Excerpt from Renaissance Moon
Previously published in Poems Niederngasse
Annette Marie Hyder

The men
all wore feathers in their caps
or tucked behind one ear
to trail, in their long hair
that twisted and curled
like revelers' footsteps.

Their doublets
winked with gems
flirted with pearls —
like a coquette's dimpled
smile — beckoned to be touched
on their velvet softness.

Such male peacockian panoply
dazzled my eye
held my breath
as firmly as those tights
on toned and well turned legs
hugged along each length.


Mantyhose

I will admit to having a great fondness for the sight of a man in a kilt. And I can admire well clad legs housed in hosiery — from afar — looking back in time to fashions long gone, or looking inward with imagination. But I wonder if I would really appreciate, in my own life and intimate acquaintance, a man in pantyhose.

And yet, there is a move afoot, a fashion trending, for that very item of apparel: mantyhose.


Image Creative Commons License
of e-MANcipate.net


e-MANcipate is a site devoted to all things mantyhose. There are lots of pics, where to buy info, instructions for how to put them on (for the neophyte nylon user,) a bookstore and more. Practical considerations for manyhose when it comes to sports and cold weather dressing aside, this site really focuses on the fashion aspect and hails the self-expressive freedom of men in tights.

It would be an attention getter for sure; the guy wearing them would of necessity have a good dose of self-confidence.

What do you think? Fashion statement? Paean to freedom? Or another way for plumage to be spread in the ever changing kaleidoscope of mating ritual? Maybe all of the above.


Links of interest:
Horrors of Fashion: Mantyhose
Meggings
Elizabethan Era Fashion