My sister- in-law sent me a pic of her bare legs from the knee down with the words TOO MUCH OR NOT ENOUGH typed underneath, caps lock obviously, no full stops, when we were stood in the car park outside of a wedding venue in Cheshire. She was clearly having some sort of crisis. She went bare legged for a December wedding, waited outside the church for photos for twenty minutes and was the colour of something “the dog slept on” by the time speeches let alone vows started. The photo didn’t actually ask if her legs were too much or not enough though, what she really wanted to know was am I the only person in this church wearing tights. Which is the question every.single.time anyone asks if they should wear tights, isn’t it? It’s never about whether tights are technically on trend or not as some far off theoretical question. It’s always, are you going to be the one person in the room wearing them, or the odd one out not.
Are any of the people around you also wearing tights?
Look. Here’s the thing no one wants to say out loud. It’s not a fashion rule, it’s regional and generational. Wear them or don’t wear them depending on where you’re from and when you were born, basically. Pretending like it’s still one or the other is how you end up standing outside in October feeling like your fingers are going to fall off or the metaphorical only person in a sea of bare legs who looked like they wandered in from the 90s. I’ve worked with brides in their fifties who wouldn’t consider wearing a formal dress without something on their legs full stop. End of conversation. And I’ve worked with 26 year olds who would rather their fingers actually froze than put ONE sheer layer between their skin and the outside world. Both of them perfectly fine choices. But for completely different rooms. And that’s the kicker. Neither of them are right for each other and neither is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ as a universal statement about whether tights are “in.”
What’s changed is how we arrived at whether to wear them or not. Pantyhose used to be the default, and something you opted out of. My mum’s generation wore them regardless of how formal anything was because bare legs were genuinely considered vulgar in “nice” company. Social norms have flipped so completely now that showing up to a summer wedding wearing black sheer tights can feel like overdoing it, and high formal in a way that feels almost Victorian. Ringsmith Tube socks, formal. Gloves. Both of which I’ll wear with pride because I think a good pair of tights are one of the most underrated pieces anybody owns. It’s not they’ve gone out of style, they just stopped being mandatory and became optional without anyone saying anything was shifted so completely that nobody sent a memo and now you’re just trying to guess where the people in your immediate sphere land instead of following a clear cut rule, and either choice can feel like a mistake when you don’t actually want to dress like everyone else or the year is 1993.
Asking yourself what other people will be wearing is way harder than people admit, but also where the decision should START happening rather than leaving it all up to some loose idea of what’s seasonally “acceptable.” Formal winter black tie in a hotel ballroom isn’t remotely the same questions as a summer marquee wedding and lumping them together is where people get into trouble. I’ve had clients outright ask me if tights would be “flattering” on their legs for a winter formal dress and my immediate reply is always flattering to whom? Because nine times out of ten what they actually mean is will they look normal? Will they blend in? Will anyone look at them twice for wearing them? With that dress, that room, that time of year? Bare legs would have looked stark and slightly under dressed, truthfully. Tights would have looked like she put thought into her outsides as well as her insides. Different dress, different time of year, different answer. That’s not avoiding the question. That’s actually answering it.
The effect the tights you choose actually have on your outfit.
So this is what I mean about the actual dress being the main decision. Say you’ve got the “will anyone else be wearing them” bit sorted. The second question is what do tights even DO to your outfit? Because this is where the true fashion heart of the debate lives, not the yes or no of wearing them outright. Sheer, actual denier nude or black tights under a formal dress do one thing that bare legs simply do not. They sleekly even out your leg. Cover up that pesky bit of shin discoloration we all have and pretend it isn’t there. They finish off the silhouette. Make your outfit look cohesive and intentional as opposed to like you threw something on over a hastily applied outfit of leggings and a top. I’ve seen it happen a hundred times where putting on a decent pair of black tights has elevated a client’s entire outfit because the legs match how put together the top half is. Hair done. Dress fitted. Bare legs suddenly look rushed by comparison. It’s not some weird vague effect either, it’s immediate and noticeable. And honestly, the strongest argument I can think of for wearing them that isn’t about staying warm or respecting tradition.
Except when you DON’T match them right, and get mad blanket effing advice about “find one that’s invisible!” like they’re flavoured bog rolls*, they fuck with your entire outfit with agonising efficiency. Thicker, shiny, clearly “tights shaped” tights under a formal dress highlight every.single.roll and dimple you wouldn’t notice otherwise because they’re the wrong shade and just scream ‘HEY LOOK AT MY SOCKS” whereas the right pair of fine denier tights can actually make your legs LOOK like they have better behaved skin. (**See below*) I even measured the difference between my skin tone and a pair touted as “ nude” once because the packaging made it sound like they’d miraculously render my legs invisible and the shade they sent was so far off it might as well have been a plaster for all the matching they did. THAT is what throws an outfit off, not rationalising tights as a concept.
The outright refusal of brands to accept “ nude” is one size fits all and actually just catering for white people rolls socks back into tights as a debate. That, right there is what should make you mad. Not pantyhose themselves.
TLDR – wearing tights with a formal dress is neither dated nor required. It’s just defaulted to “you should” for so long that no one questions it anymore, which means if you do wear them you need to own yours. They have to suit YOUR skin tone, be the right level of sheerness for whatever you’re wearing them under AND be something you’ve decided on based on the season and venue, not worn because “that’s what you’re supposed to do.” Which yes, will require you to examine why you want to wear them in the first place and that’s fair enough! But not doing those things and wearing any pair for the sake of it will date you FAR quicker than opting to go bare legged ever will. It’s not gotten stuck in the past because tights are bad. It’s just never evolved beyond one blanket rule because no one needs that kind of rule uniformly anymore.
