I was visiting with a friend who has a big interview coming up, and we were discussing the right outfit for her to wear. In the debate over skirt suit versus pant suit, the topic of stockings came up when she exclaimed, “Pantyhose are so 1985!”
Au contraire mon frere!
Pantyhose are so 2015. Seriously, I get that most of us women don’t actually enjoy wearing stockings. They have some serious downsides. Particularly if you live in the South where it’s summer 8 months a year. They can be uncomfortable, a pain to wash, hot, and they will run if you’re not careful.
But…they ADD polish. If you had any doubt:
You do not have to have Her Royal Highness in your title for pantyhose to make an outfit more sophisticated and smooth your figure. I’m certainly not advocating for pantyhose every day but, depending on the degree of formality of your profession (teacher = 2, Wall Street investment banker = 10), you may need them more often. Certainly as an attorney, I would never go into a courtroom wearing a skirt suit without stockings.
Here are some tips for when you SHOULD wear pantyhose:
1. When you have selected a skirt or dress option for an interview. There are likely a handful of professions where an exception applies, but not most. If you opt for a sophisticated dress or a suit for a work interview, then wear stockings. There are several ways to do it – with nude sheer stockings or with gray or black sheer stockings. But don’t select a power suit for an interview and then forego stockings.
2. When you want to stand out. Stockings don’t just have to be for conservative job interviews. They can help you stand out as fun, edgy, quirky, or fashion forward. Whether its opaque tights with a bright pop of color or sheer stockings with a retro dress, these can be just as important of an accessory as your scarves or necklaces.
3. When you want to up the polish quotient. If you buy the right pair, not sparkly or fishnet or patterned, stockings can add an element of luxury.
4. When you have a meeting with executives. Dress for the job you want. As many female executives as I spent time with last year, I never met one that wore a skirt suit without pantyhose (now many of them wore pants, as do I most of the time, but at events where I met them in skirts, pantyhose came along for the ride).
5. When you have an evening event and need to lose 10 pounds. The slimming effect of pantyhose is incredible. Especially if you splurge on a pair of Spanx pantyhose. They come in a solid variety of sheer colors and come over your ribs to slim from mid torso to toe. I’ve had people remark on how lovely my legs look because they don’t even realize I have on pantyhose until I tell them. For a cocktail event with a closed toe pump, I highly recommend them.
What about you? Have I converted you from the anti-pantyhose camp?
Kate images courtesy of Ask Allie. Women in suits courtesy of Marie Claire.