Pantyhose Unisex Fashion

 

Wolford Markets Men's Pantyhose (Click for original press release)

Pantyhose Could Be Next Style Trend for Leggy Boys

By Paul Majendie, April 28, 1998

LONDON - Watch out Superman. Tights for men could be the new fashion statement of the Nineties.

A British hosiery firm is launching a new range of hosiery for men who feel comfortable enough about their masculinity to stride around in clinging tights like Shakespearean heroes or Regency bucks.

But women warn the tights could make the "New Man" wearers hot and sweaty for all the wrong reasons and men fear their sperm count could fall.

"We have had lots of calls at our head office in Austria and via the Internet expressing interest in men's tights," said the Wolford company spokeswoman Daniella Mayer.

But she concedes that the firm may face an uphill battle convincing the notoriously reserved British man to drop his guard and take to tights.

"I don't believe it is going to be the smash hit of the year 2000 and that all the men are going to wear tights," she conceded.

"But perhaps guys will discover them. Things change. Maybe it will become the cool thing to do, you never know," she added.

The deluxe new tights are to retail for 30 pounds ($50) a pair. They come in black or brown. They are a mix of cotton and velvet.

Wolford believes the tights would be ideal for men who work outdoors on building sites or playing sports.

In the interests of sartorial research, the Evening Standard newspaper put reporter Tom Sykes in a pair for the day and even got him to pose coyly in his clinging new apparel.

Sykes was not amused. "After a few hours, my legs were slicked with sweat, exacerbated by the fear of what my colleagues would make of me if they discovered what I was wearing underneath my trousers," he said.

He also warned: "The male sperm count is in free fall and all men know how to ensure the survival of as much of their seed as possible: wear boxer shorts and allow the testes to swing freely in the cool, fresh air."

This is not the first time that hosiery firms have tried to get men to concentrate not on peeling off their partner's tights but putting on a pair themselves.

In 1973, the distinctly macho figure of welterweight boxer John Stracey was chosen to launch a men's tights campaign. He posed for publicity shots in his tights beside a bare-breasted blonde model.

That campaign floundered and on Tuesday The Daily Mail predicted this one could too.

Fashion writer Lina Das offered male readers some blunt advice: "If there are some men who think tight-wearing might be a wheeze, here is my advice: there's only one place for ladders in your life, boys, and that's with you up them, not wearing them."