So hot right now
Upon clicking onto the Doyeah website, three images appear showing women wearing black tight silk stockings. Men dressed in different kinds of silk stockings and pantyhose are also on the front page.
This is not an exotic website but an online shop specializing in stockings. With the onset of autumn, dozens of shops selling stockings have popped up on Taobao, the e-commerce website. Covering legs with a pair of fashionable stockings has become a chic look.
For women, the stocking collection changes with fashion and there is something for everyone. Men are trickier customers though, but the vendors are still trying their best to appeal to this half of the population.
Stocking up
Some people might think that showing off skin is sexy, while others are big fans of legs in pantyhose.
Daniel Zhang, a formal clothes designer, is one of them. "Women can choose the right stockings to make their body look slimmer and also beautify their leg shape. It is a trend for girls to show off their beautiful legs," commented Zhang.
Shen Xiaoling, a 24-year-old girl studying at a Beijing-based university, told Metro Beijing that she always opts for stockings over trousers in the cold winter. "Stockings for me are much more convenient and easy to match with dresses or skirts compared to trousers," said Shen.
Shen is not alone in preferring stockings over other attire. The item has a large number of loyal followers among the female population. It is this popularity that has led to a lot of experimentation. Gone are the days when stockings only came in black, clear or navy. Now you can get them in anything from neon pink to animal print.
"Stockings have become a very useful fashion accessory. The design of stockings follows closely clothes fashion, so that a rich selection of stockings in different styles and patterns can be found in the market," said Echo Lee, a fashion designer.
Lee said in the spring and summer of this year, colorful stockings were quite popular but this autumn the fashion direction is changing.
"This autumn, women's stockings focus on a change of patterns. The emergence of tattoo stockings is one example and black will be back to dominate," said Lee.
Zhang also added that bud silk stockings are popular right now. "The bud silk stockings are on trend, but it is important to pick a good quality pair," said Zhang.
'Mantyhose'
In comparison, men's stockings and pantyhose have never been a mainstream phenomenon, but in recent years they have seen a steady increase in demand.
Song Caibao, who opened the first male stocking and pantyhose shop on Taobao, called Men Can Also Be Sexy, told Metro Beijing that he started this business in May when he realized there was a huge market for men's stockings.
"I once saw a man asking for male silk stockings on Sina Weibo, the Chinese twitter. So I opened this online shop," said Song.
So far even though the shop has not been as popular as Song expected, it still receives large amounts of visits and orders.
"My shop receives about 3,000 visits everyday. My goods regularly sell and some of my products are exported to Taiwan and Hong Kong," said Song.
For Doyeah, which sells both the men's and women's silk stockings and pantyhose, male customers are the main consumers.
Xia Xiaolin, the owner of Doyeah, told Metro Beijing that the majority of his customers are male who go for stockings after they found that there are stockings specially-made for men in the market. "My sales are constantly rising in recent years and I have a stable customer base," said Xia.
Xia explained that most of his male customers are men around 30 years old, but there are also customers above 50.
John Wen, 24, who works in the media industry in Beijing, revealed that he has a habit of collecting men's stockings and likes to see men wearing silk stockings. He thinks it is very attractive.
"I like to see men wearing silk stockings, since they show their body curve. Their feminine aspect can mix well with men's masculinity, which is not only appealing to the eyes but also sexually seductive," said Wen.
Clothing confidential
Despite the growing demand among male customers, male stockings are still less abundant than female.
In Xia's store, which he declared was mainly opened for men, there is still a much wider variety of women's stockings and pantyhose.
Xia said though that for men in search of something a little more flamboyant, there are always all the women's stockings, assuming their legs are small enough for them.
"I don't think there is much difference in stockings for men and women. And my male customers will purchase women's stocking and pantyhose if they can fit into them," said Xia.
Meanwhile, at Song's store, improvements have been made to make men's stockings and pantyhose as fashionable as women's. "Our stockings and pantyhose follow the female stocking fashion. But we enlarge and lengthen them to allow men to wear them," noted Song.
However, whether playful or not, men still largely wear stockings in a different way. Xia said that most of his customers wear stockings inside trousers, so half the time you could be sitting next to someone on the Beijing subway and not even realize that they are sporting a pair of pantyhose.
In addition to hiding their silk stockings from people in public, male customers often demand to keep their personal information secret.
"On Taobao, many male customers ask you to not show their purchase record and even on the delivery parcel, I cannot write stockings in the goods column," said Song.
However, Chan Kraemer who runs the e-MANcipate shop in the UK, which specializes in male stockings, told Metro Beijing that in the future pantyhose and stockings will be both manly and worn out in the open on the streets.