Comments on: Ask The Fashion Police: open toed shoes with hose

By: CanadaBlonde

CanadaBlonde — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:55:20 +0000

Well, I’m not the least bit surprised to read the posts by John and David.
In the spring and summer, I often wear dresses and skirts and specifically minis at that. I always wear heeled sandals with my dresses. I never wear closed-toe pumps with them because I like to look pretty and girly; especially when I wear one of my floral, tiered minis.
I do wear pantyhose as well and I know I’ve caught unnumbered men leering at my legs and sandals. I know the sight of me wearing tan pantyhose with white sandals and with a very short dress gets me noticed at the bus stop.

By: Howard Blankenship

Howard Blankenship — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:59:56 +0000

Like another reader, I grew up in the 80s, back when women wore hose. I can’t stand this bare leg trend, or this thing with opaque hose and open toe shoes. Would I date a woman that went w/o hose? Wouldn’t last very long. I am a libra, I like balance. women spend all this time on their hair and make-up, yet wont take 5min to put on a pair of hose. Its that finishing touch to an outfit. Yes, open toe shoes are fine with shear, sandlefoot hose, as long as the shoes are darker than the hose. I have as much respect for bare legs as I do automatic transmissions. Hate them both!! The later was the worst thing ever invented. Going w/o hose is just being lazy(like driving a car with an automatic trans).

By: Ada

Ada — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:13:51 +0000

Yes! It seems I can never find shoes without peep toes (might be because I am in Mexico where is friking hot and humid all the time) but still, I can´t wear heels without thights (have to walk a lot feet hurt), so finding shoes that fit your description would be nice.

By: Maeve

Maeve — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:56:21 +0000

Personally I wish more shoes were made with closed toes. I never wear strappy or sandal-like high heels. Firstly I find feet tend to look unattractive in them especially if you are standing for a long time. The straps start to dig into your feet, and blood tends to pool in the veins and make them stand out. I think closed toe and closed heel shoes look far better and they are also more comfortable (the closed heel particularly supports the ankle and prevents the shoe from flopping around on the foot and slapping when you walk) so you can get away with a higher heel.

By: David

David — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:04:44 +0000

hose and expose toes anytime, please, we guys love it!!!! The seam, the reinforced-toe, the transparency, the colors overlapping, the sense of intimacy, the scent, the peek, the sharing a hidden homely detail, we love it exactly because it is prohibited!!!! Real women love nylons with open shoes

By: Diandra

Diandra — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:29:19 +0000

I agree with you!
sheer = bad
opaque = good!
I think the picture looks pretty good, for instance.

By: john

john — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:32:03 +0000

tan or nude nylons with open sandals is the
most attractive look of all with us men. I
don’t know who started this about it being
“tacky”. We think bare feet generally look
tacky, common, coarse and un-ladylike. nylons
are always acceptable, brown is the best color
and we don’t care if it matches skin tone.
Even a seam or reinforced toe can be very
sexy because it is so uniquely feminine. solids
and opaques are much less pretty but better
than bare. My first wife listened to the fashion gurus. My permanent wife cares what I
like the most. Women always look better in hose.

By: Mireille

Mireille — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:31:39 +0000

Are seamed hose coming back in style? I love the sexy look of hose with a seam. I would imagine it would be for festive occasions?

By: bianca

bianca — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:12:36 +0000

I think it is defintely tacky.

By: James

James — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:54:19 +0000

Ok first understand that I do not mind if women wear bare legs despite my listing some of the downsides. What I don’t like is that *all* women *always* wear bare legs and never hose even when it makes their legs look better because they don’t think they can do this with open toed shoes. I’m a guy who likes nice legs and can appreciate a coordinated professional look on a woman.
General barely on topic rant:
Like all fashion trends this is based on what we know. In the 90s bare legs (and corporate casual) became all the rage. And many young women who grew up then will always prefer that. I grew up in the 80s and a former girlfriend I know still loves shoulder pads. She just thinks they are great. I’m not trying to pull rank based on age but those who grew up in the 90s not only saw a rejection of hose but they saw a rejection of professional dress. The hose were just one part of that general rejection. Offices that used to be full of men and women dressed in suits are now full of portly men in kakis and short sleeve plaid shirts, and women, well, in all sorts of things. So certainly if a woman has on some sort of suit any sort of suit it will seem plenty professional. If a guy has a collar and sleeves longer than his elbow he is “dressed up.” Or so the children from the 90s think. I’m not trying to make this into a generation war. Instead I’m saying just please try to understand that certain things are sometimes trends that really have little to do with true aesthetics. From the 80s we had all sorts of things we thought were cool. In the 90s a generalization can be made that there was a rejection of professional looks.
Ok now on to the specific question: Can women wear hose with open toed shoes?
The answer was no if you are living in America in the late 90s. But it is yes if you want to look professional. Women couldn’t wear flatter hair in the 80s but in later decades it is recognized as fine if there hair isn’t so high. In the late 90s women couldn’t wear hose with open toed shoes but now if you want to look professional and coordinate its fine.
One objection that you often hear is that open toed shoes only purpose is to show your pedicure. Well no. That’s sort of like saying the only purpose to wearing footwear other than boots is to show off that tattoo on your ankle. Or the only reason to wear a sleeveless dress is to show off how well shaved your armpits are. Yes if you have fungus and dirt on your toes and hair in your armpits then don’t wear open toed shoes and sleeveless dresses until you wash and shave. But there are other reasons for these styles of clothes.
Why do they make open toed shoes? Because it is a shoe style. That’s all there is to it. Some shoe styles are sling backs showing the heel some shoes show more of the instep or side of the foot. Sandals and peep toe show toes. It’s simply the style of the shoe. It’s not all about the pedicure. Believe it or not, it also has to do with how well it coordinates.
That’s a key to professional dress – coordination. Often when I see someone complain about hose and open toed shoes they will show a picture of the foot and the foot alone. They do *not* show how the footwear and the overall look goes even up to the knee of the leg!
When a woman wears a skirt hose help her foot and toes *match* the color of her legs. This uniformity of look is a key to looking coordinated. This is why toeless hose are ridiculous. People can see that that “does not look right” and of course it doesn’t hose makes you look uniform and coordinated but when the toes are different it defeats this purpose. Bare skin is blotchy, some is better than others but generally it’s never as uniform as legs in hose.
So when you’re wearing a skirt, hose are good not only because your legs look better but also because any part of your foot (toes heels instep) that is exposed will better match your legs and give you a more coordinated look.
What about if you have pants on? Well the same thing goes. Even though you won’t have an exact match between your legs and exposed part of your foot you should coordinate. What does that mean? It means if your pants have a fabric that you should wear hose or socks with then wear them, if they don’t you don’t have to wear them. For example if you have professional wool pants wear hose. If you have casual cotton pants you don’t have to and probably shouldn’t wear hose. If a man wears a wool suit and no socks just his dress shoes how does that look? Well women are doing that now and people who are old enough to see how much that clashes cringe.
It’s a shame to see women avoid something that makes their whole leg and outfit look more uniform and professional because they are so myopically focused in on a seam in the toes. Zoom out a bit and look at your whole outfit. You’ll see that hose can pull everything together and yes even the toe area from open toed shoes will coordinate.