Sunday, December 14, 2008

Tights and suggestibility

Amber has me convinced that these thigh-high tights are amazing. And I'd order them... if my suggestibility in the area of hosiery hadn't already meant that, after reading a certain girdle article, I learned of such a thing as "Spanx," and found a pair very much discounted, but not quite enough to go buy another pair of tights just yet. I have yet to try these 'tights' on, and am, frankly, sort of frightened. It's hard to picture that a garment could a) be comfortable, and b) make pencil skirts and turtleneck dresses more flattering. We shall see.

5 comments:

Belle Lettre said...

I like thigh highs for comfort and ease, except that my thighs (and I'm a runner!) do not look all that great with the elastic band right there at the fleshiest part of thigh. If you are not worried about that, they are easier. I kind of like full tights though for under dresses and skirts. Smoother lines. Also, my butt is warmer.

Spanx are pretty great, but my boyfriend thinks that they look dowdy (they are like gigantic grandma bloomers), and that the better thing to do is not wear clingy things or wear the right size or (this is him being helpful) exercise more until I fit the garment better. Hrrmph. This is what happens when men try to solve women problems.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

You know, I was also thinking the possible drawbacks to the thigh-highs would be thigh... unflatteringness (running happens, but has yet to happen as often as blogging) and insufficient butt warmth--it's cold here in NYC!

And I could see how Spanx are something a boyfriend would veto. It's like anything else--makeup, say--that women go in for and that men think sounds ridiculous and unnecessary but whose results they unknowingly find appealing.

Belle Lettre said...

men think sounds ridiculous and unnecessary but whose results they unknowingly find appealing.

Until you undress, when it becomes unappealing again. Of course, after more than a year together, I'm just like, "get over it." Not that the mystery is over--I still like dressing up for dates and looking nice--but after he's seen you with no makeup and with the flu, hard to believe that a bit of unflattering thigh bulge due to stockings or granny panties will be dealbreakers. Maybe these are first date problems.

Oddly, TD prefers me in sweats and pajamas to lingerie, as I'm still fundamentally the same sexy Belle underneath flannel or my school t-shirts and boxers, but thinks that spanx are a terrible, de-sexifying garment. for some reason, he thinks anything that looks uncomfortable is unsexy, and since he thinks that walking around naked or in underwear or restrictive underwear is uncomfortable, they are not sexy. I have a very strange boyfriend. I have argued with him about his peculiar and idiosyncratic conception of sexiness.

Belle Lettre said...

That is to say, I tell him that I am perfectly comfortable in my vintage-style slips and chemises and feel sexy in them, but because he thinks they look uncomfortable, he actively prefers me in frumpy pajamas, he finds comfortable schlumpy Belle sexier, because "aw, she looks comfortable" which makes me more touchable and approachable. This is so cute and endearing that I forgive him for telling me that I looked weird walking around in a slip this morning.

I will never understand the differences between male and female sexuality. Paul Gowder is hating on Helene Cixous, but who knows, maybe she's not totally off the mark.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

Oh no, this reminds me that I need to start reading everything by Cixous, for my offline life. I'll be able to weigh in on this soon enough...