Victoria’s Secret and smelly stockings …

Only in the USA does a lingerie line get a TV show. Victoria’s Secret is the line and their Fashion Show is big business, being covered in Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and all upmarket fashion venues. The models who parade the catwalk for the fashion show are called ‘Angels’ and the roles are hotly contested. 

Rumour has it that Cara Delevingne has been invited to strut her stuff, and as she’s home grown lingerie talent that seems appropriate. The date is 2 December and the venue is Earls Court – no hard information about ticket numbers or prices yet but hold on to your hats, it will be pricey!

Stockings as seduction devices

Everybody knows that stockings are sexy. It doesn’t matter whether they are laddered, thick and clumpy St Trinian’s style naughty schoolgirl props, sleek and unobtrusive hold-ups that could pass for tights except to the lucky person who gets to see beneath the top layers, or in your face fishnets with stilettos and attitude, stockings are just sexy.

Now Ballerina think they can make them even sexier. Their Hush Hush lingerie line features hold up stockings that are infused with (synthetic) pheromones rumoured to drive men into a sexual frenzy. The company claims that these pheromones, which mimic those naturally produced by human sweat glands, will cause men to feel more romantic.

Now we like stimulants to seduction as much as the next man or woman, but we can see a couple of problems with this. Problem number one … there’s nothing specific about the pheromone effect so it’s entirely possible that the stockings could attract the wrong man, or men, and that could lead to heated arguments or even punch ups, rather than steamed up bedrooms and loved up couples!

Problem number two … does the effect wear off when the stockings are removed? Again, we have no difficulty envisaging keeping our stockings on in the bedroom (or wherever else we might find ourselves) but we wouldn’t want to find the mood faltered just because we’d slipped out of them.

And finally – we wonder just how long the pheromone effect lasts? Does it survive a wash? Four washes? What about tumble drying? In our view, if you want to get your man hot under the collar you can leave the pheromones to one side. The utter lambour of a pair of pure silk stockings needs no embellishment and our Champs Elysees silk stockings by Cervin will do the job without any suspect odours!