How to Wear Stockings and Suspender Belts

If you're new to wearing stockings and suspender belts, they can appear a little daunting! Believe us, once you’ve had a little practise you’ll find wearing them just as quick and easy as pulling on a pair of opaque tights.

1. Do not pull your stockings on like a pair of socks! This is guaranteed to cause hitches in your precious stockings. Take your stockings and holding them by the welt (top) bunch up the stockings so you can slip your toe in the end without it coming into contact with the rest of your stocking. It might be easier to sit at this stage.
2. Ease the stocking over your heel and when you reach your ankle feel around the back to ensure that the seam is in the correct position.
3. Gradually pull the stocking up checking every few inches to ensure that the seam is straight, it is a lot easier to fix as you go along than wait until you’ve reached the top. If you’re sitting you will need to stand once you reach your knee.
4. Pull the stocking up to full length and do a final seam check. It is likely you will need to make some adjustments and a mirror will come in handy. Hopefully your seam will be straight up to your knee, which means you will just need to pull your stocking down and adjust from the knee up. Any lower down and you will need to pull your stocking down and start from the ankle again.

Stocking Tip

If you get a snag or run in your stockings you can prevent it getting bigger with a little clear nail polish or squirt of hairspray.

In recent years, suspender belts have been given an unwarranted bad reputation as being difficult and uncomfortable to wear. This is mainly because they are now designed by mainstream lingerie brands as boudoir wear and not for every day. Often you’ll see fashion suspender belts worn at hip level by models, which means they’re liable to slip down. The actual suspenders tend to be very narrow elastic with small clips and adjusters that frequently slide. It’s really no surprise that some companies now photograph their suspender belts with no stockings attached at all!

Suspender Tip

If you have a fashion suspender belt you love but after reading our tips are ready to throw it away, don’t be hasty.

Turn a fashion suspender belt into a more wearable style, by taking in the waist and stitching the adjusters into place.

3. A deeper style suspender belt is more comfortable than a very narrow style. It doesn’t have to be super deep, anything 3 inches or more is fine. If you are wearing it tightly as recommended then 1” wide belt might dig in.

4. On the elastic suspender straps you’ll find adjusters. On mainstream belts these tend to be the same kind of adjusters you find on your bra straps and frequently slide down which, in turn, makes your stockings slide down.

Our suspender belts have an adjuster with metal teeth so once you have clicked it into place then it stays there!

5. Mainstream fashion suspender belts tend to have narrow little suspender clips which we presume is to make the garment look dainty, but there will also be a cost element to take into consideration here: the pennies add up.

Our suspender clips are made from nickel free metal and are big enough to not only hold your stockings securely but also make them easier to do up.

1. If you’re wearing a new suspender belt, undo the clips before you put it on. Pull the rubber button up to the top of the metal section so you can undo it. Your stocking welt (top) will sit between the metal (front) part of your suspender clip, and the rubber part (back).
2. Start by attaching your front two suspender clips. Again, it might help to do this in front of a mirror as you need to attach them where your suspender straps hang. If you attach them too far out or in then they’ll pull your stocking tops out of place.
3. Next, attach your back straps. Ignore the old wives tale that says that your back suspender should attach directly above your seam: it is not true! The suspender clip should sit to the outside the seam, ideally in a vertical line from where it hangs down.
4. Finally, attach the side suspenders (if your belt has them), again, where they hang in a vertical line.
5. Take a quick look to see if you have even spacing between both legs and that the positioning feels comfortable before adjusting your suspender adjusters. If you tend to wear the same brand stockings once you have clipped the adjusters into a comfortable position it’s unlikely you’ll have to adjust again, but if you wear multiple brands you can adjust the length of your suspender straps to the length of your stockings.