How to Go Bare-Legged in Winter

As far as pantyhose sales go, it’s been a fantastic winter. Too bad many outfits look terrible with them. And what woman doesn’t tire of wearing clingy synthetic legwear to work every day through March? Pants are an option, obviously, but they’ll never be the same as a great dress.

Earlier this winter, several beauty blogs came up with a bracing proposal: Ladies could go bare-legged on the commute if they started using what’s called an embrocation cream. The word “embrocation” has an old-timey appeal. One pharmaceutical manual from 1845 defined the substance as “a fluid medicine rubbed on any part of the body.” Ingredients could include opium tincture or olive oil or vinegar. In the modern world, embrocations are used primarily by hard-core cyclists, who rub the balms over exposed limbs before wintry excursions to increase blood circulation and warm the skin.