A Transsistah's Secret -Pantyhose

Whatever side you come down on in the Great Pantyhose Debate,  (or tights as they call them in the UK) for trans fashionistas they are a necessary evil. 

Personally I like them, I'm comfortable and and down with wearing them and I'm in the old school camp of an outfit isn't complete without them.    They not only improve the look of your legs and make the men all pause if you have the legs for it, but can be a major ally in terms of pre-op/non-op passability by keeping your neoclit from popping out at a very inopportune time. 
 
But for those of you just beginning your transition journey into femininity and the wonderful world of hosiery, your biggest questions are what's the difference between control top, sheer to waist, opaque, sheer toe or reinforced toe pantyhose and what size do I get.?  

Well, I can definitely help you there.   I worked at a Macy's in Da Ville for five years in the jewelry and watch section.   It had a hosiery section attached to it at the time in which I worked with a wonderful lady named Dorothy Fow until the department was downsized three years into my time there and moved to the lingerie area on the second floor.  

She taught me a lot about what I know,  in addition to me putting my lips in neutral long enough to listen to her talk to other customers and help them select the perfect pair for that fashion forward event or Derby party..
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So you might say I know a little something something about hosiery.

Anyway, let's begin Pantyhose 101 shall we?

The first order of business it take a look at the back of the package and check out the sizing chart.  Every brand, including the store brands you'll pick up at your local CVS or Walgreen's has them and they are unique to each brand or style of hose, even within the same hosiery manufacturing family. 

Some brands will also print height and weight ranges to help guide you in the selection process as well
Hanes is the largest manufacturer of pantyhose followed by Berkshire, so I'll borrow the Hanes sizing chart to give you an example.
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One column of the chart will have your height, the other side your weight.    Be honest about your weight when you are at this stage because if they are too tight, you'll know it because you'll increase the likelihood they'll run when you put them on.    

If you're one of those petite size girls  in a certain weight range they tend to be in the AB size ranges on most charts.  Taller girls up to six feet tend to be in the CD ranges, and the petite to average height girls who are heavier the EF range.

I could get away with wearing Hanes CD's in some styles, but in order to reduce my chances.of runs, I learned very quickly that for us supersized and supermodel sized girls, the queen sized hose are our friends.

Then there's the difference between control top, sheer to waist,  sheer toe, reinforced toe, ultra sheer, opaque, French cut panty or increasingly,  footless ones.   They leave your toes open when you wear open toed sandals but cover your foot and leg.

Control top is just what it says, it's nylon reinforced down to your thighs to help mold and shape you in a bit.    If you tend to wear shorter dresses and skirts, you wan to opt for the sheer to waist styles in order to avoid that reinforced panty zone line from showing if your skirt rides up.   It also tends to have a shimmer to it as well and they come in reinforced toe or sheer toe styles.    

Sheer to waist is exactly what it means, sheer from your toe all the way up to the waist.

French cut panty are the blend of a sheer to waist or reinforced to pantyhose, but the panty area has a bikini style panty in the crotch area so you can wear them with shorter dresses and skirts.


Ultra sheers are barely there nude range color or black hose you get when you want to show off legs but just have a hint of a hose.   Opaque hose do the opposite.  

For you Brits, if you ask for tights here, this is the image that pops into your American cousins minds.   They refer to opaque style hose we wear in the fall and winter that help keep legs warm and look good doing so.    They come in a wide array of  colors and patterns   They can also be whimsical in nature like a younger woman I spotted one day while out and about wearing some with smiley faces on them.   

While I like the HUE tights because they have them for us supermodel sized girls, they are $8.50 to $12.00 a pair.  But you know the frugal Taurean in me found a brand that works just as well for gar less cash out of my pocket     I get my HUE's on sale and for everyday wear grab my drugstore brand..

Tights are a fall-winter fashion thing for when you have those occasions where a pantsuit won't do, you have to wear a skirted dress suit, you want to wear a leather skirt or sweater outfit or put some pop into your presentation by adding a dash of color.

As for avoiding the dreaded runs and getting more mileage and wear out of your hosiery, wash them on a regular basis in the sink with a hosiery wash.  Sometimes I'll do a dishwashing liquid, and let them air dry in the bathroom.   I also wait until the last moment possible to put them on before I put on the rest of my clothes and head out the door to minimize any snags, 

And do those pedicures on a regular basis.   They not only reduce stress, help with your femme presentation and give you a confidence boost, they help you prvent pantyhose runs as well

The pedicure eliminates those jagged toenails or cracked heels that can cause friction or microscopic tears that will become runs later. .


If you have a reinforced toe, it helps.  But in a sheer toe or ultra sheer style hose a microscopic tear that a jagged toenail or rough heels cause as you slide them on can develop into a run later. .

As for colors, it depends on your skin tone and what looks best with ir and that's a trial and error thing.    For my chocolate trans sisters, can't go wrong with black hose on our legs.    Browns or nudes are a little more problematic in that you have to have the right style of brown for your skin tone. to get that nude look.    .

It's also not necessary to get the high end hose all the time.   The drugstore brand are made by the major manufacturers quiet as it's kept     

But I do like how Hanes and Berkshires look on my legs and the feel of them, so I just either buy them in bulk or catch them on sale and keep a nice stockpile of them. 


So there you are peeps.  Everythang you needed to know about hosiery that I can tell you. 

Happy hosiery shopping, people..    

Trans Fashionista

Time to reveal some secrets about the TransGriot for those of you new to my blog.  

I love shoes, wearing and perfecting my makeup, have a wig collection that rivals Living Single's Regine Hunter's, some of my intimate apparel comes from Victoria's Secret, and I love  fashionable clothes.

Since I also spend time speaking to various groups about Trans 101 issues, I do pay attention to how I look and my femme presentation

I have several catalogs that come to the house in addition to perusing fashion websites and the malls for clothing that not only looks good on my supermodel sized frame, but works with the fashion forward professional image I strive to project to the world.

Since I grew up as a TK and was mom's chauffeur to many of the malls in town, I learned how and where to get fashion forward clothes on a budget.

Since I moved back I discovered that many of those places closed and I'm having to relearn where the new places to shop are.  The good news for me and other Houstonians is that the Harwin St district is still alive and well.

On that note, time for me get ready to hit he road.   The malls are open.  

Meet Lea T, Another Out Trans Model

Trans models aren't unique to the fashion world. Ask Caroline Cossey, Lauren Foster, Teri Toye, Jenny Hiloudaki and Tracy Africa Norman.

Tracy was doing her modeling thang back in the 70's but wasn't getting the news coverage as a trans pioneer.

Isis King has the looks and potential to get to that level if she's only given the opportunity to walk on New York runways. But even cis African American women have trouble cracking the vanilla ranks of the runways, and I'm willing to bet that next month's fashion shows in New York and elsewhere will see disproportionate numbers of Eastern European glamazons on the catwalks.

Now comes word that Givenchy has a trans model in their fall campaign and the media is all over it.

But Brazilian model Lea is just part of a long line of glamorous trans women who have been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right moment in time.

28 year old Lea happens to be the personal assistant for Givenchy's creative director Riccardo Tisci, and modeled at Givenchy's haute couture show.

Requests for her shot through the roof and she's about to get her opportunity at becoming a trailblazer. She'll have the choice of either making it to supermodel status like fellow Brazilian Gisele Bundchen or not because she's studying veterinary medicine in Milan.

Whatever Lea decides, her opportunity to do so will come under the unblinking eyes of media scrutiny.

Black Models Aren't Loved By The Fashion Industry In ANY Economy

TransGriot Note: I and blogs such as Womanist Musings and Jezebel have talked about the fact that Black models have literally been whitewashed off the fashion runways and off the covers of many fashion magazines over the last few years.

"I think fashion is five steps behind real America, real Canada. There's been way more progress in personal and interpersonal relationships between the races than there has in fashion. Fashion is stuck in 1955, and I don't know what it's going to take to get them to move forward."

Stylist Mann from 'The Colour of Beauty' documentary.

Maybe a few discrimination lawsuits and a congressional investigation?

Jezebel has been tracking the lack of diversity of New York fashion shows for several years, so it didn't surprise me a bit when their report on the Spring 2010 shows came out and revealed the New York shows were less diverse than the last time Jezebel conducted the survey.

That's a nice segue into this Elizabeth St. Phillip film entitled 'The Colour Of Beauty' that highlights the point that Black models aren't loved by the Fashion Industry in ANY economy.



It's past time for us to stop spending money on designer labels if the designers not only aren't going to use our sisters to work their shows, but come up with weak ass racist excuses to justify it.

EBONY Fashion Fair Fall 2009 Season Cancelled

The EBONY Fashion Fair for fifty years has been an iconic slice of African-American culture. It was responsible for opening the eyes of the fashion industry to the fact that Black people not only like high fashion clothes, we have money to spend on it and Black women look good in them.

In addition, the EBONY Fashion Fair laid the groundwork for African descended people to consider and have careers in the fashion industry in addition to showcasing the work of Black designers.

The show also paved the way for Black people to enter modeling and other professions. A 15 year old Pat Cleveland strutted down the EBONY Fashion Fair runways before she moved up to the runways of Paris and supermodel status. Richard Roundtree was also an alum along with newscaster Sue Simmons and Janet Langhart Cohen.

So it was with shock and sadness that I heard the news that the Fall 2009 edition of the EBONY Fashion Fair will not take place.

"In light of the overall economic challenges that are affecting many, including our potential corporate sponsors, we have arrived at a most difficult decision to cancel Ebony Fashion Fair's fall 2009 season," Johnson Publishing Co. Chief Executive Officer Linda Johnson Rice said in a statement. "In the coming months, we will develop a new business model to ensure that the show is a mutually beneficial endeavor."

The EBONY Fashion Fair in addition to being a much anticipated event is one that also acts a a primary fund raising activity for sororities, churches and other civil groups. It is estimated that over the life of the show, it has raised an estimated $55 million in support of local charities.

It's also acted as a rite of passage activity for many African descended mothers and daughters, and a fun family night out activity as well.

Here's hoping that whatever fiscal problems prevented Johnson Publishing Company from putting on this fall's show are quickly rectified.

We need the EBONY Fashion Fair to bounce back, bigger, better and badder than ever.