What do we find… in stockings

How did this strange transformation come about? What makes women buy stockings that are far from being as practical and comfortable as tights? Why do stockings so magnetize men and have such a powerful charge of sexuality that this makes them an essential attribute of erotic scenarios and a mandatory category of goods in sex shops? We asked sexologists, psychologists, fashion historians and sellers of underwear and stockings about this.

Special Feelings

Let’s start with the fact that not every woman wears stockings. Many people think that this piece of clothing imposes too many restrictions.

“Tight pants are out. Stockings can only be worn with a skirt or dress, and even then they are of rather puritanical length, ”says 29-year-old Tatyana.

“Yes, stockings suggest certain clothes,” agrees 34-year-old Alina, “but this has its advantages. For example, black stockings with lace elastic can no longer be worn with sports cotton underwear. And in the appropriate underwear, you feel completely different. ”

One has only to try a woman to put on stockings … and most likely she will put them on again. Here is what Varvara Rogova, manager of the sales department of a lingerie boutique chain, says: “Often, buyers express gratitude for being offered to buy stockings, if they have never done this before. It turns out that this experience leaves a very strong impression, not only on the woman, but also on her partner. By the way, men quite often take part in the choice of stockings – in this case, of course, design will be more important than practicality considerations.

Another femininity

Wearing stockings brings about a change in how you feel about yourself that some women are willing to sacrifice practicalities for, like wearing skirts and dresses more often than more comfortable pants and tights.

“If tights, even the most frilly ones, are something utilitarian, then stockings, in their optionality, are a reference to the romantic side of female nature,” explains social psychologist Yulia Fedotova. – Stockings are associated with long skirts, corsets, fans and jewelry, stories about kings, queens and their ladies-in-waiting. Putting on stockings, a woman seems to change her hypostasis, in the depths of her soul she begins to feel like a princess or a courtesan, and this sense of self also affects her social behavior.

In a skirt or dress, a woman even moves differently, and stockings add a very special accent to her gestures. Of course, this also affects the perception of a woman by men: “Stockings set a certain distance for her companion or determine the rules of the game for her sexual partner,” says sexologist Naida Dobaeva, a researcher at the Federal Center for Sexology.

Extra Sensuality

The stronger the restrictions on self-expression in women’s clothing (corporate dress code, business suit …), the more often stockings are used to maintain an internal sense of one’s own female attractiveness.

“If you wear beautiful underwear and stockings with a belt, this is reflected in women’s eyes,” says Naida Dobaeva. “Then the strictest suit will acquire a subtle aura of sexuality.” By the way, it is women who work in offices who most often buy transparent beige stockings – for everyday wear.

“It just saves girls in offices, especially in the heat,” continues Varvara Rogova. – In summer, stockings are more comfortable than tights. Office workers can be easily distinguished – they often buy not one pair, but two, so that they always have a spare in their purse.

Until relatively recently, appearing in the office with bare legs was completely unacceptable. Today, strict decorum (mandatory stockings or pantyhose with a business suit) is still required in government offices, banks, and some large companies.

“Wearing stockings is like breaking some taboo, especially if the woman is wearing a formal business suit,” Yulia Fedotova explains. – Nobody, except the owner, knows that under the skirt there is a strip of bare skin that comes into contact with the air. It’s a juicy little secret, a kind of quiet rebellion against the public morality of packing the body in a case.”

Erotic stimulus

“The erotic function of clothing always manifests itself when a game of naked and closed zones of the body is created,” explains culturologist Olga Vainshtein. “Stockings, unlike pantyhose, create this game.”

Transparent stockings, like transparent clothes in general, are especially erotic. “This is a classic of the genre, nothing outlines the legs so concisely and at the same time defiantly,” continues Naida Dobaeva. “Therefore, as an element of seduction, this is practically a win-win option: a woman feels herself (and is perceived by her partner) at the same time dressed and undressed.”

Each gender has its own characteristics of sensory perception. “Stockings have an amazing effect on these features, creating mutual excitement,” Yulia Fedotova explains. A man gets excited by seeing them, and a woman gets excited by wearing them. It is known that men love with their eyes, that is, they primarily focus on visual stimuli – on a lace garter of stockings and a strip of bare skin. Women are especially susceptible to tactile sensations – stockings (especially with a belt) constantly remind of their presence on the body, generating slight excitement.

In addition, unlike pantyhose, stockings leave the genital area free, symbolically suggesting a woman’s readiness for sex.

Attribute of sexuality

An indispensable attribute of sex scenes and erotic photographs, stockings have found their way into real life.

“They spice up sexual games,” says Naida Dobaeva. – Stockings do not interfere with sexual intercourse, and a belt in a man is associated with something that helps to exercise control – perhaps this system of ribbons, straps, garters is associative akin to a horse harness that helps to “curb the wild elements”, control the movements of a woman. And that gives the game a very powerful exciting momentum.”

Where did they come from

“Items of clothing that can be considered prototypes of stockings appeared in the times of Antiquity,” says culturologist Olga Vainshtein. – Bandages for the legs (fasciae crurales), which Ovid mentions in the treatise “The Science of Love”, were considered a sign of delicacy and served not so much for protection from the cold as for decoration.

In the Middle Ages, chausses became widespread – narrow leg-fitting men’s stockings-pants made of fabric. Chausses appeared in the XNUMXth century and at first resembled long socks, and then evolved into a kind of stockings that were attached with cords to a belt or immediately to a jacket. In the XIV century, the first short women’s stockings appeared, which were held by a round garter on the knee. Over time, stocking garters become a special erotic accessory, they are trimmed with lace and embroidery, and sometimes frivolous rhymes are embroidered.

And sometimes garters were decorated with precious stones. In 1897, the famous opera singer Lina Cavalieri, while in St. Petersburg, ordered garters adorned with diamonds and emeralds from Faberge. Giving the order to the beauty, the clerk expressed regret that no one, except for the hostess, would see the beauty created by the jewelers of the company. “What are you, my dear,” answered Cavalieri, “men are so curious!”¹

If women’s stockings were often hidden by a long skirt, then men’s, as a rule, were visible. There was even a symbolism of the color of stockings: in the XNUMXth century, purple stockings with black and white garters meant devotion, constancy. And the expression “blue stocking” in the XNUMXth century was a symbol of eccentricity and owes its origin to the English botanist Benjamin Stillingfleet, who wore simple blue woolen stockings, even when invited to a social evening. In the XNUMXth century, this nickname was assigned to ladies – lovers of learned conversations in salons and subsequently became a household name.

Throughout the XNUMXth century, both men and women wore stockings. Respectable ladies were supposed to wear black stockings, while colored stockings were an attribute of the demi-monde ladies.

In subsequent years, the technique of making stockings was noticeably improved, fishnet stockings, stockings with lace appeared. The first rayon stockings were created in 1912. By this time, both the elastic garter and the garter belt were already widely used: supporting elastic bands were initially attached to the corset, but by the time of the First World War, the garter belt took on the form that it remained throughout the twentieth century.

The most important milestone in the history of stockings is the invention of nylon, a particularly strong fiber patented by the DuPont concern in 1938. In the late 1950s, spandex (now better known as lycra) was introduced to make stockings supple and perfectly fitting. The very name spandex – the result of a rearrangement of letters in the English word expands – “stretches”. And only in the 1960s, during the rock and roll, when short skirts came into fashion, tights appeared.

¹ Y. Demidenko “A Brief History of Stockings”. Fashion Theory, No. 2, 2006.