I absolutely love
dresses. I love the way they swish
around, how they blow-up just the tiniest bit when the bus drives by, how I can
gather apples up in them and how great my legs look when I’ve been diligently
going to the gym and riding my bike. As
much as I love dresses, the men in my life love them more.
This is perhaps why I find
winter so vexing – there are so few nice warm dresses out there. Just because my legs aren’t separately
wrapped up doesn’t mean it’s a good time to wear rayon. Hasn’t anyone made a woollen skirt in the
last 50 years that doesn’t look like a couch cover? Until I can convince someone to make a nice woolly skirt, I’m
going to need leggings.
Not only do they come in all
sorts of patterns and colours but also, all manner of styles. These can be broken out into a few main
categories: legwarmers, tights and
stockings. Each has its time, place and
unique virtues.
Legwarmers are that fashion
point made popular in now-old movies like “Flashdance” and “Fame.” Usually associated with dancers, if you’re
brave enough to wear them out, you’ll be toasty from the knees down. However, be prepared to deal with people who
will undoubtedly accuse you of being a Pat Benetar fan from across the
room. Typically seen in concert with
short skirts and high heels, they can be worn with anything, though not usually
a longer skirt or dress. Also, they
tend to look best if you’ve got a dancer’s body, despite the claim that one
size fits all. These have the advantage
of being machine washable and usually dryer friendly.
Tights are just think
pantyhose without the support top. They
are usually rather sheer, but come in the largest variety of colours and
patterns. While it is often harder to find
tights that are not sheer, they are available and will undoubtedly last longer
than an office worker’s nail polish studded pantyhose. When thick hose are worn with a thick skirt,
you may find you’ve worn too many layers, leaving your midsection a sweaty
mess. Easy to store, you’ll be
hard-pressed to loose the left leg without trying. Tights have the advantage of being the easiest type to find. They are almost always washed by hand. Expect thick ones to take at least twice as
long to dry on the shower curtain rod.
Perhaps the hardest to find
are thick, woolly stockings. Since
thigh-high stockings are most commonly associated with lingerie, it’s hard to
find them in styles any thicker than a dragonfly’s wing. These gossamer tubes may be held up with
elastic or belts. Their rare and woolly
cousins are almost always held up with elastic, like a knee-high that didn’t
know when to stop. Should you find them
at all, you may be disappointed by how few colours are available. In fact, anything other than black might be
a small miracle. The exceptions to this
are stockings worn as club-wear that might come in all sort of innovative
textures – very often with holes or doo-dads on the cuff. Be careful to make sure they’re sturdy
enough for daily use and store them rolled together like any pair of socks. Very often these are laundered like
pantyhose, by hand.
Whichever
you choose, you don’t have to wear pants ’til June. Be it rain, sleet, snow or dead of night; let those legs out for
a walk!
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