Tights for tanning… what?

OK, we’re in the midst of winter, a time when our skin is gradually getting more pale with less sun exposure.  Do you visit a tanning salon?  Do you take a tropical vacation and get a deep tan in that short time?  Do you use an artificial tanning product?  Or, do you just cover up with opaque tights and wait for spring?

Women are often quite preoccupied with tanning in the warmer months. On average, I see far more women baking in the sun for a tan than guys do.  Even in this day and age, when we’ve come to learn so much about skin melanoma and how dangerous the sun’s rays are, people still love to bask in the rays of the sun with minimal clothing.  Apparently, malignant melanoma is Britain’s second most common cancer in 15 to 34-year-olds, responsible for 2,000 deaths in England and Wales every year.  Thankfully there is high SPF (Sun Protection Factor) lotion available, where you can more adequately control how much sun exposure you get.  And while sales of sunblock lotion has been increasing, the sales of artificial tanning products has also been on the rise.

Poll: How do your tights typically wear out?

This is the first poll I’ve tried on my blog.  Now that there’s decent traffic going pretty regularly, I thought perhaps my readers might enjoy participating in a poll.  Here goes!

In the poll below, please choose the top 3 reasons for your tights wearing out.  I think I’ve pretty much covered the bulk of them, but I’ve also added an “other” selection.  Please comment if you select that, as I’d like to hear about other ways… and that is, ways only rated “G” (for general audience)!  🙂

As a follow-up, you can visit an article I published about how to make your tights last, HERE.

Review: Comfort4Men Luxury 60 Den tights

Have you heard of Comfort4Men (or C4M)?  It’s a hosiery company based just outside of Nuremberg (Nuernberg) Germany that makes anatomically correct tights for men.  It was started by a woman of great determination, and I think her story is best told by her:

“I worked in the fashion industry for many years and was always surprised that fashion and health care products such as support tights were only ever made for women. Support stockings and support tights would also help men to get through the day more comfortably if they have to sit or stand for long periods of time.

My story begins with a relative who suffered a serious thrombosis. From this point on he needed to wear medical compression tights. As no difference in fit was made between women and men, they were very uncomfortable to wear, particularly in the genital region. Up to this point in time, no-one apparently had troubled to find a solution for this problem. This was the basis for my idea.

Tights are ‘unisex’. Although in the world of fashion women have ‘taken over’ tights, they were originally exclusively men’s clothing. Today there is no reason why a man should not wear tights. Through their simplified production method and the way they are cut, modern tights are specially adapted to the female anatomy. So it is understandable that a man may have difficulties with the fit of support tights. For as the name says, support tights “support”, providing a compressed fit. For a woman, this effect in the panty part of the tights is often even desirable.  But for a man, it can be quite uncomfortable.

Our soon to be patented solution now also enables men to utilize the health and aesthetic advantages of tights without having to forgo comfort. With today’s technology there is no longer anything unaesthetic or even unpleasant about the support effect! It has nothing more to do with the earlier ‘Granny look’. Try it for yourself and you will see it and feel it, I assure you. That is what I have determined, and that is also Comfort4Men’s motto.”

— Angelika Weiss

C4M produces an impressive line of tights specifically for men.  There are 3 main style choices:  support, luxury, and opaque.  Within each style, there are several choices of color, denier, high/low brief, gusset color, fly option, and size.  The result is approximately 60 variations, for just one style!  The founder of C4M has taken a very thorough approach to the art of creating tights for men.

The Lycra Spandex factor

Just as people are aware of the electronics brand named “Apple”, so are most people familiar with the material called Lycra (spandex).  Lycra was invented by Dupont as a stretchable synthetic fiber, made by a more complex technique than nylon.  The most common brand neutral references to the material is spandex or elastane.  While similar to nylon, it is much more stretchable.  However, it is not as durable as nylon.  A garment made completely of spandex would be prone to tears and have difficulty keeping form.  This is why spandex is frequently blended with nylon, so that you get the benefits of both materials.  I should point out that spandex is made in four different ways, and each method may result in some characteristic differences.

The percentage of spandex versus nylon results in different benefits and drawbacks that are important to be aware of when buying hosiery.

Featured model: Guinevere Van Seenus

Day after day, thousands of fashion models adorn the pages of magazines, websites, and the canvases of billboards.  What appears before us is a collaboration of model, clothing designer, fashion stylist, director, producer, and photographer.  The result can be just your everyday display of clothing, or a flaunt of daring haute couture that strains the seams of social tolerance.

Some fashion photo shoots go the extremes of edginess, and for some reason certain models get picked for this.  Maybe it’s their facial features, their personality, or a combination thereof.  But some seem to attract this kind of fashion display on a regular basis, in between the usual modeling.  They are well within the norm one moment, but in the next they barely resemble what we’ve known them to be.  Sometimes it’s scary, mind boggling, or even horrific.  One such model I recently discovered who frequently appears in edgy fashion shoots is Guinevere Van Seenus.  Well, even the name sounds unusual, like some strange character from the realm of Harry Potter.

(Yes, this is a picture of the same person, made up to extreme differences)

Upcoming review: Comfort4Men Luxury 60 Den tights

I just took delivery of some tights from Comfort4Men, a hosiery business out of Germany that specializes in hosiery and undergarments for men.  They have their own special line of tights for men that have an innovative fly design for easy access.  Keep an eye out for an upcoming review in several days.  🙂

UPDATE:  The review is now available, HERE.

Picture of the Day

These photos are from an Alberta Ferretti photo shoot in 2007.  Alberta is an Italian fashion designer who produced her first collection in 1973.  Ferretti is known for her designs featuring twisting, tucking, and draping techniques.  To learn more about her, visit the Wikipedia entry.

“Double your pleasure, double your fun.”

“Well, shouldn’t we get going?”  “I don’t know.  Let’s just sit a while.”  “OK.”

Featured retailer: Shapings

Shapings.com is an on-line business that started out in 1995 as a physical store located in Ontario Canada, founded by Nicole Safko.  They added Internet sales to their business in the fall of 2000.  Shapings sells a wide variety of shapewear, bras (store only), girdles, panties, fine hosiery, and corsets.  They have become one of the worlds largest retailers of fine European pantyhose, stockings and fashion hosiery, with 99% of all items in stock ready to be shipped to customers all around the globe.

I had an opportunity to interview with Robert Safko, the director of Shapings.com.  Here’s what he had to say:

Emilio Cavallini 40% off winter sale

*** UPDATE ***
This was apparently a limited time sale and ended January 31st.  Sorry.

I happened to notice that Emilio Cavallini is having a super 40% off winter sale on their website, although I have no idea how long it will last (probably as long as inventory lasts).  This includes a number of clothing styles, as well as tights from their Winter/Fall 2011/2012, and Unisex collections.  Their exchange rate looks seriously favorable for the USA, as the prices shown in USD are just about the same as GBP (hopefully this isn’t a mistake and the price will carry over to check-out).  I’m not sure if USD prices shown include VAT, so they could be even cheaper for non-EU customers.  And if you spend over 100 EUD, you get free shipping (in Europe).  However, shipping is relatively high for the USA ($25 for up to $300, but free over $300), so you’d be best to buy at least several items.   Anyway, they have a fabulous array of patterned tights, as well as basic unisex styles.  Just one drawback I’ve found: their “M/L” is the largest size, tapping out at 5’11” and 176lbs.  So for someone like me, I have to pass on this one.

Review: Donna Karan Perfect Opaque / Signature Luxury 0B259

I recently reviewed a pair of DKNY Super Opaque control top tights and found them to be very acceptable for the price.  This was a pleasant discovery, as in the past I had found the plain opaque DKNY tights to be less generous in sizing.  I then decided to have a look at the Donna Karan line and noticed several styles that appealed to me.  They have a “Luxe Layer” version that is micro fleece lined and results in a very deep and uniform opaque appearance.  But unfortunately the sizing offers only two choices, the larger being M/L, reduced by 30lbs in maximum weight from Donna Karan’s Tall size.

Donna Karan seems to experiment a lot style naming, resulting in a little confusion about what their product names really mean.  I’ve noticed “Perfect Opaque”, “Signature Luxury”, “Signature Lux 90”, and “Sueded Jersey”, all looking to be about the same in terms of description.  I decided on the “Perfect Opaque”, after being able to feel the material first hand at the Bloomingdale’s flagship store.  This has a 90 denier material, heavier than the Sueded Jersey style that is described as 70 denier.  They aren’t control top, but there is mention of the brief offering light support.