Summer Legs - Hosiery Choices?

Summer Legs - Hosiery Choices?

I wear skirts and dresses each morning I work in our family's retail store. I am also cold natured. Air conditioning does a real work on me; I leave the store each afternoon frozen solid.  I look forward to the 100 degree heat of the locked car. In years previous, I have gone bare legged so I could wear my summer sandals. Then I run the space heater at my desk so my legs aren't cold. I couldn't be a slave to my shoe choices any longer.  I'm cold! I'm tired of being cold! I decided to wear hosiery for spring and summer. 

1st Dilemma - All my sandals have open toes, 4 pair have toe rings, and 2 do not.  If all the sandals were just open toed, without toe rings, I'd commit the fashion faux pas of wearing sheer toed panty hose. As I did in this photo:

I was warned about this look by one of our faithful customers. She told me, "I was too cute to dress like that!" It was very sweet of her to offer me an honest assessment, as I was unaware I looked that bad.

2nd Dilemma - Skin toned footless tights are warm but really look funny because they are thick and footless.  I bought these at Walmart. I paid $6.00 a pair.  I felt it was expensive but I bought two pair anyway (wear one, wash one).

I thought I could pull these footless tights half way over my foot and they'd stay tucked into the sandal.  I was wrong.  The tights managed to work their way out of the sandal and up to my ankle (as it was designed) every time I wore them.  My naked foot and the thicker tight now wrinkled up like an elephant's ankle wan't attractive.  I'll save these for fall to be tucked into my boots.  

Stray thought:  Would ladies choose to wear these footless nude tights as pants?   Oh what a scary, scary thought.  I digress. Onto my 3rd dilemma.

3rd Dilemma - Toe-less pantyhose look nice with some of my sandals but not all.  I was a bit concerned about the cost and how long these stockings would last.  I purchased them at JCPenny's for 3 for $27.00.  These are very sheer.  They look beautiful on the legs and are not too hot when I am outside. The weather is regularly in the 90's now. The footless tights were warmer in the air conditioning but the toe-less stockings keep me from getting chilled.  As I said before, not all shoes look good with these stockings, but the contrast is not as severe in daily life as it appears in the photos. As my grandmother's would say, "On a galloping horse, no on will notice." 

I'm not really sure why the patent shoes are so . . . much less attractive with the toe-less stockings.  But, they are. Sorry, patent sandals I will not be wearing you with my dresses.  As to longevity, I put the first pair on Tuesday, May 31st. I threw them away on June 10th. I wore that pair 10 times.  I put a thumb nail hole through the thigh on Day 1.  These have run stop technology and they didn't run any further. Impressive. I threw them out because I wore a hole in the right heel, a rather large hole.  (To be honest, I didn't throw them out. I put them in with my gardening supplies.  Pantyhose are great material for tying up plants.)  I do hope this next pair lasts longer. At nearly $1.00 per day, I'm not sure this is wise.  My mother says, "It is painful to be beautiful."  Perhaps she meant our wallets would feel the pain too. 

**Wear ability update - 2nd pair of toe-less stocking lasted from June 10-25th.  During this time, I wore them 14 times. The cost effectiveness of this pair $.79 better than the last pair.  I was able to keep from putting my thumb through these. This pair's demise was the buckle on my white sandals that wore a substantial hole in the ankle.  

Do you prefer other leg wear options for summer?  Do you have an interesting solution to this fashion dilemma?  I'd love to share in your response.