Wearing Tights in Town

by Geraden

Summer is nearly at an end, so yesterday I decided to have what might be my last fling of the year out and about in tights and shorts.

Wearing Marks and Spencer's 3D Ultra Sheer tights in illusion (my skin tone) I caught the bus to Birmingham City Centre. I have long legs, and when I sit down in the shorts that I was wearing, at least 9 inches of leg are visible above the knee. On the bus I took a seat next to a pretty 20-something black girl. She would have had a good view of my tights, but she was totally immersed in the book she was reading, and never gave my legs a glance. (Ok, you want to know if she was wearing tights? No, but she was wearing skin tight jeans.)

First stop was the TKMaxx hosiery section. I could not find it at first – it had been moved against a wall at the back of the shop, but it was better than I feared. There were still lots of Charnos Light Fantastic tights, mostly in black, but none in XL (£1.99). There were some black Wolford Eighties large mesh fishnets, only in M (£7.99), and some beige Wolfords Lagerfeld Gallery (with a repeated 'L G' motif down the back of the legs in black) also £7.99. The size was not clearly stated, but I think it might have been S.

The best was Oroblu, a make that I have never tried, but I read somewhere that it was Princess Diana's favourite brand. I got two pairs in XL: One Magie 20 control top in mandel (so called because they are the colour of unblanched almonds) , and one Master 7 in plage (colour of beach sand) also CT. Both pairs were £2.99. The bill said "ladies' hosiery" – grr! Why not just "hosiery" or "tights"?

Then I went to House of Fraser. I was not expecting to buy anything, because there was no sale on, but I always like to look around. One of the assistants, a pretty blonde about 30, came up to me as I was looking though the packets of Falke Seidenglatt and asked if I needed any help. I said with a smile, "No thank you, I am used to this, I have been doing it for a long time!" I don't know whether she noticed that I was wearing: probably not. She was letting the side down by wearing trousers. Maybe I was a bit too short with her. I am still waiting to get into a good hosiery discussion with an assistant. I did not buy anything in HOF.

After that I went to Maplins for a mouse, as several of my mice have died recently. I decided to get an optical one, as the mechanical ones need cleaning out too often. I spent quite a long time there waiting to be served, but again, neither customers nor staff noticed what I had on my legs.

Back to the bus, and I sat in the corner at the back, which I find is a good place to sit if you want to cross your legs. Several guys got on and sat fairly near me, but again no interest was shown in my legwear.

I am very happy with my purchases, both hosiery and IT, but my outing was another non-event, so far as being noticed in tights is concerned. I am really not sure whether I want to be noticed, but maybe next time I will wear tights that are a bit more obvious.

For those who haven't tried tights and shorts in public yet – just do it and act normally.

links: technorati