That men are wearing tights and pantyhose is not the news flash it once was. The mantyhose trend is slowly but surely taking hold—often beneath the surface. Men haven’t been very willing to own up to an affinity for tights in the past. What’s new is an openness a few are showing when it comes to their legwear. They’re putting their names and faces where their mouth is, and spreading the news online or in their community.
Corey Goebel actively promotes men's
legwear by what he wears.
Frontline Advocates
Corey Goebel—39-year old husband and computer tech in Kelowna, British Columbia—has been wearing support pantyhose for years for relief from chronically aching, tired legs. Until recently, he was reluctant to let anyone outside his immediate family know, because of concern over what friends and colleagues may think. Of late, that’s changed. For the past year or so he’s been openly going about his business, legwear clearly visible under shorts for anyone who cares to see. Even black hosiery isn’t off limits for him these days, if it goes with the outfit.
"I’ve found wearing legwear openly like this to be a liberating experience,” he says. “I’ve had virtually no negative reactions to what I wear. I’m glad I moved past my fears and no longer worry about something so trivial. My wife is supportive, and that’s really all that matters to me.”
Christopher James, 24, of Raleigh, NC is a ‘graphic illusionist’. He first tried wearing pantyhose as a youngster and discovered he liked the comfort they provide, and continued wearing them throughout his high school and young adult years—still wearing them today. Unlike many men in their late 30s or 40s who wear hosiery for leg support or early signs of circulation problems, Chris simply likes the look of tights with his clothing, as well as the comfort.
His experiences wearing such noticeable legwear have been consistently positive. For the most part, people he meets take it in stride and say nothing. Occasionally, he gets the question, “Why are you wearing pantyhose?” To which he typically replies, “Why not?”
Chris James, a young adult who knows the
benefits of legwear
Most then simply respond positively, along the lines of, “Whatever works for you is fine with me.” Occasionally, he encounters someone more inquisitive who notes that, “pantyhose are for women, aren’t they?” At that, Chris typically delves into a more detailed discussion, including the observation that men were the original tights-wearers, and today there are quite a few companies making and selling men’s hosiery. After learning probably more than they had expected, his acquaintances generally leave with a heightened opinion of men’s legwear.
In addition to showcasing his graphic design work, he has recently added a ‘Leg Gear’ page to his website, making it a matter of public record. On it, he includes his personal history, a very detailed History of Hosiery, and photos of legwear styles Chris’ friends typically see him wearing.
Tentative beginnings
These are but two examples of the new wave of men’s legwear advocate who’s undeterred by fear of social disapproval, and unabashedly wears tights or sheer hosiery among friends and co-workers, letting the chips fall where they may. Men first began reclaiming them as male attire more than 10 years ago, but it began small and spread very slowly. Trend growth occurred through online discussion groups such as Legwear As Unisex Fashion (LAUF), where men discovered that hosiery had practical benefits for them, such as leg support and warmth-without-bulk under clothing.
At first, members posted only under usernames that did not reveal their true identity. This was born out of fear that friends and colleagues might discover their unorthodox fashion secret, and mistakenly associate it with cross dressing or sexual motives. When The Wall Street Journal first published a major front-page article in 2002, on the emerging trend of men wearing pantyhose, heads definitely turned. A few men provided quotes for the article under their real names, but afterward the trend continued on mostly in anonymity.
In the ensuing years, there have been dozens and dozens of media pieces in print, radio and TV exploring some aspect of men’s legwear, along with hundreds of bloggers posting articles, as well. These typically elicit many comments from online readers, but few included given names. That’s been changing almost imperceptibly over the past year or so. Now, it’s much more likely for men to contribute comments under a real name, acknowledging implicitly that they, too, are a hosiery-wearer. Postings on the LAUF forum reflect this trend, as well. More and more users include names, and sometimes faces, on their profiles. Men’s legwear is coming into its own as a legitimate item of clothing, as men feel less stigma attached to acknowledging they wear it.
The Blogosphere Today
Chan Kraemer's e-MANcipate website has made a huge impact on the men's legwear trend
Add to the many unsung ‘regular guys’ like Corey and Chris—who’ve been openly wearing and discussing their legwear—those who are stepping out even further and creating blogs or Facebook pages focused explicitly on the ‘mantyhose’ phenomena.
Several years ago, the e-MANcipate project was launched by Harisnya, a pseudonym taken from the Hungarian word for ‘pantyhose’. Since that time, the e-MANcipate website has become one of the default information sources for many of the media pieces needing high quality photographs. The site includes shots of models wearing various examples of patterned tights—including such eye-raisers as snakeskin. Now using his name rather than a pseudonym, Chan Kraemer’s website has made considerable impact on the male legwear trend with his high production-value photography. [NOTE: The e-MANcipate website is currently under reconstruction, so the link is non-working, but will be active once his website improvements are completed.]
In 2005, Geraden's Blog was launched as another information source on men's legwear. More a resource for insiders than for the uninformed, the blog's creator, Jonathan, does include a photo of himself, though he prefers the relative anonymity provided by it's pseudonymous title.
Eugene has been an outspoken "Hosiery Advocate" for many years.
Still more outspoken is Eugene Wong of Surrey, British Columbia (near Vancouver), a self-described "Hosiery Advocate" who puts himself squarely on the front lines by wearing such fashion forward items as a dress shirt, tie, and shorts combo, paired with green, blue, black or grey sheer tights as part of everyday attire. He was featured in a series of articles on HubPages.com and maintains his own blog as well.
Eugene’s advice to other men seeking to promote the men’s legwear trend: “Be patient. It takes time even for open-minded people to change their opinions.” He doesn’t advocate forcing things down people’s throat, but instead allowing people to gradually become acclimated to the idea of men’s hosiery.
With the launch of The Nylon Gene men’s legwear blogsite in March 2009, this writer placed himself among those whose names and faces are closely associated with the mantyhose phenomenon. Since then, more have followed suit—publicly identifying themselves with the growing men’s legwear trend.
Jesse Moore, for instance, was inspired by increased public awareness and relaxed attitudes, and created “Legwear Is Unisex” on Google’s Blogger. Jesse, a Virginia Beach service technician, who is married with four children, launched the blog in late 2009 to lend his voice to this new wave of advocacy, and continues to spread the word of hosiery’s legitimate benefits to men. He provides “reviews of pantyhose, from a man’s point of view” and has written articles such as, “Why Would a Man Want to Wear Pantyhose?”
What's Next?
In the past, reluctance to be identified with tights and sheer legwear served as a serious obstacle to ultimate adoption of men's legwear into mainstream sensibilities. Despite thousands of men wearing them, if each were afraid of being unfavorably labeled, and thus remained silent, men’s legwear would be doomed to oblivion in the long run. The emergence of a new candor about this seemingly innocuous garment, bodes well for all men who wear tights--whether for purely functional reasons or as a fashion statement. To be taken seriously, a cause needs to have people who aren’t afraid to publicly associate themselves with it and articulate the reasons favoring it.
It seems that candor and boldness is exactly what’s happening in more and more places all over.
Comments
Great Articles... I've never been to this site before, but I'm defiantly a subscriber now! Thanks for telling me about this site.
Great article Steve! You nailed it, and as we become more bold online I hope we become more bold out and about. 10 years ago I never would have revealed my hose wearing to anyone, today lots of my friends know... and no one treats me any differently either.
Great article! I'm a mid 30's guy who likes to wear sheer hosiery just for the look. I don't wear for practical/medical reasons, so when people ask me why I'm wearing hose I tell them, "I just like the way they look!"
Great article, as usual Steve. And a big bunch of kudos for the gentlemen that stepped up to the plate in their show of support (pun not intended). Way to go guys!
This is a very good article showing that ordinary men do wear legwear. I have had to wear for quite a few years because of leg problems. I only wish that I had known about the benifits of wearing long ago then I might not have had the problems that I now endure. I have also spread the word around about the benifits of wearing. If a person is really interested, I don't mind telling them about the benifits of wearing.
The stigma of a man wearing mantyhose/tights definately needs to be changed after all it is just clothing, men have all the aches and pains that women have and why should we suffer in silence.
Excellent article. Thanks to all who contributed. This trend of men's legwear is definitely moving in a positive direction! It's not your mother's pantyhose anymore!
Steve Katz
Granville, Ohio
www.comfilon.com
Glad to hear the article was well received. I'm considering one focusing on the women's perspective--as in the wives/girlfriends whose guys wear legwear. If you are one of these and wouldn't mind being interviewed, please feel free to contact me (see my Bio for email address). Thanks.
The article is to some extent preaching to the choir, and no doubt some will consider it the result of a subculture convincing itself this has really gone mainstream. A follow up on wives/girlfriends of wearers would be interesting, especially as to what changed their mind if they started out being hostile to the idea.
However, some sort of objective research on just how the public reacts when they see a man wearing tights is the only way to determine if this has actually gained acceptance at large, of which I would still be sceptical.
I saw my first man in tights recently, a cyclist with shorts and sheers, but I couldn't help wondering why he didn't simply wear long cycling tights, like everyone else! I'm afraid the pictures accompanying the article and seeing the cyclist only confirm to me it doesn't look right on a man, but then perhaps that's me!
"I saw my first man in tights recently, a cyclist with shorts and sheers, but I couldn't help wondering why he didn't simply wear long cycling tights, like everyone else! I'm afraid the pictures accompanying the article and seeing the cyclist only confirm to me it doesn't look right on a man, but then perhaps that's me!"
Just to clarify that Bankman used to wear pantyhose/tights and was part of this "choir". Since then he has decided to conform with senseless double standard gender stereotypes that society imposes on men.
If your tired of this choir go somewhere else...
Great article Steve, keep up the good work. Ignore the narrow minded manipulators pushing the fetish barrow, rock on!
John Joe "If your tired of this choir go somewhere else..."
Well up to a point, that's fair comment! But to clarify, I gave up wearing tights because I was overwhelmed by the fetish associations it has, in particular by those who most ardently claim they wear for practical reasons but with some thought you clear see this is not the whole truth. I'm not sure I'm a "narrow minded manipulator" in this regard, but decided to follow my conscience and leave all this behind. I haven't told others what they should or shouldn't do or wear, but I do sense some guilty consciences at work sometimes in those who do. I think it's fair to comment on that.
If you want to wear, just do it (!), and don't fill the internet with silly stories about it or attempts at justifying something that underneath you feel uneasy about. I might have carried on wearing but for seeing so much of this kind of stuff when thinking about the issue.
But you're right, there's more to life than nylon ....
Guys who wear sheer legwear openly seem to walk a tightrope between two types of criticism. On the one hand, there's criticism of the cyclist wearing them very non-chalantly while going about his business unconcerned about opinions of others. Yet, in comments eleswhere on this Examiner page, I see comments critical of those who seem to draw attention to themselves over wearing of sheer legwear or opaque tights. It seems that you just can't please everyone, eh?
Regarding comments about how much is written about men's legwear these days, I don't think that should be an indictment against it. The fact that men who wear legwear openly may be inviting criticism is pretty easily established, judging from the comments we see posted here and elsewhere. Therefore, providing rational discussion in support of those who decide to brave the 'barbs' of others is nothing more than providing advice & comfort until it finally approaches mainstream. After that there'll be nothing left to write about.
it just clothes......crawl out of your caves and join the rest of us in the 21st century....
i wear my pantyhose 24/7 and openly in public....
Um, how do you wash then? :-)
I don't get it - why have you told us that you wear and in public? It may well be the 21st century, but you still don't ever see pantyhose and tights for sale in stores except for women, and you never see them being worn in public except by women, and that is fairly rare these days.
Kerry: "10 years ago I never would have revealed my hose wearing to anyone, today lots of my friends know... and no one treats me any differently either."
They might not treat you any differently, but do you know what they think of you? Just because nothing may be said to those few who claim to wear pantyhose publically doesn't mean it has become accepted.
i wear tights all the time and have done for years tights or pantyhose are male items of clothing anyway look back in history we wore them first and should continue to do so freely and openly and i could not give a dam what people think come on guys wear them openly and with pride after all they are male garments anyway
I agree with Tony, look at pics of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. Would you call them weird or strange because their wearing tights ? I think not !! I wear pantyhose/tights all the time. Partly because they help my legs for pain releif, partly because they just plain feel damn good on my legs. I wear them openly with shorts and if anyone has a problem, which there hasn't been as of yet, they can tell me to my face or keep it to themselves. I don't give a rats ass who sees me or what they think !! I'm going to continue wearing what makes me feel and look good. Don't be shy guys...take back what was once ours !!!
"come on guys wear them openly and with pride after all they are male garments anyway". Since when do men need to be encouraged to wear men's clothing openly? A kind of tights were worn by men historically, but the sheers in this article are exclusively intended for women, something Tony actually admits by not worrying what people think. What they think of course is that this is a strange eccentricity, and even those who discuss this on tights forums admit at most 1% of men wear, mostly secretively. Far from gaining confidence, they are still generally scared stiff to be seen in public in such gear.
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