L’eggs, Tragically Not a Pantyhose Anymore
While I no longer wear L’eggs, due to my preference for other brands, it does hold a special corner of my soul in its nostalgic pantyhose fetish value. I can remember fondly the very first pair of pantyhose I ever bought, with my hard earned allowance, buying that Sheer Energy egg in an off black color. Then slipping into them without the slightest worry that my mom would notice a pair missing from her drawer.
Nowadays, I’m too much of a nylon snob to find my legs covered in, what I would say, glorified toilet paper. OK, maybe a little harsh but I hope to God to not ever be caught dead in these again. Yet, like an old flame from back when (booted to the curb), I wanted to see what my old love long forgotten is up to these days. You know, check out the L’eggs website and see what’s new.
Then I noticed somewhat quite peculiar as I went through nearly all the pages in it.
“Pantyhose” does not appear a single time in the whole damn thing. Not once!
Alright, I get it. It just isn’t fashionable these days to use the word pantyhose in anything you want to sell without conjuring up an image of your grandmother wearing them with the sag from her crotch reaching down to her knees. It needs to take a queue from Europe, where they are all the fashion. They have sexier names like collant (French), medias (Spanish) or strumpfhosen (German).
Yet L’eggs decides to come up with their own word to replace it… “sheers.” I guess you can say they’ve turned hipster.
Now, I can totally understand that L’eggs made the word change, I’m assuming, to target the younger audience of, you know, pantyhose fetishists, crossdressers and general perverts. Since regular pantyhose is truly getting a bad rap these days by the younger generation not wishing to imbibe their legs in hot sweaty silky nylon, perhaps opting for the more traditional “sock” seems to fulfill the fetish.
Yet, when I hear the word sheers, my thoughts shift to, oh, something so light and transparent like whispers of rose pollen sprinkled over my legs like some sort of fairy dust. Come to think of it, I kind of like the new modern noun, sheers, for a pantyhose-like thing. Maybe I’ll start a trend of being the new hipster crossdresser and rekindle my love of L’eggs.
Well, ain’t gonna happen despite the cute new name. Though I may try and bring back the thigh-high tube sock with colored stripe rings. Those with a bit of the olden negligee would make me the ultra-hipster crossdresser, I can just see it now. So jump on the bandwagon early.
Anyway, I find it ironic that the use of “sheers” as pantyhose is in stark contrast to the L’eggs sister brand, Hanes. In the Hanes website, pantyhose is used everywhere instead of the ultra-modern-hipster “sheers” label. How can that be?
My only guess is to actually check out that label on the pantyhose your grandma is wearing. Odds are it says Hanes I’ll bet you. I guess then there may, after all, be a market for the rest of us pantyhose perverts who like their crotches sagging down to the knees. Count me in, too, when I get to that age.
I think the thing that made the L’eggs brand so iconic was that they were the first pantyhose brand to take full advantage of mass marketing, not only in print adds but also television commercials. As a young fetishist I loved those adds, and they certainly worked on me as L’eggs were what I always bought and wore in those days. Then came the dark days when pantyhose wearing by women became almost as much of a taboo as pantyhose wearing by men. While we may not care if women wear pantyhose as long as we can still wear them, we can’t escape the fact that the industry is driven and sustained by sales to women. Mantyhose not withstanding, the fewer women who wear them, the fewer choices of brands and styles will be available for us. Just when I thought that pantyhose were making a bit of a comeback with women, I suffered a setback today. Today is Easter Sunday, one of the few times that women will get “dressed up” to go to church. I always look forward to this, but today, even though the temperature was in the low 60’s, I would say that 85% of the women in dresses and skirts had bare legs! Maybe it’s time for some more mass marketing!
Lisa
I can definitely remember those “nothing beats a great pair of L’eggs” commercials which I’m sure was an influence in my purchases long ago. I think now those bare-legged ladies need to be introduced to those “sheers” now, however, to get that movement back. Or someone needs to make them cool again. Thanks Lisa T!
I agree with lisa t Easter is one of my fav but this year once again very few women in pantyhose many 6 out of the 100 or that attended . Butt I did get lucky when an older young lady sat next to me dressed in an above knee dress ,black sheer pantyhose and a pair of sexy black sling back pumps . I had a hard time standing up after that !!!
If only I could have been there…
I’ve been chatting with some other pantyhose lovers who all seemed to be wearing and enjoying L’eggs Sheer energy. Now I haven’t worn those in years having given up on them because their largest size, queen, were a bit small for me and that coupled with their extreme level of support made them less than completely comfortable. I guess I was overcome with a sense of nostalgia and decided to give them a try again. I went to the local drug store and found the now small display of pantyhose and discovered that L’eggs now offers the Sheer energy in queen+ size and in several different styles. I chose the queen+ suntan, sheer panty, sheer toe, medium support leg style. When I went to try them on I really didn’t have high expectations but I have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised! They fit really well, were quite soft, had a reasonable amount of shine, and were very comfortable! I’ve now worn them several times and they seem to be very durable. And all for $5.65 a pair! They’re not in the same league as Wolfords, but I would honestly say that they compare favorably with some of the other European brands. It is kind of strange and funny that they don’t call them pantyhose anywhere on the package! Whatever they want to call them, they’re definitely nice enough to have a place in my pantyhose wearing “rotation”
Lisa
@LisaT Oh the memories you brought back!
Sheer Energy happened to be the first pair of pantyhose I had ever purchased on my own (when I was ten or eleven) and I remember them feeding the fetish into my adolescent years. Oh, how I’d love to try a pair right now in the off black color!
Are they still in the “egg” container?
X Sheery
Hi Sheery, The egg package is long gone (it probably cost as much or more to make than the pantyhose). Now they come in a small box with a little window to see the color. I actually bought a couple more pairs and have worn the first pair probably a dozen times with washing, and they’re still doing fine. Who would have thought? You probably can’t get them at the local drug store where you are, but you just might want to order a pair online. They’re definitely worth more than just a trip down memory lane!
Lisa