The original idea of flashes was the ends of the garters used to hold you socks up. Today we use elastic for garters and the flashes are just "a splash of color".

By sewing your flashes onto your hose you bypass the garters. Why? If you don't use garters what holds your hose up?

It's the garters that are the important part. Leave the colored flashes off, or change them up for a different outfit. That's the beauty of it all.

I usually don't wear the flashes, but I always wear garters.