Pantyhose poll: Nothing beats bare legs in summer

Turns out pantyhose might have one foot in the grave in the Carolinas after all.

According to the results of our unscientific online poll, 38 percent of respondents believe female lawyers can safely trade bare legs for hosiery during the summer, while 33 percent still want gams covered year-round at the office and in court.

We tossed the question out after reporting last week on the ebb and flow of hosiery’s popularity. While respondents to a recent LinkedIn survey on office equipment and practices predicted that hose, along with suits and ties, would disappear from the workplace within five years, fashion experts, including those with their eyes on the legal profession, say pantyhose has greater staying power. Sales are on the rise after slipping for years, with icons like Kate Middleton and the women of “Mad Men” making hose cool for the first time since Joyce DeWitt danced her way through a L’eggs commercial. (She was Janet on “Three’s Company” … it was a sitcom in the ’70s  … just Google it.)

Rounding out the answers in our poll, 20 percent favored burning pantyhose on the courthouse steps and just 9 percent rallied around the nude fishnet option suggested by fashion lawyer and Duke grad Susan Scafidi.

What may come to pass in the coming years is anyone’s guess but as temperatures dive and goose bumps rise on bare legs this autumn, we’re guessing pants suits will be the answer many of us fall back on.