If you are more comfy wearing hose, no matter the reason, then do so. I don't bow to the fashion ins and outs. I know a fabulous business gal who is truly a wonderful dresser but she always wears hose due to some scarring she has.

lenam - I saw leg warmers in stores this last fall. I just about fainted. I had them in about a dozen colors, including the rainbow stripes, back in the 80s... they were about the only thing that got me to school wearing a skirt during the winter, since I lived in Maine and NH and from fourth grade on walked a minimum of a mile each way (high school was two miles), short of wearing sweatpants under your skirt like a lot of girls did. harriethomeowner - hey, I wore knee-highs under MY wedding dress! Durn thing was practically body armor (the bodice literally stood up by itself and the floor-length skirt and petticoat made something like six layers of fabric) and was hotter than Hades even in October. (It was borrowed, and beggars can't be choosers. The original owner wore it in July - I think I would have died of heat prostration!) I figured I wasn't going to be doing the can-can, so what the heck, I wasn't going to roast in full pantyhose. Not to mention it was tough enough to go to the bathroom in that pile of meringue, but wriggling back into pantyhose while keeping a handmade silk gown out of the toilet? Not gonna happen. Thigh-highs are a NO WAY for me - since I'm plump I get the "burst sausage" effect at the top, way nasty. So knee-highs it was. Didn't wear a bra either - didn't need it with that bodice! My grandmother was horrified. "Almost every single dress for a woman is some sleeveless or strappy or bare thing." Sorry, but I say "Piffle" on that. I don't wear sleeveless/strappy/bare things to "nice" occasions for the most part because some people find my tattoos offensive, but I have several dresses in my closet with sleeves ranging from mid-bicep to wrist-length, not counting dressy blouse-and-skirt or sweater-and-skirt - including short-sleeved lightweight sweaters for summer - combinations, jacket dresses, and a skirted suit that I basically only wear to funerals. :-) (I'd probably have more if I had reason to wear them, if we go shopping DH loves to go all Carson Kressly on me and always tries to put me in dresses.) Coldwater Creek is usually my go-to place for dressy stuff - while they have sleeveless dresses, they also typically have plenty with sleeves. I absolutely covet this dress, but I can't afford it, I'm not sure the 16 would fit, and have nowhere to wear it anyway. Last time I had to shop for a dress for a wedding (last summer) I ended up at Fashion Bug which is where I usually go for things I'm not going to wear much because it's generally very inexpensive, where there were plenty of dresses with sleeves - short sleeves (mid-bicep), yes, but it was also August. Since the wedding was outdoors and expected to go well into the evening, I picked up an openwork lacy sweater to wear with it when it got chilly and the bugs came out. Goes great over a fancy tank top and skirt. The Chadwicks catalog has cute things that don't cost the earth, while if you have a lot more to spend Talbots has some special occasion dresses that are pretty drop-dead. IMO jacket dresses are very attractive if they fit well and are in a nice fabric, and there are usually very pretty ones out there. Penneys has a pretty good selection. That's just scratching the surface.

Jaynay, back in the 60/70s soft sculpture dolls were a craft item, I don't know if there is a pattern out there for those made with pantyhose, but I bet the library has some books on the subject, if I remember they were Ok, but tee shirt fabric worked better, google the words soft sculpture dolls, must be lots of sites out there, rene

Styles today suggest no hose, just a pedicure. If your feet will be seen, make them look great. The idea of the footless hose sounds good, but I can't help but visualize my grannie dancing and her skirt shifting to show her rolled down knee highs. Not, of course saying that you are even remotely resembling my grannie, or that you would wear knee highs rolled down, but think of candid pictures. If wearing the footless hose, how far down do they come? If dancing energetically or not even, just a swirl of skirts, would the end point show? But, the idea of gentle support while on your feet, well, that does sound tempting. Susan