I’ve tried a few different styles of Hue hosiery in the past, and though the product seemed to be decently made, the sizing was never quite up to par, so I have not given them much attention. I was in Macy’s recently and noticed that Hue had redesigned their packaging. I was curious if the product had been redesigned, too. Upon further inspection, I found that they had some new sizing options that looked interesting, so I picked up a pair for myself and one for a friend.
First impressions: This is a 90% nylon 10% spandex construction. In my experience, this is a yarn constituent range in which a lot of very different outcomes are possible in terms of look and feel. Sometimes it goes really well, sometimes it’s a disaster. Upon removing them from the packaging, I noticed that this is not a boarded pair of pantyhose. The most curious thing about these pantyhose is the
panty section. It’s labeled as a “french lace with invisible control top”. It might be easier to show you a picture before I try to describe the effect:
Yep. That’s a “french cut lace panty” along with some good old fashioned control top lines. A complete contradiction in aesthetics. Hue failed hard here. The whole idea behind the lace panty section is to allow outfits that may show a lot of leg, so that pesky control top line doesn’t show up. I wore them with some very short dressy shorts, and occasionally when I was sitting, the panty portion was visible, peeking out from the shorts. This is not hot. As I pulled them on, the fabric seemed to stretch and distribute nicely over my skin. It was black yet had some transparency to it still, which is how a good pair of jet black hosiery should be. The more transparent whilst still giving color on the outline of your legs, the more elegant they are. The toe has an invisible reinforcement, which lived up to it’s name nicely.
Wearing: The sizing chart proved to be very accurate and my pair fit very well. They stayed put all night long. The non-control panty was very comfortable. As for feel (or “hand”, as they say in the business) – these pantyhose felt pretty good. They felt reasonably silky to the touch. When rubbing your legs together, they don’t feel all that silky against one another. A silky feeling when rubbing your legs together is the hallmark of a truly excellent pair of pantyhose / tights / stockings. They are slightly less silky than Hanes Silk Reflections. I wore them with some 3 1/2″ heels and had a long night out – started at a photo gallery event, then a busy night club, and finally to an after party. I’m not going to lie to you – I fell asleep in them, and the next morning I found some very small holes starting to develop in the upper thigh section of the the legs. It looked like some of the weave started to pull apart.
Summary: Even if you overlook the ridiculous panty section, at $8.00 / pair, you should just pick up Hanes Silk Reflections, as they are the same price but with a slightly silkier feel and better durability. In all fairness, I’ve had Hanes fail after one wearing, but I’ve also had pairs of them that last for 4 wearings. In the low and mid grade hosiery world, the quality can be a bit random. If HUE wants to send over 4 more pair for me to re-audition, I’ll be happy to post a new and improved review.
3 comments