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Update: We still think this is an interesting discussion of pantyhose and dresscodes — but you may also want to check out our more recent Guide to Pantyhose for Work or our discussion of how to wear pantyhose in summer.
Do any workplaces exist that still require pantyhose to be worn year-round in the summertime? Reader K wonders.
I love your site, but I need to call b.s. on something. Whenever the annual “should I wear pantyhose to the office” question comes up, invariably there are a few comments that go something like “my friend's friend's firm requires them even in the summer.”
I mean this is 2013, right? I have never actually met someone in real life who this is true about. I think it's just anonymous urban legend.
Now, I am not talking about going to court in front of a judge. That's totally possible. And I'm not talking about something that's written into a dress code where the culture is that no one actually follows it. What I'm talking about is a bona fide, enforced pantyhose requirement in the office, year-round including in the summer.
Here's the challenge: can you seriously name even one law or accounting or financial firm that enforces pantyhose in the office, even in the summer?
We've talked about when to wear pantyhose, how to wear pantyhose, and what color of pantyhose is best, but Reader K's question is interesting: does any dresscode actually require it? (Pictured: Spanx's ‘All the Way' Sheer Support Pantyhose has 32 mostly positive reviews on Nordstrom (where the Anniversary Sale is coming soon, FYI)…)
I actually have heard of places that require pantyhose, albeit not in a few years — even worse, it's often required even beneath pants. (Dunh dunh dunh.) Some professions (flight attendants, for example) have to wear hose as part of their uniform, as well.
Obviously, pantyhose continues to be a huge industry, so someone's wearing it really regularly. (Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, is one of the youngest self-made billionaires, and her early pitches to companies were all about how full-leg Spanx looked great beneath pants!) Also, Evil HR Lady (via US News) tackled whether your boss can legally require you to wear pantyhose.
So, ladies, let's hear from you — is anyone willing to name an office that does require pantyhose at all times? Do any of you wear pantyhose daily (or work with women who do), whether it's required or not — or is pantyhose really just a Big Event (interview, first day, court, big meeting) kind of thing these days?
Psst: if you're looking for body makeup, these are some of our favorites as of 2022…
Christi
H&R Block all all it’s subsidiaries require pantyhose and closed toe shoes year round as part of their dress code.
Christi
H&R Block AND all it’s subsidiaries require pantyhose and closed toe shoes year round as part of their dress code.
Laura Beth
I was required (and it was enforced) to wear hose for the past two years while I was graduate assistant teaching public speaking while I earned my Masters Degree. I had to wear them to all formal/business functions, and anytime I was teaching in the classroom. It was a stipulation for all female faculty and staff at the college I attended. They prided themselves in teaching us to be professional. The students actually had to wear them to all classes (and ties with collared shirts for men) until about 4 years ago. All ladies are still required to wear skirts for classes.
Jennifer
I think you can get away with no tights if you have a spray tan
julias
It’s not required where I work, but I like wearing skirt suits and dresses, and cannot for the life of me figure out how to wear heels and not kill my feet without wearing stockings. Bare leg wearers – how do your feet survive?
Rory C.
I’m a little late to the party on this, and this isn’t the level of of campany that the reader is referring to, but when I was working for a southern retail book chain they absolutely required pantyhose if you wore a skirt instead of pants. This was, perhaps five years ago? Shorts were an absolute no, and business capris toed the line. The pantyhose rule was strictly enforced in MY region, but not all regions. It depended on the regional management and general managers.
Now I work for a high rise with a vastly different dress code and I’m much happier. Considerably less suffering is involved when D.C. summers roll around
Anne Marie
Pantyhose is made from polyester, and that gets VERY HOT on the crotch area, specially on plus size women. If you’re not getting hot in it, you’re the lucky one. I don’t wear polyester in my clothes, why should I be forced in tights? Sheer garments are silly to enforce, they’re not covering much for modest issues.
I’m not a regular poster here (first time), but have been reading for a few months. I’ve worked in Law but not anymore. I live in a “tropical hot country” and haven’t seen people wearing sheer pantyhose, or talking about it. The only tights I see are the dark opaque ones in mild/nippy weather or those thicker flesh colored older women like to wear (in whatever profession/retired).
Pickles
I wear it with every skirt or dress. Voluntarily. I’m 31. It just looks more professional to me – legs are smoothed out and sleeker.
Tami
Frankly, I am tired of the bare leg look. Bare legs with a professional suit, skirt, or dress is tacky and lazy. Where I work (financial advisory firm in California) men wear suits and ties while women wear nylons whenever we are in skirts or dresses. I think our clients enjoy the professional look as we are always complimented on our appearance. Seriously, we ALL look better in nylons. It’s time to bring style and elegance back. As for comfort, try Donna Karan the Nudes! A bit pricey but so comfortable and sheer. As an added bonus, my boyfriend goes wild when I wear nylons. He says men miss the feminine look–I think he may be right!
GinaMarie
I work for HeadStart, we are required to wear hosiery from September to June, including knee highs with slacks. During summer dress code, the hosiery rule is suspended from July first to the beginning of October.
Kate
In the 80s, I worked in several London offices, and was almost always required to wear a skirt and tights. Trousers were specifically forbidden. One of the reasons I started working from home was that I didn’t like dressing this way. But I don’t think there are many companies which still have this kind of dress code.
Kate
I meant 90s, not 80s.
Jaycee J.
well, My situation is quite unique, I am transgender, i transitioned well before i started my job (aviation tech writer) so this being i have worked hard and had 5 surgeries , in other word, i pass and honestly no one even has an idea that i am trans, i pass perfectly and i am not bragging. After transitioning at my last job, similar to this one , i was handed a dress code booklet , and sent to a one day class on the female dress code, and this is something they require, interesting enough, the men at that job had just a one page dress code slip. Not only were they required to wear tights (pantyhose stockings, etc) but had a rule with skirts, dresses that they had to be above the knee , so required short skirts or dresses. I also worked for a company for a short time between that job and the one i have now. The had uniforms, short skirts, 3 piece top ( which remarkably strange) said you had to wear 2 pieces of this top at all times. Also i have seen 4 people get written up and reprimanded for not wearing pantyhose.
SS
I am transgendered, too and love wearing pantyhose at work, along with my majority female coworkers. Wearign hose is a sign of embracng one’s feminimity, in apparel comfort, in an increasingly uncomfortable, macho masculine world of workplaces
Becky
I haven’t been required to wear pantyhose to work in over seventeen years. So I haven’t worn pantyhose in over seventeen years, and I love it! I hate pantyhose and wear my heels, or pretty much all my shoes, barefoot everyday, both at work and home.
I work in a law office now where pretty much all the women, both attorneys and staff, never wear pantyhose. In fact, many of the women on staff, like me, will wear flats without socks or pantyhose, pretty much every day. Perfectly fine.
Back seventeen years ago I just worked part time at a hospital where they technically required all employees to wear socks or hose and close toed shoes. I hate socks, so being a teenager back then, I just never wore socks. I had a male supervisor comment to me once that he’d noticed me constantly wearing my shoes without socks or pantyhose, and that was not company policy. I told him that I didnt think it applied to people working in the records department, only people who were health care providers. Then I foolishly, jokingly asked him if his wife knew about him staring at intern girls feet and that was the last I heard of it….little did I know then that he’d actually been named in a sexual harassment lawsuit, so my thoughtless joke pretty much accidentally iced the pantyhose requirement!
Since then, I just never even asked about a pantyhose requirement in a dresscode. I just wore my heels without pantyhose and never asked and it hadn’t come up much since. Some offices had more women wearing hose than others, but much less so in the past decade Id say.
Anonymous
Military. Every branch. Females wearing semi formal and formal uniforms have to wear pantyhose. Unless you’re in your physical training uniform, it is not an option, but MANDATORY to wear them!
cjag
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Mandy
I have been wearing pantyhose and tights for over 40 years. Any professional woman would agree that coming up to a woman who is dressed up with a skirt and dress with a pair of stockings is more likely to get another look or get attention always. It is more complete wearing hosiery with an outfit I have worked many different jobs currently at a salon and I wear hosiery everyday. there are so many types to choose from and the support for your legs benifits them in a long run in many ways. Yes it is a womans choice you may complain but they are not that bad and feel great all the time and make you look good .
Lynn
I have to wear pantyhose at work, even in the summertime. It is a written rule into the employee handbook. And it is absolutely enforced.
SS
I am lucky! I am transgendered and work for a female-owned legal entity; we all get to wear super comfy pantyhose if desired and get along very well, and am along to embrace my feminimity. Hopefully, this wear-what you want will be mnore tolerated in time, and be part of the corporate workplace of the future
Gina
July 1, 2014, Sterling Heights, MI. Mid-sized Law Firm, approximately 25 attorneys, only one female, with approximately 40 support staff, only 2-3 male. Panty hose, Monday through Thursday are REQUIRED if ANY LENGTH of skirt is worn; on “Business Casual Fridays”, no hose are required if skirts are calf-length or below. It was 82 degrees with at least 80% humidity at 7:30 a.m. today!
We’d like to have our all male Board members wear hose for just an afternoon, like today, and see if this requirement should continue to be enforced.
Lindsey
I work for Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida and I am required everyday to wear pantyhose. I work a job outside a major resort in 95 degree temperature in full pantyhose. Today I had a run in my pantyhose and opted to go bare legs instead. I was promptly spoken to by my management team who is not required to wear pantyhose. A manager in bare legs lectured me on how it was bad show to have bare legs and against company policy. Welcome to WDW.
Jeanna
For those of us that are 50+, this whole pantyhose thing is just like the no-bra thing in the 70s and early 80s. Sure, no one really likes to wear a bra, but going to work without a bra (or pantyhose) is A)not professional B)too lurid for those of us who work in scientific and technical industries –i.e. mostly around men all day. And, if you do a survey of men, you’ll find that men prefer that women wear pantyhose (and a bra) in a professional setting. One man I know equates a woman not wearing pantyhose to work to a man not wearing socks. I’m sorry, but I just don’t care how great your legs are, not wearing pantyhose (with the exception of the dead heat of the summer) is sloppy. This whole thing started with the rollout of those horrid super cheap pantyhose in the 1990s. There’s a big difference between actual silk (or close enough) pantyhose and nearly opaque nurse-like pantyhose–which I agree are just as gross as bare legs at the office. So ladies, man-up (-: and dress like the smart, professional, polished women that you are!!
MiamiAttorney
I am a litigator in Miami and am in court pretty much weekly. From what I’ve seen, almost nobody wears pantyhose anywhere – to court, to the office, to depos, to interviews, etc. However, Miami is also a less conservative/less formal place as well as really hot so I’m not sure this would ring true in the rest of the country. I’m interested to hear how this would be viewed in Chicago or Milwaukee.
Chris
I work for a powerful and rich woman as her administrative assistant and she requires pantyhose year round even in the summer (of course she comes in wearing capris and sandals unless she has an important client meeting). She believes that wearing pantyhose is important because it reminds me to not only to be professional at all times but also that she is the boss. She obviously doesn’t do it everyday but spot checks from time to time and I have to pull up my pant leg to my knee to prove they aren’t just knee highs. It’s not ideal, but I make a good salary and a modest bonus and the work is not very hard. I should note that yes I am a male.
Teri
Good grief girls! Don’t your offices have air conditioning? How can you complain that it too hot to wear pantyhose when you work in climate controlled buildings year round? I buy a good quality hose and feel comfy wearing anything.
erica
IT’S 2015 and Mayo Clinic requires hose year round….