Evil Crocs I Rebuke Thee

Someone brought a pair of Crocs into my house. I must cleanse my system by posting photos of beautiful shoes and imagining that these are the only shoes a grown woman would ever considering wearing. It is the only thing that will cure me of my shuddering, though it is an extreme measure.

Time for Boots?

Oh, Christian Louboutin, you can deny it all you like, but I have proof now you're in league with Sergio Rossi to take all my money. Why else would you have designed the ultimate, most-gorgeous-ever black, suede over-the-knee boot, then retailed it for $1,995? People may think you did this to thicken your wallet, but deep inside you know you did it to make the young girls cry with unfulfilled shoe lust.

One thing that's terrific about these boots, in particular, beside the blinding general awesomeness is that they would make a great boot for women with a larger than 14" calf (which seems to be about the average shaft circumference for a knee or OTK boot).

Sigh, this is going to be a long Autumn. I can tell. Bank robbery is a Federal crime, right?

Ribbon Socks, Ballet Flats and Heels

My friend, Nick Danger, who writes the very wonderful blog, Fool for Your Stockings, has "issues" with ballet flats and I've been promising him for a while I'd post a photo with a pair. Earlier, I told him I'd definitely post one today and, since it's 11:31 on the East Coast, I'm posting this photo of a pair with lacy socks to keep my word. There are more photos coming tonight, but I wanted to keep my promise.

(Edited to add a few more shots and will write more in the morning about these socks and how they have rendered my former evil schemes to make my own ribbon socks moot.)

Sexiest Boots on Earth?

Are these black thigh boots the sexiest boots on Earth? I'll let you decide, but I think they're a strong contender. I know I'm getting a melty feeling in my upper thighs just looking at them and that I'm considering that career in bank robbery again. The stiletto heel is exquisite, and the way the toe tapers just accentuates the spike. These boots also fit the model perfectly, which is part of what makes them so hot. There's no bunching at the back of the heel, or gapping at the top of the thigh. Perfect tailoring is sexy, no matter the garment.

I had to crop this photo because the rest of it included a completely nude Russian chick with a smoking bod and a machine gun. I can't publish the image on this blog, but I can say the words, "nude Russian," so I AM.



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Red and White Stripes on Grass

Greta-stripes on grass, originally uploaded by Greta et Donato.

Some photos just make me feel happy, like this one of red and white striped tights inside a pair of cute black Mary Janes against some gorgeous green grass. Greta and Donato's photostream is well worth heading over to Flickr to check out, though it's something to view at home rather than work. There are some stunning, incredibly sensuous images and Greta is a really beautiful woman. They are both terrific photographers, as well.

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New High Heels - 4" Stilettos

No time to set things up properly tonight; for some reason I couldn't shoot in focus while I was standing, so I'll need to set up the tripod, but I shot some pantyhose crossed legs photos in my my new black high heels, since they arrived today and I love them! Thank you to everyone who sent me a vote at Twitter and helped me pick. The balloting went overwhelmingly in favor of this pair, though there were many from which to choose, so I guess you guys were on to something. More photos to come, but I wanted to share something today.

Shopping at Victoria's Secret

I've been fighting a rotten cold all week and something has also been wreaking havoc with my sleep, so it seems I've been doing many things in slow motion for the last few days. On Tuesday I solicited help from Twitter in choosing a pair of shoes from Victoria's Secret and got back a lot of very helpful messages. The overwhelming winner was this pair of ankle strap high heels in black.
Though I was eyeing another pair of black patent stiletto pumps, I decided that I had to go with the results of the voting and that these were probably a bit too similar to the other black patent stilettos I already own (and have worn in some of the photos I've posted here). If I had all the shoe money in the world, though, I would definitely want these, too. I like the asymmetrical strap a lot. Shiny shoes are good.

While I was shopping I also saw this fascinating retro-looking boy-undies inspired bra and garter panties set. The garters aren't that practical, given that there are only four, but it's an interesting-looking set. I like boy shorts, generally and these takes the "boy" part of the concept a little further.
I dig the repetition of the triangle across the front and then with the double garter strap. Alas, this set did not make it into my shopping bag. Victoria's Secret doesn't believe that breasts larger than a DD cup exist, period, (so I can't ever buy bras from them), and they also offer many of their bras only in the smaller size ranges, on top of that. This bra only goes up to a 36C, so, if you're a 38 or 40 of any kind, Victoria's Secret doesn't want your money. The panties come in S, M, L and are $28.

I'm very excited to get my new shoes and to take some photos in them. I bought some fleur de lis hose recently that will look great, I hope. Thanks to everyone at Twitter that weighed in. It was fun to have some assistant shoppers.

How I Became a Stocking Vixen

I always wore skirts much more than my friends growing up, mostly with knee socks in elementary school, then with various shades of pantyhose and tights when I was in high school. Not because of any fetish that I was aware of, I just gravitated that way, partially because my waist is a lot smaller than my hips and it used to be much harder to find pants that fit properly. I did always like finding interesting hose and I owned a lot of it and I did like looking at my legs a lot. I can remember lying on the couch in my rec room with my legs and feet up in the air just looking at them and thinking, "Are they pretty? I think they might be, but can I know?" in a very typical girl-becoming-a woman, kind of way. I have no idea if there was something latent in there. I suspect there must have been because of how crazy the Hosiery Monster went once I let her out of the cage.

I have always thought other female legs were gorgeous. When I was pretty young, I can remember reading an article in People magazine about three different women who each claimed she was the model for the For Your Eyes Only movie poster, and I saved that magazine for years and can remember scrutinizing it fairly often, partially because one of the women said that she had been studying her legs since she was five years old and knew every curve and had no doubt they had used her legs in the final poster (they hadn't).

I do know when the switch flipped in my head though and hosiery and shoes became truly very tingly-charged for me. I was in a Designer Shoe Warehouse, of all places, buying boots and an incredibly good-looking couple was one aisle over from me and the man was kneeling at the woman's feet helping her try on different styles of black knee boots and I could tell he was desperate for her to buy these boots. She was wearing jeans, but the leg was rolled up and she had on a pair of very dark, dense lace black hose (couldn't tell what type) and the poor guy was putting her boots on and very incredibly slowly zipping up the boots while cupping her calf and it was obviously all he could do not to lick his way up her leg. The tension in the air was incredible.

Her calf was very slender and they were trying on boot after boot because they were all too big and he ran around the store, almost in a panic, because he really wanted her to leave with some boots and she was visibly losing patience for the whole endeavor. It was obviously "his thing" and she didn't get it (except I do give her props for wearing hose under her jeans). I just sat on my little shoe-trying-on bench with one foot halfway in the Franco Sarto boot I was going to buy and tried not to stare too hard or climb over the shoes and ask if he'd put boots on me, too.

For some reason, I left there not fixated on boots so much, as really focused on hosiery. Maybe it's because the boots weren't working out for her, but she was already wearing the hosiery, I don't know, but after that I started rabidly collecting photographs of hosiery I found online and buying piles of it in stores, then garter belts, then shopping online because I wasn't satisfied with what I could find in brick-and-mortar stores. It was at the point that I realized I was spending hours every single day looking at photos of hosiery or trying on hosiery or plotting my next hosiery purchase, that I thought it might be a very good idea to start this blog. Especially since I enjoyed the thinking and looking and wearing I was doing so much.

So, that's how I became so obsessed with hosiery. I think hosiery is an endlessly fascinating subject and, recently, my focus has turned towards stockings and thigh highs more than anything else, possibly because they are slightly more novel to me, I'm not certain. They definitely feel sexy, so I don't really need to dissect it too much. I'm just very busy enjoying myself and obviously a good stocking tease is something that really turns my crank. Crank turning is a good thing in my book.

Fishnet Peace Offering

Since I was so naughty and didn't blog much at all the last few days, here's a photo of me in fishnet pantyhose and t-strap shoes from my personal archives. I think I took this last October or so. It's my peace offering to the wonderful people who read Stocking Vixen. Thank you and I'll be back tomorrow.

My Favorite Red Mary Janes

I love two things a lot, a pretty Mary Jane shoe and a great bargain, and these red Guess Borda Mary Janes ended up being both of those things. The heel is 4.5" but, because of the 1" platform, they are surprisingly comfortable and easy to walk in. This is coming from someone who once tripped while standing completely still outside a Baskin-Robbins, so you can trust me on this. I am coordination-challenged, generally, and try to keep my that in mind when buying shoes, but these were so pretty I didn't care if I had to ride around in a mobility scooter while I wore them, especially since I had managed to find them at close to 50% off.

These shoes are a great example of comparison shopping online. At the time I bought them, they were being sold online from between $58.95 to $116, depending on the store. Today, I can find them from $75 at Amazon.com to $115 at Dillards.com. That's quite a difference in price! I wish I had actually realized what a great deal I was getting in December, because I would have bought them in black, too.

Long Socks to the Rescue

My furnace has decided to start acting up, probably the pilot light, and since it is locked down tighter than Ft. Knox and the troubleshooting tips we followed didn't get it to start heating again (the blower is working, but there is no heat) I am going to have to have our furnace guy come and look at it, which is terrifying because he thinks he is part of the family and stays for hours and says "literally," every two minutes, only he pronounces it "litch-rully". The furnace is brand-new, less than a year old, so I'm not concerned that it's anything too major causing the issue, but it's still a pain. We have space heaters from when the old furnace kicked the bucket, but it's brisk in the parts of the house without them, so I have turned to my trusty Long Cuffable Scrunchable Socks from Sock Dreams to help keep me warm. I like these socks, although they're not a front-line sock for me, mostly because there's so much bulk to them, but today they are a life-saver.

Of course, when I go to the dentist today, I am going to be all about the nude thigh high nylon stockings with some ivory swiss dot fishnets over the top and my brown patent Mary Janes. My legs would be sad if they were boring while they were on display when I was upside down in the dentist's chair.