Walk the Line...

by Rosanna Carlucci
His eyes are like steel, looking me up and down like he just won the lottery and I was a shiny red Cadillac. As the elevator door closes a warm flush comes over me. His stare is enough to make ice melt. He remains silent, but his eyes tell me he likes what he sees. The further we fall the closer he feels, and the harder it is to breathe. I finally look to meet his stare but he beats me to it and before I can take my next breath, he has me pinned against the wall. We kiss. His lips feel like a million roses in bloom. My heart swells and my knees falter, he catches me and pulls me closer. He runs his fingers up against the back of my leg, following the seam in my stocking like a pirate looking for treasure. We kiss for what seems like forever, until the doors finally open and the cool air from the lobby invades our space and lulls the fire…

There is nothing quite as alluring than a pair of seamed stockings. Something about that seam, that line running up the back of a woman’s leg leading up to…well… I am too much of a lady to go there, but you get the drift.  Who could have known that a simple little line, first introduced shortly after the Second World War, could cause so much trouble?

Back then; the seam was merely that, a seam that was created by cutting the fabric of the stocking and sewing it together at the back, known as “full-fashioning”. It also functioned as visual proof that a woman was in fact wearing stockings under her increasingly higher hemline.

Today, seamed stockings are available in many colours and styles.  With the perfect pencil skirt or a full-skirted day dress, they add instant glamour. Purveyors of the world’s most sumptuous lingerie, Agent Provocateur have recreated this classic in their extensive hosiery collection. While for us vintage enthusiasts, Courage My Love in Kensington market carries a beautiful selection of actual vintage stockings from the forties and fifties that are sure to turn heads.

*Trivia: Some women who couldn’t afford stockings would actually draw the line up the back of their leg with an eyebrow pencil so as to appear as though they were wearing hosiery.  (Can you imagine the prep time in the morning?)

Courage My Love, 14 Kensington Ave.

Agent Provocateur hosiery available at www.agentprovocateur.com (will ship to Canada)