The girl had only one pair of nylons and they were very special. Nylons only appeared on the Soviet market in the 1960s and they were imported from Czech Republic and then the GDR. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was still very difficult to get real nylons. The more old-fashioned type - kolgotki - were everywhere, but they were not as fashionable as the more modern looking ones. Kolgotki were mostly worn by little kids (both girls and boys) or grandmothers. They were thick & heavy, always wrinkling around the knees. The fancy ones - kapron nylons were very difficult to get. The girl was about 15 or 16 years old when she got her first pair of nylons. They felt incredibly smooth on her legs. They made the legs look shiny in the sun. She only wore them for special occasions - piano recitals and concerts in the music school, school assemblies, and important examinations. Over time, the girl realized that the nylons brought her luck and so they became even more special. She began to notice that when she wore the nylons, her piano recitals were flawless and she could do exams with the highest grades. She felt more confident wearing the lucky nylons! But one day, as she was sitting down at the desk at school, she rubbed her leg against a sharp wooden edge of the chair. Oh no! The lucky nylons had a small tear and, right in front of her eyes, a small tear turned into a run that slowly moved down her leg… A feeling of panic, butterflies in her stomach, tears in her eyes! There were still so many unfinished tasks that were ahead of her! More music recitals, graduation exams, and more importantly, the university entrance examinations! How could she do it all without the lucky nylons? Other kids in the capital city had access to tutors to help them through the academic competitions, but she only had lucky nylons. And they were now damaged. After moments of despair, the girl decided to mend the nylons in such a way that they would look not as if they were torn or mended, but as if they were designed to look that way - with a little dark seam running along the whole length of the leg, covering the hole. Only one side of the nylons was damaged, but she created the same seam on both sides of the nylons - looking almost as if it was supposed to be that way. She saw something similar in a Burda fashion journal. If you looked from further away, you could not even notice that the seams were hand-made at home. The girl was really careful with her lucky nylons from then on and, two years later, she wore them for the entrance examinations in the capital Riga. She was a little bit anxious that others may notice the handmade alterations on her nylons, but she was sure these lucky nylons would bring her success.