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CHARLOTTE, N.C.
— Susu Bear has seen it with her own eyes.
The
founder of scoopcharlotte.com, a site that tracks what's
new, what's on sale, and what's happening on the Queen
City's style scene, says as she's been out and about,
she's seen evidence of one of the season's strongest
trends.
The other
day there was a woman with black hose paired with taupe
patent leather platform shoes. And she spied another
blogger's posting of herself, rocking bright yellow
tights with brown cowboy boots.
"I
am definitely seeing it, mostly on people who work in
the stores," Bear says, adding that the weather has
still been pretty warm. "Not a lot of patterns, but
the dark tights."
It's been
building for a few seasons. Since the mid-'90s, women
boldly braved the cold with bare legs, free from those
saggy, easy-to-run pantyhose and inspired, some say, by
the "Sex and the City" ladies.
But last
season, major designers began moving back to covered
legs. And at the fashion shows for this fall and winter,
there were lots of brightly hued or intricately textured
tights, boots paired with floppy socks, tailored skirts
worn with opaque tights, even lingerie looks with
old-fashioned but sexy nylon stockings, says Edward
Miccinati, co-owner of
New York
-based StockinGirl, an online boutique. One of his
current best-sellers is the swiss dot pantyhose, popular
several years ago. Thus the new style mantra: The
covered leg is fresh.
The
revived look is good news to some folk.
"I'm
personally thrilled with the end of the bare leg,"
says Bear. "For the last few years, I saw mostly
legs in the dead of winter. People were in heavy winter
coats and bare legs; people even had them with knee
boots. The bare leg is hard when your legs aren't tan.
Maybe if you're young it's OK, or your legs are in great
shape. But if you're older or have varicose veins
..."
The
runway may have spearheaded the legwear revival, and the
economy could be helping to empower it.
"If
you're not able to really update your fall wardrobe,
using legwear is a good way to do it," says
Miccinati. "The price of entry is not as expensive
as other accessories." Wear the same little black
dress, but add a
$15
pair of lace hose, he says. Or shake up your workaday
black suit with some burgundy hose.
On the
same economical note, tights give you the opportunity,
in our warmer climes, to take lighter-weight clothes
through cooler weather, extending their life.
And they
add some pizzazz.
Bear says
the fresh look includes treating leggings like tights,
perhaps a metallic silky taupe pair or an inky leather
pair and putting them under suits or with a shift and a
cardigan. Another trend is to not go for the traditional
long line by using the same color hosiery and shoe;
instead wear black hose with a taupe, gray or colored
shoe for an exciting contrast.
Ahead of
the curve is
Liz Bradford
, a scientific illustrator who has 25 pairs of tights.
The
Raleigh
woman's passion for them started when she was at
N.C. State University
. A participant in the Art to Wear fashion show, she'd
put her models in tights to add bold accents and make
short skirts "more appropriate." And then she
found herself falling for them. A friend who was moving
to
California
gave her 10 pairs.
Now she
has fishnets, lace, polka dots and a pair of faux
leather leggings so sleek they work like tights. She
owns some neon tights, too; her bright yellow pair
earned a "Good Day, sunshine" greeting from a
passer-by.
"It's
another accessory, like necklaces and scarves," she
says. "I like to wear them with shorts and skirts
when it's cooler. I like black tights with my summery
shorts."
And no,
you aren't too old for tights. You just have to make the
first step, says Miccinati. You don't have to go with
the pricey lines, he says, "H&M, the Limited,
the chains have variety at fairly good prices."
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