Oops. Anyway... Germans have this fascination with pantyhose, and I'm going to tell you allll about it. After I prove that I did, in fact, get dressed today. [Sometimes I have to document it, because let's be real - I spend 95% of my time in sweats.]
shirt: Primark belt: thrifted pants: alloy shoes: target
Please ignore the fact that I'm wearing my favorite skinny jeans yet again. I didn't say I got dressed in something different; I just said that I got dressed.
Anyway. On to the main subject of this post, which is kind of a weird one - PANTYHOSE.
I curse the things. In fact, I have only worn them maybe twice in my lifetime. My legs are ridiculously long, and I've never been able to find a pair that actually fits - instead they just sit a few inches below my crotch, and I walk around like a penguin, praying that they don't randomly fall down. If I don't have someone holding a gun to my head telling me to wear them - chances are high that those puppies don't go anywhere near my legs, no matter how pale or hairy they may be.
The Germans, however, well... they're a little different. I noticed it when I was here a few years ago - all the women were wearing pantyhose all the time, even with jeans! I thought, "hmmm, must just be a phase." Fast forward 2.5 years and I'm back again, and the pantyhose wearing continues. Every day, with every outfit. Forget scarves, necklaces, belts, and earrings - in Germany, pantyhose are the main accessory. In fact, just the other day I was wearing this outfit, and a woman looked at me in complete shock and said, "Where are your pantyhose?" [Guys, I'm not kidding - I can't make this up.]
I just smiled and said, "I didn't wear any."
I'm sure this came as an utter and total surprise to her. She didn't wear any?! Where is this American girl's decency? Doesn't she know that we wear pantyhose with everything?! Shorts, skirts, jeans, leggings - heck, even sweats [if they wore sweats, which they don't]. These people love their pantyhose. Give me back my athletic socks and tennies, because this pantyhose thing? That's just one part of the German culture that I will never be able to adapt to.
29 comments:
Whatttttt. I HATE pantyhose. I wont do it. I wont.
You are teaching me so much before I get there :) And I thank you for that :) lol
I am exactly the same way! I would just rather go without (unless it is incredibly freezing).
And lace, though adorable, just doesn't protect against harsh New England winds.
Have a lovely day!
I am too far from perfect neither in one of these languages, English and German and thats probably why I concluded that pantyhose was a German word (because ´hose´ means pants in German and Germans literally love creating new words by sticking a few of them together) and so I thought it was some kind of pants. Then I read it they wore it with jeans and I was like wait, its weird.
Now, that I know that you have been talking about tights, I want to say that I have never noticed that. Well, I am Czech and I have been wearing those pantyhoses every day every winter when I was a child but now a days I barely wear them... but I know a few people (actually all of them are my teachers) that wear them on daily basis.. and I do not really find it strange, everyone has his own taste in clothes.. PLUS you can wear a skirt and do not have to shave your legs, haha
hahaha that's too funny! My family doesn't have a drop of German blood in us but, my grandmother wears pantyhose under her dress pants. I always make fun of her a little bit.
I've never worn pantyhose as an adult. The last time I wore them was for a play in middle school. The darn things are so thin and flimsy they NEVER stay up. Even the super suck-you-in ones don't after awhile. For some reason, tights are okay though. Still don't feel great on my tummy, but at least they stay up. And they're usually long enough.
Pantyhose with jeans? That's new to me...but I usually always wear them with skirts or shorts. My mother once told me that a lady always wears pantyhose and I guess I want to be a lady. Haha.
ugh!! OMG!!!!!!! i hate pantyhose! growing up in florida there was never a reason .. .even though my mom wore them every day but again i just figured that was one of those things that when i became an adult, id just do it ... like drinking coffee or reading the newspaper (more things that never happened!!!)
EWWWW! Pantyhose are the devil!!
number two reason i couldn't live there (the first was the food of course, haha).
i loved your description of waddling around like a penguin... totally get that.
Girrrl, I totally understand about the penguin effect of tights. I'm 5'10" and nothing fits an athletic 5'10" woman. If I ever buy any they're too big and I end up rolling down the tops. Bummer.
P.S. LOVE your shoes in the last picture. Where did you get them?
I wore tights with jeans....only because I was cold after church. It's a weird feeling. I could totally not do that. I feel like tights are totally different than pantyhose, and I only wear tights when it's freezing....or I don't shave. Which is pretty much all winter.
So true. And it's the same in the Czech Republic... I guess with the exception of Susanne above. You saw people there wearing them all the time. My personal favorite is when the pantyhose are a COMPLETELY different color than the actual skin tone of the person. Earlier today I was walking behind a woman wearing ones that were very very tan, and she was very very pale. Not a good look.
I don't remember Germans wearing pantyhose--well, I know in the winter they did, but it was freezing. But in general I didn't notice this trend. Then again, when I worked with Germans our uniforms involved wearing shorts and working at a pool, so that would have been double-weird if they'd worn pantyhose! haha
I hate those things. I will never wear them!
Thats....so ....weird! Is this true for all of Europe? I didn't notice it in Italy but that doesn't mean they weren't doing it. And I really like your favorite skinny jeans and I think you can wear then 5 out of 7 days a week. -Christie
I loathe pantyhose. Always have. I had to wear dark ones when I was a state FFA officer... ALL THE TIME. HATED it! Your hair looks cute in that little side braid thing you gots going on... :)
Weirdos!!!! Who actually wears pantyhose WILLINGLY? If I absolutely HAVE to wear them, I get the kind that stop at the top of my thigh. I can NOT handle the ones that have a crotch to them. Now that I think of it, I don't really like the word crotch either...
pantyhose under jeans!?!? very...interesting.
you are hilarious girl. and don't worry, i wear sweats 95% of the time too ;)
xo TJ
Oh god... I hate pantyhose. I think I've worn it all about twice and both times I stuck my finger right through it. Tights... those I'm cool with because they're thicker and slightly more durable. But pantyhose? No way!
I feel like there was a time when they were much more required in an American lady's wardrobe though. I remember being about sixteen or seventeen and running around in a skirt and one of my mother's friends who was in her 60s was absolutely aghast that I wasn't wearing pantyhose and then my mom told her, "No one wears that anymore!"
Ugh I HATE pantyhose. I somehow always end up getting snags in my pairs after only wearing them one or two times. My mom lived in Germany in the 80s and said that everyone was wearing pantyhose during then too...so I guess it's just a trend that refuses to die? lol
Love your outfit though! :)
Careful with the "Weirdo" comments there....
I am German and I might feel a tad bit offended, because if you'd ask me, I'd say that pantyhose are not more of a thing in Germany than there are over here in the US.
MAYBE for the older generation, but that's it.
Also, I don't know anyone who wears pantyhose under jeans, in fact, those might just be pantyhose-socks or whatever you would call them.... so you don't have to go barefoot in your pumps/flats.
Holy - pantyhose under jeans?! How in any way is that comfortable? I don't think I could ever adapt to that either...
Pantyhose are weird. Whether you are German, American, French, Italian, Japanese or Nigerian and you rock your pantyhose everyday, you're a weirdo. There, I said it :P
This outfit is so cute!
I finally found a brand of pantyhose I really like a lot and I wouldn't notice wearing them under jeans, but...wouldn't you sweat?
That is kind of strange! Are they all freezing to death and trying to stay warm?! Ugh I can't imagine wearing pantyhose with jeans?!?! It's giving me a headache just thinking about it! hahaha :)
I hate pantyhose. I have the opposite problem as you, there's too much pantyhose and not enough leg. The top part practically works as a push up bra while I have to try to store all the extra leg-part on my thighs, and if they're really too big then they slide down and give me a wrinkly ankle effect. Not to mention it makes my once-snug-shoes now too big, and my feet slide down and out of the open toes.
Alyx this is so cute! loving the shoes!!!
xo
Missy
http://www.popofstyle.com
Just discovered your blog and am so glad I did! I move to Germany this summer so I'll enjoy hearing the perspective of another transplant! I don't know anyone there so it'll be great to pick up things from you! I'm your newest follower!
I just started my blog last month. Would love for you to check it out and follow back if you like it!
xx
Kecia
http://www.couturezooblog.com/
*lol* What?! We DON'T always wear "Feinstrumphosen"! At least, I don't know people who do... How weird you experienced something like that. Was that in a season Germans consider to be "cold as hell"? I have no other explanation. I hate pantyhose, too.
this intrigues me greatly, I now want to visit Germany more than I did before =)
Post a Comment