So tight
Tights and I have a weird relationship. Whenever I wear them, I have flashbacks to middle school dances where my mom would say “make sure you wear hosiery with that dress!” I hated nylons. So I would listen to her, take them off when I got to the dance, and put them back on before coming home. Tricky girl.
I was happy to see tights and hosiery die a slow death until they were virtually nonexistent for a while… and then they came back.
When opaque tights started to come back into style a handful of years ago, I fought it. I really, really didn’t want to wear them. They looked so 80s to me… and itchy.
And then, somehow, the tights won. They’ve since then become a fall and winter staple over here.
So what to wear them with?
My favorite way to wear tights is either with a dress and heels (or booties)
or leggings with a chunky sweater or sweater dress and boots.
I don’t tend to be very creative with them, but apparently you can wear them with flats (which I probably wouldn’t do since I’m not blessed in the height department)
and I love the way they look with dressy shorts and a long-sleeved shirt or blazer:
You can have even more fun by experimenting with different styles, colors and textures,
like these festive sparkles:
or textured beauties.
If I were to rock the textured tights, I’d keep the rest of the outfit fairly simply to prevent styling overload.
So do you rock tights in the fall/winter or notsomuch?
What do you think about nude tights a la Kate Middleton?
As much as I love her, I don’t see it happening over here anytime soon.
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I HATE nude tights. They’re supposed to look like your skin and they never do!
I agree. They are truly disgusting and I can’t believe Kate Middleton wears them! How hasn’t anyone told her that nude tights are a no go?!
I am slightly older than you, but not much (I am 31) and I still think that if you are wearing a dress that hose look best with it. Maybe its all the years of private school and it being a normal part of my everyday wear… Or it could be my ghost white legs.. 😉 But to me it just seems more put together. 🙂
I have not worn the thicker tights like the ones pictured since the 80’s though! I hated them back then.
Great post, Gina! Tights are fun. I can’t seem to break myself away from denim, I wear it to work, at home, everywhere and every day. Perhaps this post will inspire me to buy a cute pair of tights and mix up my routine a bit!
I cringed (and LOL’d) a little when seeing your comments on the Kate Middleton pics, because nude hoisery is popular (and necessary for winter!) in the Midwest. I’ve totally worn shiny nude hoisery like the ones Kate has on in the photos! Does that mean nude hoisery is tacky? 🙁
I love tights—mostly black and dark colors and textures. I will forever hate nude tights. I think they look great on Kate Middleton, but I am not Kate Middleton.
I adore black tights in the winter. I wear them with sweater dresses, and they’re perfect for keeping toasty!
Tights are one trend that I can totally be okay with. I like to wear them with a sweater dress or a skirt when it gets colder out. I love the dress, tights, and boots look. Now if only I could find a cute, flattering, maternity sweater dress :/
I don’t know how I feel about nude tights because I tend to go for darker ones but I think some people can do it.
I think nude tights make an outfit look a lot more put together and they look alright when you’ve not got a million flashes going off highlighting the shine on them. In England, there has been a big boom in sales of nude tights since Kate and William got engaged!
I like wearing opaque tights with lots of things, though I’m not a fan of leggings. I don’t understand how people will wear just a shirt or a sweater with leggings. Leggings are not pants and no one needs to see that much of your legs/arse!
as long as my sweater/dress covers my hiney, I’m all for wearing tights with them. the nudes. . . . not so much.
Nude tights – ick! They always look like a weird layer of shiny skin! Just go without if you would want to go with nude!
I have a love-hate with tights, but for a different reason. The waistband is always so damn tight and uncomfortable, but if I size up the legs are baggy and don’t look good. I much prefer Lululemon wunder unders 😉
I love tights! I have patterned, black, brown, and burgundy. I usually wear them with dresses, but I have worn them under wintery/dressy shorts and I think they look cute that way too. What’s the difference between tights and pantyhose anyway?
I’m fine with tights! I’m not a lover of nude tights, but have to wear them sometimes for work (I’m an attorney). I think poor Princess Kate is forbidden to show bare legs with skirts! The price of being a princess!
Since i am a teacher I kind of have to wear tights with skirts or dresses if I want to look professional. I’m actually a fan of the nude ones for work!
I am trying hard not to buy those sparkly tights! OMG! Must justify the purchase somehow… maybe I can diy them? Also, Kate should not be wearing shiny nude stockings. Ewwww.
P.S. I looove Pop Chips but where the heck did you get the Chipolte Lime ones?! I wannnnnnt! 🙂
Doing the the November workout tonight. I have so enjoyed the August one (I do that on my “down days”)!
🙂 Jenn
I am also super short but always wear tights with flats in the winter. I’m in grad school & always feel way too dressy if I wear them with heels to school but too hooker-ish if I wear them with boots to work. I can’t decide if I’m being practical or just super un-fashionable.
I don’t understand Kate Middleton and those nude stockings. It’s not like she needs them to suck anything in. I am a huge black tights fan. I actually look forward to fall/winter to wear them!
I also hate nude tights…But black during the winter=Gorgeous! Especially with tweed or pleather shorts..hot!
I love tights and leggings, but I totally agree about nude tights…ew. I’ve been loving the jewel tone tights lately too.
I used to wear tights all the time in h.s. and college but I haven’t worn tights in years. Now leggings, which to me are different than tights, yes. Or yoga-type or workout pants that are ‘tights’…yes, I live in those 🙂
I’m all about the tights! The only reason I would go nude is to A. prevent the chub rub and B. keep my Britney covered (no that I wear anything super short or go sans panties, but you just never know. I mean, I drive an Escape…and I’m short).
Try out nude fishnets!
I’m with you and very skeptical on the tights. However, I’m going to a wedding next weekend and it will be slightly chilly. I think I need to cover my legs. I bought a pair of sheer tights. The guy at Banana Republic said they’re back in. We’ll see…I hope it looks okay. If not I’m going back to BR and having a chat with that guy!
Not really a fan of the nude hose. That really makes me think of high school.
I love tights!! They keep my legs more toasty than they would be if they were bare. Also, they add a fun touch to a simple grey or black sweater dress. Kate Middleton can pull off anything, I on the other hand, will not be sporting nudies anytime soon.
I love tights! Especially patterned ones. They’re a great way to infuse a little style without being over-the-top bold.
Also…I have to laugh a little at the title. It’s almost a TWSS. But I will refrain.
Kate Middleton’s legs would look incredible, no matter what 🙂 You don’t look short–how tall are you (and the pilot, for that matter).
Love tights and sweaters!! So happy for the season!
Im 27 and i love nude spanx hose. LOVE! i am naturally tan and love d support n shine, plus i dont like 2 wear my Choos barefoot.
I wear tights pretty much every day in the winter because I am anti-pants (or pants are anti-me. Clothes manufacturers do not love the hourglass girls!). I live in LA so I can wear skirts and dresses year round, but it actually is too chilly in the winter to go without tights. Black tights and black flats pretty much all winter over here! Nude tights – rarely. Only if black doesn’t work.
I don’t do the nude tights, but I think she has to for “modesty.” I’m all about black tights in the winter. I have some textured ones, but nothing too crazy. I pretty much only wear them with flats because I’m intolerant of heels now. Too much walking at work!
I have a pair of vertical striped stockings. I love them. I’ve been looking for tights in that pattern for YEARS after seeing Alexis Bledel wear them on Gilmore Girls. I eventually found a pair of Halloween tights in that exact pattern! I wore them with a pencil skirt to a Christmas concert I was singing in last year.
I used to wear crazy tights when I was younger. Lots of vibrant colors, crazy designs. My favorites had primary colored cartoon style cats all over. Ah geez. Maybe that’s why I don’t wear tights these days. I read somewhere that Kate Middleton is required to wear the nude tights because you can’t be in the royal family with your naked legs flashing all around. OK, that’s not quite what it said, but it had to do with promoting the right image.
Nude tights aren’t so much as accessory as the decorative/patterned tights. They make a nice dress look classier and more put together. Women have worn nude stockings with dresses for decades, it’s not like this is a new thing. I think it looks more put together and classy than wearing a dress (such as the one on the right) with bare legs.
I don’t think Kate Middleton is wearing nude nylons to set a trend as much as to follow royal protocol. Same for her skirt length and arm cover. Living in Phoenix, other than December and January I get too hot to wear tights.
I work in a pretty conservative office so I have to wear tights. I think the most important part is finding a good match – I love Wolford Naked 8 tights – it really evens out my skin tone and looks like I’m not wearing anything. I bought my first pair of Wolford’s this year and I’m hooked – definitely worth the splurge.
I don’t wear pants, only leggings with giant men’s sweaters I get secondhand. I live in Chicago, and our winters get pretty brutal, so my tights collection is outrageous. I’m wearing a black cheetah patterned pair right now! On really cold days, I layer a patterned pair over a solid – great way to inject some fun into an office outfit. And I don’t do nude pantyhose, but nude fishnets are hot!
I agree, tights are tough to wear. My Baby Sister always pulls them off flawlessly! Me, notsomuch as you would say.
Tights and I became good friends when I was in high school. I went o a school that demanded tights (read: uniform)) on certain occasions. I still love them.
*to a school*
I live in London and EVERYONE wears nude tights. It looks HORRIBLE b/c their leg color never matches the rest of their body (arms/face). Kate obviously wears the correct nude color but I think it still looks horrible. Nude legs aren’t supposed to shine. They don’t keep you warm so might as well not wear them!
I think it must be a London/UK thing. When I lived there, I went shopping with a girlfriend who convinced me to buy some. Only when I moved back to the US did I realize they were a fashion faux-paux! Oops! But hey, if they’re good enough for Kate, they’re good enough for me!
I love tights (any kind, even nude)!! I just couldn’t life without them!! I just don’t like how my legs look without tights on. I always feel like they make my legs look prettier 🙂
I’ve got a giant collection of nude stockings, but that’s because I think bare legs in a courtroom while wearing a suit is wildly inappropriate. (I also think peep-toe shoes are inappropriate in the same setting. Some people tell me I’m 26 on the outside and 84 on the inside, hahaha.) I tend to switch to black tights in the winter with most of my suits/dresses, but not all of them. The problem many people have with nude stockings is wearing them in the wrong color or texture. I’ve had great luck with Hanes Sheer Reflections Ultra Sheers — they match my skin tone, but they aren’t as sturdy as some other brands. No reinforced toe, argh! I’d LOVE to try those Wolford Naked 8s, it’s just that price tag that gets me.
As for comfort issues, I’ve found going up a size really helps. You get some extra room in the leg, and the waistband will come up a bit higher to avoid that “cutting you in half at the waist” feeling.
I love tights! They’re as comfy as sweatpants, but more acceptable to wear out in public haha.
I’m not a fan of nude tights either… they remind me of my mom and her power suits back in the 90’s. 😛
I’ve noticed that hose / nude tights are back in professional settings at least. Used to be that wearing hose was in, then totally outdated in social as well as work settings – like those women “didn’t get it.” But lately I have seen in Chicago and NYC that women at professional gatherings (which is what I’ve been to lately) are moving quickly back to hose and those who don’t are starting to look like they don’t get it – so funny how trends come and go. I don’t know if that is temp related because I have not seen the same thing in Dallas or Atlanta for example. In NYC today, I’d be surprised to see a chic female exec with bare legs in a professional setting – at least where I’ve been. It’s starting to look less serious…again weird how our views on things shift.
This is the year I try the sweater dress with tights. I’ve always been to timid — I’m very much a pants girl — but I think my husband would like to see me in a dress once in a while 🙂
Normally if you see me I am wearing jeans….so no on the tights. I would wear hosery when I had management meatings and wore a skirt, but that was a long time ago now
I live and work in downtown DC, so I see and wear nude hose and black/grey tights often – even on people my age (27). It’s pretty popular to wear colored tights out here outside of work, too. It’s definitely a temperature thing, but also a fashion thing. I do nude hose outside of work if I’m going to a wedding/event and it’s going to be chilly. I think they look much more polished and more appropriate for occasions like that. But I wouldn’t wear nude hose if I were going out for dinner or drinks with friends…would wear more fun/textured tights for something like that.
I LOVE tights and leggings, however, they have to be textured or a color….and ‘nude’ is definitely not a ‘color’ in my book!
I love tights, nylons, and leggings of any kind 🙂 And, as I said above in reply to Ashley’s comment…if it’s good enough for Kate, it’s good enough for me!
I think pantyhose (that sounds really weird… is that the right word?) are really weird, but I LOVE tights! Especially since I live in a place will a full on winter. It’s nice to be able to wear dresses year round. And I think the dress+ tights+ boots combo is totally cute.
I LOVE tights. I think if you’re wearing a short skirt, it generally always looks much better if you wear tights with it, it evens out the complexion of your legs. That might be an English thing though, because we get so little really nice weather over here, everyone’s legs are always pale! It looks nice if you’ve just been on holiday and got a nice tan 😀 I love when winter comes around so I can wear the really thick black ones all the time 😀
I love tights, including nude hose, and I am 27. In the dead of winter in DC, they keep me warm and make my legs look way better than going bare! Pasty white legs with an occasional case of eczema is not a good look! I guess I also don’t think they are weird because I grew up seeing my mom in pantyhose all of the time, and she was/is a stylish lady! You just have to make sure you buy the right shade.
I’m a HUGE fan of opaque tights, I love to wear them in the winter and always look forward to it, they can really make an outfit.
I really like black opaque tights in winter. I really love the black tights/black shoes look with a skirt and jacket. I really don’t like itchy tights, tights that slip down at the crotch (SO annoying) or any thing see-through or nude colour. Nude just reminds me of what mum used to wear in the 70’s. I think that if it is not warm enough to go with bare legs, then something a bit more substantial than thin nudies is called for anyway.