesn’t exist anymore. Only what’s left of it is a few items advertised online for sale in either BC or Alberta provinces.
In case you want to try it, I only have one pair here in off white, Medium size. $4.99
These are made in Canada, most likely in Vancouver. Oh, those were the good times when we had pantyhose locally made here! Such pantyhose even had “Shop Canadian” logo on them. Too bad I wasn’t around yet to shop.
by Julia, about her grandma in Ukraine
One time at my grandma’s place I saw old nylon pantyhose. My grandma told me that she has even more interesting items took out a bag of old clothes from the attic. It was full of various stockings, old pantyhose, socks, leg warmers, and spatterdashes.
Julia’s grandma’s garter belt
"These are the ancestors of today’s pantyhose" – said grandma – "Look."
Grandma showed me her old leg warmers that her mom wore to work. During that time buildings didn’t have proper heating and in order not to catch a cold she wore shorts, legwarmers, and socks. In the 50’s the items that saved her from the cold were spatterdashes, warm socks, and rubber boots. In addition to that great grandma wore stockings. They came in different colours – beige, black, grey, brown. Even though stockings were not warm, but they looked very fancy.
Julia is wearing her grandma’s spatterdashes
"Now, these are already my own stockings" – said grandma – "… they have a patterned knit from wool yarn. And, here, these ones are machine knit from cotton yarn. And these other ones are made of silk. Such stockings were worn under long knickers and they would hold up on the legs thanks to the round elastic bands , 2 – 3 cm wide. Later we acquired stockings made of dederon (a trade mark for polyester yarn) and such stockings would attach to a garter belt. Such stockings were comfortable and pretty."
My grandma wore such dederon stockings for about 3 to 4 decades and she shared a funny story with me from her youth. When she was in high school, she would run away with the other girls between classes to a discount store to buy such stockings at lower prices. Once they didn’t return in time and were late for their chemistry class. For they had to go in front of the school committee and write a note explaining where they were for half of the lesson.
"Later nylon pantyhose appeared" – grandma continued – "They were not durable and not comfortable. Those pantyhose were replaced by a type with a panel between the thighs and they were much more comfortable.
Now for plus size women there are pantyhose with an extra panel of fabric in the front and at the back and they are so elastic. Depending on the season, there are warm styles and lace fishnet styles."
In those times men didn’t notice women in pantyhose as much as in today’s time. Stockings and pantyhose were just common items in a women’s wardrobe. Today men tend to gather around women in nice pantyhose. There is an unexplained force that in public places attracts men to the wearers of pretty pantyhose. Men, enchanted by the beauty of women’s legs in pantyhose, will not necessarily sit or stand near the one with nice legs in pantyhose, but will choose a spot from where that woman can be seen well.