Fra-Gee-Layby Eva Pasco 
Perhaps more memorable to me than Ralphie's Daisy Red Ryder BB gun in A
Christmas Story (1983), is that bizarre leg lamp, so evocative of nylon
stockings during the sixties. Fragile or Fra-Gee-Lay, are what they were.
Lacking the resilience of parachutes, these flimsy molted snake skins bordered
by slightly thicker bands at the thighs, were held up by garters attached to a panty
girdle. Expected to walk a mile in your penny loafers, these suckers ended up with more
runs than the New York Yankees by the end of sixth period. What is worse, many of
us Sixties Chicks washed them after wear and put them on again the next day--unless, of course, they
had gaping holes.
Pity the fool who had gym first period after peeling off those stockings,
then jamming them back onto clammy legs. Even after considerable
garter adjustment you were plagued by baggy knees and droopy nylons all day long. Sure, you
could always duck into the lav between classes in an attempt to remedy the situation with a little
more tugging and cinching. More than likely, you only succeeded in scoring another run for your
valiant efforts. No wonder so many of us discreetly slipped off our stockings on the schoolbus,
stuffing them into our handbags. Going bare legged was considered immodest, so from the bus stop to
our door, we treaded on the wild side.
When mini skirts were in vogue, fishnets, mod stockings with a mesh lattice of
threads, were a viable alternative. They still bagged and were not any more durable in "the long
run." Before Sixties Chicks burned their bras, they threw away their girdles with the
emergence of underpants attached to stockings-- pantyhouse. Rah, Rah, Sis
Boom Bah... Though this garment imposed its own discomfort from improper alignment,
if you get my drift, the perils of pantyhose still prevailed with being
fra-gee-lay.
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