Silk stockings are synonymous with richness, sensuality, and luxurious elegance. Though they cost more than stockings made from your typical nylon-Lycra blends, silk stockings are also incomparable to any other material. It's usually very evident when you're wearing silk stockings, for they have a pearly, lustrous softness that is inimitable.

This is due in part to the fact that, unlike nylon or Lycra, silk is a 100 percent natural fiber made by a certain Asian insect larvae. On the other hand, when you are wearing synthetic stockings, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be mistaken for silk. This is not to say that one is better than another--for when it comes down to it, it's all a matter of personal preference--but rather, the two types of material are completely different in their qualities.

Silk Vs. Synthetic Stockings

For one thing, silk is an opaque material. Nylon, on the other hand, is a transparent material whose transparency is determined by its denier, or density. Moreover, both nylon and Lycra are elastic materials, while silk is far less so. Pure silk does not stretch to your form like synthetics do. For this reason, pure silk stockings tend to be expensive because they require a masterful level of craftsmanship to arrive at the perfect fit.

Requiring less craftsmanship, and thus less expensive, are stockings made of silk-synthetic blends. To preserve the uniquely soft, luminous qualities of the silk, however, the percentage of synthetic material is kept as low as possible, usually around four percent.