My Partner Thinks He Looked Better in My Hold-Ups Than I Did

Dear Abbie,

This is one of those things that’s funny until it isn’t.

We were getting ready for a night in. I’d had a bit to drink, he asked if I’d wear hold-ups, and I pulled out the Ballerina sheers I bought from your site. They’re my favourites. The ones I actually wear.

I couldn’t get them on properly, got annoyed, and told him that if he wanted them so much, he could put them on himself.

He did.

It stopped being funny and turned into something else. The kind of moment that feels like it’s about to lead somewhere.

It didn’t.

We ended up collapsing into laughter instead. No sex. Just this strange, charged energy — and me taking photos because it felt too ridiculous and too good not to capture.

Later, he joked that he thought he actually looked better in my hold-ups than I did. Then — because of course — he laddered them taking them off.

Now I’m looking for replacements and I keep coming back to the Dark Secret sheer hold-ups.

Part of me feels ridiculous.
Part of me feels like saying, fine — let’s see.

Am I being childish? Or is this just one of those moments where you want to prove a point?

Feeling Slightly Competitive are we?

Let’s not pretend this is about hosiery alone.

Something shifted in that room.
You felt it.
That moment where the air changes slightly and suddenly you’re aware of skin, movement, space between bodies — all of it, at once.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

He stepped into something intimate without hesitation. No second guessing. No trying to get it “right”. And when something that close to the skin is worn like it belongs there, it changes how a body moves. How it’s looked at. How it’s felt across a room.

That’s what stayed with you.

Not him.
Not the joke.
The feeling.

And once you’ve felt that quiet charge sitting just under the surface, it’s very normal to want to step into it deliberately next time.

Not louder.
Not dramatic.
Just more… certain.

That’s where the Dark Secret sheer hold-ups come in.

They don’t disappear once they’re on.
You feel them when you walk.
When you pause.
When someone’s attention lingers and you know exactly why.

They sit closer to the idea of intention.
Of choosing how you want to be felt before anything else even happens.

And if a small part of you is thinking,
Oh really? Watch me.

Good.

Buy the pair that made you slow down when you saw them.

Put them on slowly.
Let them settle.
Notice what changes in you when they do.

Say nothing.
You won’t need to.

You don’t need to prove who looks better.

You’ll feel it.

And he will too.

— Abbie