As a child I remember my Grandmother’s visits as being a time to leave the house before she was out of bed. If I stayed around, I would be called upon to “lace her up” into her whalebone corset.
I hated this process because it always seemed horribly cruel and I loved my Nana very much. Wrapping her into a tight package on a hot day seemed so unnecessarily cruel. I could never understand why she would ask me to do this to her because we lived way out in the Australian bush and we rarely saw anyone.
There was only the 5 of us and 6 if she counted herself. Still, she held onto the door frame and said “tighter, tighter…” and then when I often thought she would die of suffocation she would say “that’s tight enough…now just tie a nice bow in the back so I can get it undone again tonight please dear…”
And sure enough, there was always enough ’shoe-lace’ rope left dangling no matter how beautifully I tied the bow, for her to unleash herself each night in the privacy of her own room. I asked her time and again, why she wore that horrible corset and she always answered “because Ladies always look after themselves sweetie and always want to look nice”.
Perhaps that was when I made a very unconscious decision that I would never, ever do that to myself no matter what. And I haven’t. But someone wiser than me invented the garter belt for my era.
Now garter (also known as suspender belts) had a mind of their own too and were never comfortable to wear.
They either twisted around so that your back clip was halfway round your leg trying to get to the front or it stuck into you whenever you sat down. This used to make me wriggle uncomfortably in my classroom seat enough to make a teacher tell me to “stop squirming” and to “sit still, for goodness sake Jan…you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof!”
How right she was. That back clip was situated right where I sat down and it stuck into my rear end. If I had been a horse I often thought I would have been made more comfortable but instead I was practicing to become a young lady.
Now the garter belt was bad enough on it’s own but when it combined with those wretched thick brown stockings designed for young school girls, the agony intensified.
Those brown stockings so constantly loved by Girl’s School headmistresses, were designed by men as an instrument of torture. They twisted around young girls legs like manacles. And they were held firmly twisted by the garter jailer.
But time moves on and I eventually left school and went into the workforce where we wore proper nylon stockings everyday. These stockings used to ladder as soon as you brushed against anything that they could grab onto. These ladders seemed to always develop in one of the more conspicuous places too so that you absolutely, positively had to buy a new pair. If you ever got to wash a pair twice you were doing remarkably well and I would have to ask “How the heck did you manage to do that?”
But time moved on again and some male engineers became more interested in the actual physical challenge of the stocking as well as actually helping women overcome their stocking discomfort.
The next advance from the garter belt was the self-adhesive kind of nylon stocking.
These stockings had a row of five elasticized glue rings around the top that were designed to stick to a woman’s thigh to hold the stockings up. They worked to a degree but many women were unable to wear them because the glue/tightness/thigh strangling/blood flow inhibiter qualities in the design nearly caused many women to have leg amputations.
I vividly remember the welts these stockings caused me. It still makes me cringe remembering the itch and especially one that I wasn’t able to scratch in public.
These elasticized torture tools quickly gave way to the arrival of the Pantyhose. Arh, the blessed relief at last! The first time I wore a pair of pantyhose I knew that they were here to stay. And so they have, are and will be for some time to come. Now they are available in all colours, sizes, thicknesses and prices.
I sometimes wonder though what my Nana would think of my “ladylike qualities” by wearing a pair of black nylon pantyhose stockings. I just wish she could have lived to see the day.
Ladies Stockings are more than a sensual garment. Some women are allergic to nylon. Do you know someone who is? http://mumsdomain.com/womensstockings/

Related posts:

  1. Be Selective While You Decide To Buy Nylon Stockings When you buy nylon stockings you should stay aware of the in-trend fashion. Nylon stocking is more than just a cover of the leg. It is the style statement of today;s generation. You should buy nylon stockings according to the outfit you plan to wear. And it should be such so as to conceal several scars and blemishes on the leg.What are the things to consider while you opt to buy nylon stockingsPrice is a great factor while you choose to buy a standard piece of nylon stocking. There are unbranded nylon stockings which are sure to cost you less....
  2. How Nylon Stocking And Suspender Belts Are Helpful Suspenders and garters both are the same. In Britain it is known as “Suspenders” and in North America as “Garters”. Stockings supported by suspenders or garters look sleek and stylish.Garters, which hold stockings up to the legs, are usually made of leather and are few inches in width. To make it appear more appealing, the garters are embellished with bells and ribbons. During the 18th and the 20th centuries, the garters were tied below the knee so as to prevent the stockings from slipping. But with the advent of elastics in the recent years, stockings have become more demanding and...
  3. Long And Stylish Vintage Nylon Stocking The close fitting elastic garment is covering the foot and the lower part of the leg emote a chic and appealing look for any woman. Actually the word stock means the bottom ‘stump’ part of the body.In today’s time, the women’s hosiery is shaped into two pieces, that is, one for each leg. Stockings are different from the hold ups, which stay up on their own. Whereas, the stockings are supported by a suspender belt and have many advantages which include:· The exposed stockings enable the user to maintain cleanliness and increase ventilation. It reduces the growth of fungus and...
  4. Nylon Stocking Model - Pose Strikingly And Earn Great Bucks Nylon stockings are an essential women wear. They are worn inside the office or while partying out with friends. When worn, the stockings make the legs appear attractive, but not too revealing. When these nylon stockings have to be advertised, a nylon stocking model is required.Want to a nylon stocking model?You can earn great bucks. An experienced model can charge a hundred or more dollars per hour of a photo shoot. Maintain a good relationship with the photographer; this will make your chances for another photo shoot brighter.The job of the nylon stocking model will be to put the stockings...
  5. Seamed Nylon Stocking - For Long Lasting Comfort It was after the Second World War that the concept of seamed nylon stocking attracted the attention of the greater part of the market. This was mainly because the female section of the society was more conservative about dress and conduct. With beautiful long skirts, they preferred to wear seamed nylon stockings as part of the fashion.A few years later when tight and short skirts were ruling the market, the makers of seamed nylon stocking took to more hard work to meet with the prevalent fashion demands.In Hollywood, Shirley used a fine pair of seamed nylon stocking, which eventually became...
  6. Catch The Attraction With The Best Nylon Stocking In Market In contemporary times, the demand of nylon stocking increases and decreases according to changing style and fashion. The new concept of socks and stockings got a boost with the introduction of nylon in 1939 world trade fair. From then things started changing. Soon nylon stockings became the darling of a major section of fashion conscious population. People liked it because nylon is a long lasting material and it takes hardly any time to get dry after being washed.It was in the year 1940 that nylon stockings made their appearance for the first time in New York. On the first day,...
  7. Nylon Stocking Story - Know Interesting Facts Silk at one point of time was an all-favorite item and its use expanded from dress to stockings but the virtual monopoly of silk came to an end on the arrival of nylon stocking. Nylon stocking proved out to be better than silk stocking as it dried easily after it was washed and was more durable.The Nylon stocking came in the picture in the early 1940s and since then there has been no looking back. The origin of nylon and its journey as stocking is very intriguing and it will surely leave you riveting.The nylon stocking storyJulian Hill, researcher at...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.