How to coordinate tights with skirts and footwear?

HelloKitty

Hi everyone,

As part of my style journey I am learning to embrace skirts and dresses. I only started seriously wearing them a year ago (after joining YLF). I love them, but I’m not always sure how to coordinate them with tights and shoes/boots. (I live in a cold climate and tights are basically a necessity from Oct-Apr.) So far, I’ve played it very safe, generally matching my tights to my skirt or boots. Here are some combinations I’ve worn:

Grey skirt, grey tights, grey boots
Grey skirt, purple tights, grey boots
Green skirt, grey tights, grey boots
Denim skirt, black tights, black boots

You get the idea here. I am always tying my bottom three elements together quite tightly, and bookending them when necessary (for example with the purple tights, I wore a purple patterned scarf). Now yesterday I wore something that I’m not sure worked: grey long-sleeved T, grey argyle sweater vest, cream cord skirt, cream tights, grey boots. I was very unsure about the stark contrast of the cream skirt and tights against the grey boots. I couldn’t tell if they were making me look stumpy. Sorry I don’t have a pic to post, but hopefully you can help me with general guidelines here. I have some patterned tights I’ve not yet worn (brown with black stripes, black with white diamond pattern) because I don’t know how to style them.

Oh and if this question has been covered somewhere on YLF, please point me in that direction Thank you!!

14 years ago

Dressing

16 replies

Latest reply was from inbloom

morethanbeige

Veteran

Great question. I am new to skirts, dresses with tights and am interested in this too. Thanks for asking!

14 years ago

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

Kitty, for what it's worth, it sounds like you're doing a great job already. Lots of people like to stick to a neutral, coordinated colour scheme when wearing hosiery, and if memory serves Angie is one of them. In fact I believe she wears black hose almost exclusively, being sure to keep them texture rich and probably sheer. I always stick to black hose, which works with my predominantly dark footwear. I'm obviously not the person to offer instructions on how to branch out, but I can say you're certainly not committing any faux-pas with the approach you've adopted. If you're wanting to mix it up a little more, I'm sure other ladies here will have lots of handy tips.

14 years ago

Astrid

Veteran

I don't have much advice because I always wear my tights in similar ways, but I'm interested in all suggestions and hope someone else will chime in! I wear mostly skirts and would love to wear more dresses, so I wear tights almost everyday in fall, winter and spring. I have some patterned tights and I wear them like my colored tights, that is to say I pick up the color of the pattern in my top half.

14 years ago

sarah

Veteran

I agree with Michelle, that it sounds like you're doing a great job. As Michelle said, Angie sticks to black hosiery and warns that colored tights can look a bit "youthful" (I'm trying to find the diplomatic word here). However, Sal (AlreadyPretty) wears colored tights all the time, and IMHO, I think she makes them work successfully, as they suit her personality and style. You might check out her blog to get more ideas. I will admit to struggling with this whole issue myself - post some photos, if you like, so we can see the different combinations in action!

14 years ago

Sarah

Veteran

Interesting. I wonder if this might work since the tights and skirt were similar. Like Michelle, I usually try to stick with darker tights or stockings--navy, black, brown, grey. The outfit you describe sounds really cute though. I love the idea of the argyle vest!

I also would love to see you try the patterned tights you described. Try them on and take some pics! Sometimes looking at my pics on the computer screen changes my point of view enough that I can decide without forum input.

14 years ago

Anonymous

I play it safe and stick to shades of gray for my tights. I find they go pretty well with most neutral shoes and look less harsh than black.

14 years ago

LeahJanes

Active Member

Unlike many people, I am a lover of coloured and patterned tights. I think I have over 30 pairs. You're doing a great job so far, I think the cream tights with the grey would have looked very chic indeed. I have a pair of wooly cable knit cream tights I wear a lot.

As far as branching out - you have co-ordination down, so maybe start thinking about adding contrast and interest with your tights. This can be done with pattern, texture or colour. If you start thinking of your hosiery as a part of your outfit rather than an element you need to fade into the background, it becomes lots of fun and easier to make work.

I love red/burgundy opaques with brown shoes. I also like navy with olive green. I like pairing patent leather accessories with richly textured woolen tights. I also like black tights with architectural patterns (dots, crosses, etc). This season I am into ribbed tights as it is reminiscent of the 70s trend. I'll be getting a pair in terracotta orange and maybe a forest green too - tights are a cheap way to incorporate trends! It also helps to ease colour pop if you wear tall boots, I save my brightest tights for when I wear them as you only see a small swathe of colour at the knee.

14 years ago

HelloKitty

Active Member

Thanks for the feedback so far, everyone! Re-reading my post I don’t think I actually asked a coherent question but you’ve all done well trying to interpret it I guess in addition to the general guidelines I’m looking for, I have a couple specific questions:

- I am short and am aware of Angie’s desire for us to not stumpify ourselves. To that end, was my cream tights outfit a fashion faux pas?
- If yes, how does one wear light-coloured tights? I don’t own any light-coloured footwear except a pair of metallic flats.
- Should 2 out of 3 bottom items (skirt, tights, shoes) always match? For example what if I were to wear a denim skirt with coloured hose and brown boots…is this a recipe for disaster?

I wish there were some hard and fast “rules” about this because fashion does not come naturally to me!!

PS. LeahJanes, I would love to have your tights collection!! You’re tempting me to run out and buy terracotta tights…they sound so fun!!

14 years ago

Irene

Veteran

I think about colored tights as something that has to complement the other colors. For instance, I could go crazy with a denim skirt because to me denim looks good with practically any color, so if I had the guts I'd wear it with orange, or red, or green, or blue, or whatever. I wouldn't pair a brown skirt with blue tights, but with green tights would be fine to me. I'd never pair a brown skirt with black tights, or brown tights with black boots. NEVER. That said, I stick to black tights, but I always like to imagine I have what it's needed to take the plunge and wear fun tights.

I'm no fan of either cream or grey, especially on tights and or boots, but I believe it must have looked all right.

Just read your last post, I think a denim skirt with cream tights and brown boots would be perfect in terms of color. Of course, in terms of proportion, well, we'd have to see how it looks on you. It shouldn't be something easy to pull off, but not that hard either.

14 years ago

Astrid

Veteran

I don't think you have to match 2 out of 3 bottom items. In the pic below I wear gray patterned tights with red shoes and a green skirt. I think the outfit works because of the striped blazer with the gray in it that ties everything together. I think it always depends on the rest of the outfit!

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14 years ago

Aida

Veteran

I think the cream+gray outfit you described should work nicely; the cream skirt+tights extends the legs past the skirt, and the gray boots will play well with the gray above and draw the eye vertically adding length. The height of the boots would probably affect shortening more than these colors would, they way you've worn them.

14 years ago

amyreh

(website)

Veteran

My general rule is that my tights match either my skirt or shoes or both. I stick to grey, black, brown, or nude fishnets. Maybe one day I will give a colorful pair a shot!

14 years ago

Ellis

Active Member

Does anyone have advice about wearing forest green opaque tights? How would you wear them?

I have a forest green and cream plaid wool skirt and tried on cream tights and various boots (cognac, dark brown and black) with it, but the contrast just seemed too much. I am relatively tall with long legs and a short torso. It was like cream overkill. I want to try forest green, but what could I wear on top, and which shoes/boots would work best?

12 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I'm assuming the skirt reads forest green, yes? If so, with the forest green tights, I would think any of your boots would go well (cognac, dark brown and black). Cognac would be the most casual, daytime look; black most formal - and the dark brown being maybe office casual. I think a forest green or darker top would be nice. A cream top might be a little dated looking, 'Course would depend on the top some.

12 years ago

Ellis

Active Member

Yes, the skirt is probably equally forest green and cream-colored, with plaid design.
I have a cream-colored and nicely fitted waist-length cable knit sweater from H&M that I was thinking of wearing with it, but I wonder if that would make the bottom of the outfit too green-heavy?
Thanks for the boots explanation. For the record, my hair is pretty much the exact same color as my cognac boots so sometimes when I wear them it kind of seems like part of the outfit. I sometimes worry it looks silly that way.

12 years ago

inbloom

Member

I have a camel colored knee length corduroy skirt and am wanting to wear it with calf high cognac colored riding style boots. Is that okay? And if so can I wear the corduroy skirt with patterned tights such as grey sweater pattern? I am new at wearing skirts in the colder months so would really appreciate any insight.

12 years ago

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