garter belt

– I read the article on suspender/garter belts and how to avoid stockings from coming down during the day. However simply by wearing longer stockings does not necessarily cure this problem. I have a narrow elastic belt with 4 garters that clip at the back (and I clip them VERY tightly) . It is the belt itself that works itself down during the course of the day. Even if my stockings reach the top of the thighs, they will still be a couple of inches lower later in the day. Any other solutions?

– Well, it could be that you have the tension pulled so tightly on the garters as to begin the process of having the belt begin to pull. I have learned that garters don’t need to be pulled all that tight, in order for the stockings to stay up. This is opposed to an open bottom girdle, which needs the tension to keep the girdle from creeping up…

I also found that when I was wearing one of those flimsy lacy garterbelts the pull of the stockings was too much for them. Since I have switched to a pull-on style belt made of Lycra and cotton, no more problem.

And one mention about the stockings themselves: I wear the old-style RHTs with virtually no give. They still tend to ride down a little bit over the course of the day. When I am visiting the rest room I give them a little smoothing to pull and excess which may have made it’s way down to my shoe. (This is one reason why I undo my stockings when I am answering the call. Perfect time to take care of this! )

– The top of the belt i.e. the body, should be non-stretch and preferably more cotton then synthetics. It should be sitting comfortably over the hip and once in place, there should be no real need to adjust it. The straps have to be long enough to reach to wherever you find it comfortable to attach the stockings.

I normally take a little extra care when putting on the stockings in order to ensure that everything lines up, the attachments feel correct and that nothing moves or pulls around.

Remember it is the straps that hold the stockings in position, and they do not necessarily have to apply huge amounts of upward pull.

If this happens then it means that the stockings are too short, and more then likely will be uncomfortable and will require constant tugging and pulling.

– You have too much tension on the suspenders. There should be some slack so they keep up when you stand and the stockings then won’t pull the belt down when you bend or sit down. Even if you have a flimsy narrow elastic belt, this should work. If you are at work, the next time you are on the toilet, take time to adjust the suspenders while you are sitting – you will be able to feel the tension at the back. Make sure you wear the belt above your waist. Having said that, stockings WILL come down somewhat during the day so adjust them in private moments.

– The best solution is a wide, pull on garterbelt with the rear garters well to the back.

They are very comfortable, stay in place, and garter the stockings tautly. Unlike some other responses, I prefer good tension on my garters. I love the gentle leg massage that comes with every step when the stockings are fastened tautly.

– I have worn open bottomed girdles on and off for many years. They always stay up and certainly don’t work their way down plus they do a wonderful job of shaping. If you haven’t had experience of them before, here are some things to look out for which may cause you problems:

1. If your skirt is tight-ish, open bottomed girdles produce an unsightly girdle line. Always wear loose skirts.
2. The only way to go to the bathroom is to roll the girdle down. If you are even slightly sweaty, this is quite difficult. Many women decide not to wear underwear for this reason.
3. All girdles make you very hot especially when the weather is warm. In the summer I really only wear them to formal occasions indoors where there is air conditioning.

– Not everyone wears stockings and garters for sheer sexual reasons. I started at age 10. I had bad yeast infections and still do six years later. I still wear hose but enjoy them for many of the reasons a lot people here would agree with… My collection of garterbelts varies form sexy to cotton everyday ones. I have also found it is cheaper to wear hose as one stocking can be matched with another when damaged. I miss wearing really short skirts when younger.

– I’d like to ask you a couple of questions… How do you distinguish between ‘everyday’ garter belts’ and ‘sexy’ ones? Personally I find all garter belts sexy; but sexiness is often in the eye of the beholder, don’t you think? Your ‘everyday’ might be some man’s ‘sexy’! And secondly, do your friends know you wear stockings and garter belts, and what reaction do you get from them?

– I agree. Garterbelts can range from ‘sexy’ to ‘everyday’. I currently have 51 garterbelts in my collection. The ones I consider sexy, are the ones that are not designed to be worn under clothes. For example, I have one with a lace ruffles on the sides, another decorated with silver chains and another with neon glow-in-the-dark trim. The everyday ones are basically for holding up your stockings… that’s it.

As for wearing a short skirt, I miss that, too. But, there is a time and a place for that. Usually, once or twice a month, my friends and I go club hopping. Most of the time we wear short skirts with stockings. We always have a blast.

– Everyday suspenders are the ones that actually work and allow one to wear stockings for a whole day with no problems. These are plain, no frilly straps, but they work!

– For daily wearing there is no need for frillies. The best garter belts are totally plain and – this is important for me – do not have those awkward garter ribbons. Just a nuisance, until you remove them.

– Though I’d love to see glow-in-the-dark suspenders, the plain practical ones also seem to me essentially the sexiest, i.e. a good flexible no-nonsense strap, with no ribbon to hide the (preferably) metal clasp. And deep at the belt. though one of the great things about suspenders/garters is their infinite variety – 51 varieties!

To answer a few of your questions, I buy my garterbelts from almost any store that sells them. From classy lingerie shops to discount department stores. I bought the neon glow-in-the-dark garterbelt in a lingerie/novelty shop called ‘…It Store’, last year when I was in Canada. And, in case you’re wondering, the world record for the largest collection of garterbelts is 3,059 (this was 3 years ago), by a woman in California. It is categorised under ‘collections’.

– I’m intrigued by the different effect on me of the word ‘suspender’ and the transatlantic ‘garter’. If I read, or especially hear from the woman, the word suspender or suspender belt, I get a strong erotic charge, just from the sound. I don’t, however, get the same feeling from garter or garter belt – even though they are the same thing. I guess the sound and the meaning become woven together early on in life. What do others think?

– Same here! I know just what you mean. For some reason the word ‘garters’ or ‘garter belt’ just don’t do anything for me, even though I know exactly what they mean. On the other hand, the words ‘suspenders’, ‘sussies’ or ‘suspender belt’, whether in print or spoken (particularly by a woman) cause me instant and intense arousal. I’m glad you’ve brought this point up, because I thought I was the only one. Any more comments on this theme, anyone?

– I agree with both of you. Mention of suspenders, suspender belts and sussies quickly turns me on, but garters and garter belts only produce mild “excitement”. I also agree that it is even more of a turn on when the various references to suspenders are spoken by women, or written by women in postings here or in the chat zone.

I think the phrase which has me feeling erotic in an instant is “my stockings are very heavily suspendered”. Thoughts of stocking tops stretched heavily by extremely taut suspenders immediately invade my imagination. Funny that “my stockings are very heavily gartered” don’t have the same effect!

– To me, I’d always heard the term garter belt. I had never heard the term suspenders until a British lady working in a lingerie shop in Phoenix introduced me to the term. I thought wow, that’s different and I guess appropriate. But I like the term garter and garter belt best.

– Can you imagine being “turned on” when a women tells you she’s wearing braces? Probably not. But, here in the USA, suspenders are what you call braces in the UK.

We in the USA recognise the term for the article of lingerie which holds up a woman’s stockings as a garterbelt. On the other hand, we recognise the term for the accessory which holds up a man’s pants as “suspenders.”

“Sussies” is a uniquely British term and it seems to me only natural that hearing it (especially from a woman) would stimulate the imagination (and some other of the nether regions) of an Englishman. However, to my American ear, a beautiful woman telling me that she is wearing suspenders only brings to mind a somewhat masculine image of a woman wearing what you call braces. Decidedly unerotic wouldn’t you agree?

I know that when I have read British erotica and have encountered the term “suspenders” it has had a somewhat cooling effect. Not the effect I was hoping for. I imagine it must be the same for my counterpart on your side of the pond when you read American erotica and in the middle of an especially heated passage find the term “garterbelt”

Someone once observed that the English and the Americans were two great peoples separated by a common language. I don’t even want to tell you of my problems with “knickers” and “waspies!”

– I’m a Canadian with a British lover. Always I have heard the term ‘garterbelt’. But since my lover is practically in love with stockings and suspenders, I’ve probably heard this term far more times in the last year and a half than I’ve heard ‘garterbelt’ over all the years prior.

I now find that I often use the word suspender when I’m in Canada and end up constantly having to translate myself! I will admit I love the sound of the word ‘stockings’. It feels a bit like saying the word cabernet or syrah. With these one can almost taste the word. With stockings one can almost feel them. I have to bail on ‘sussies’ though. It seems a pet name to which this foreigner is not entitled.

– For me, a garter suggests the old-style elastic around a leg, and so that reduces the erotic effect of the word. As for the US dislike of ‘knickers’, I would point out that for us ‘underpants’ is extremely non-erotic, since over here it means a man’s underwear. Here we could compromise on ‘panties’, I suggest. But I part company with my fellow Brits in disliking the word ‘sussies’. Too flimsy a word, making me picture a bit of elastic round the waist with thin, ribbony straps. A woman can’t be ‘heavily’ or ‘tautly’ suspendered (a turn-on, I quite agree) when she’s wearing sussies!

– Like some of the other US-based posters, the term garterbelt was all I heard when growing up. There was something illicit in saying the word, let alone thinking about it. I am too young to recall when they were the norm, so therefore they were a racy item. Since I have been posting here, I have gotten used to the term suspender belt, but find it a little off-putting.

As for knickers, they are what little boys used to wear before being old enough for long pants. A shortening of the word “knickerbocker”. Also a long lost term for residents of New York, if I remember my early American history. They were also a horrid fashion fad for women in the early ’80s. Ugh. Now, I think of tap pants when I think of knickers.

And maybe I’m a bit prudish here, kids, but I can’t stand the word ‘panties’! Just saying it makes me feel a little fruity! I’ll stick with underwear, or undies, for short.

– You are quite right about the American sense of the word “knickers”. I would remind readers here in the USA that the most common use of the word these days is as the name of an American basketball team, the New York Knicks (short, as pointed out, for knickerbockers ie new yorkers).

My problem with the term “knickers” is that, when I read or hear it, somewhere in my consciousness I am plagued with mental images of seven foot tall African-American males taking layup shots while wearing panties! This is, at least for me, a disturbing rather than erotic image.

I have no problem with the word “panties”. From my earliest memories I can recall the mystery and excitement, the forbidden image of panties. Lace, satin, sheer, white, cream-coloured, baby blue, open crotch, tied at the side with satin bows, black and bewitching, red and slightly dangerous, panties were the holy grail. When I saw them on an attractive girl by accident the stimulation was powerful and immediate. When I was shown them by an attractive lady on purpose softly nestling against her treasures I was in heaven. In my mind panties and stockings go together like cigars and cognac, wine and roses or Mercedes and Benz.

“Undies” is the term my grandmother used for her laundry. “Underwear” is too masculine for me to use when referring to women’s lingerie. It conjures either my mother telling me to “pick up your underwear” or the men’s sections of countless retailers. Ah, but “lingerie” now there’s a word that starts the blood racing: lingerie. How it flows from the tongue… lingerie. Probably France’s greatest contribution to our culture since the can-can. I could wax poetic about women in fine lingerie.

Its clearly a matter of conditioning, probably dating from our early childhood, with a clear and marked transatlantic divide. When I hear or read Americans referring to women’s ‘underpants’ the effect is ghastly, as I am sure all British and Australian contributors will wholeheartedly agree. ‘Panties’ is acceptable, but, without doubt, to my ears ‘knickers’ is far, far more erotic. In England, ‘knickers’ is far and away the most frequent expression. I have never once heard a woman refer to her underwear as anything other than her knickers. The question is, ladies, what do you call yours?