Sheer Tights, Or as I remember them, Nylons - YouLookFab Forum

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Sheer Tights, Or as I remember them, Nylons

deb

Veteran

Just read this post in the Guardian and wonder if this comment rings true for the YLF fashionistas.

“I would say that to wear sheer tights you have to have good legs and enjoy wearing heels,” says Rebecca Lowthorpe, the assistant editor of Elle. “Somehow they go together.” She adds that sheers only really work for a younger generation for whom they are a novelty. “It’s an era – the late 70s, early 80s with Lorraine Chase, orange blusher, green eyeshadow, lots of hairspray and sheer polka-dot tights,” she says. “All of which is fine if you weren’t there the first time around.”

I do not wear nylons but do sport semi opaque and opaque tights. What say you?

Dressing

20 replies

Latest reply was from Gigi

Suz

(website)

Veteran

In my climate, you can't be fussy. If I am going to wear a dress or skirt between mid-September and late May, I need leg covering. Sometimes opaques just look too heavy. That leaves sheer or sheer with patterns.

Yup, I was there the first time, but I wear 'em anyway. And truthfully, I never knew it was a fashion faux pas. I think sometimes our perceptions of what is okay and what is not okay must be governed by our climate. Fashionable women in these parts do it all the time.

Then again, if I have a choice, I ALWAYS prefer bare legged with skirts. Which is why I wear many more skirts/ dresses in summer.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

"...you have to have good legs and enjoy wearing heels…"

Can I just say that this kind of wording grates on my last nerve? I don't "have to" have anything to wear what I want to wear. Feh.

Pardon my grumpiness, but that irks.

I haven't worn nylons in years, but if I did, it would be with a dress/skirt and heels but only for a dressy occasion. I prefer to go either without hosiery, or to wear tights if it's cool enough. Whether my legs are "good" enough for nylons is another question.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Like Suz, my winter climate demands some type of leg covering/insulation if wearing a skirt or dress. Opaque tights and leggings don't work for a cocktail dress so then it's time to pull out the nude hose. And if memory serves correct, Angie does as well.

And like Janet, I'm gonna wear what I'm gonna wear!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Wear nude tights. Full Stop.

It's as simple as that.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

I'm with Janet--I don't like being told I have to have good legs and like heels to wear sheer tights or nylons (that's what we called them when I was in school, too, Deb). Because I do wear them, and sometimes with flats! Like Suz, I find temperatures often dictate whether I wear stockings or not. But I am also getting more and more self-conscious about the look of my bare legs with an increasing number of spider veins, so stockings make me feel like they are a little more camouflaged.
The "you have to have. . ." idea just makes me think I'm probably going around making a lot of the fashion police cringe every day. I hope so, anyway!

deb

Veteran

I am with all of you on this. I we want to wear something, we should wear it. So then my question becomes, who follows these 'rules'?? The younger set? The 'old ladies'? I am not even sure who the Guardians main audience is.

Anonymous

I wear nylons when I want the warmth or to even out tones in my legs. The right sheer stockings can be pretty much invisable but make one's legs look more toned and younger. They also seem to help short skirts look more modest yet sexier.

Thistle

Veteran

Yep, I echo Suz and Janet. I wear them in my climate for warmth, thank you very much, Elle. ;).

unfrumped

Veteran

This such drivel. Can't wear this or that. Says who?

I wear nude sheer HOSE, we call them, not tights, tights are colored, black or white; really, tights used to be what little girls wore, before hose and pantyhose became unmentionable!
I wear them with all dresses. I would wear them whether it's "cold" or not--airconditoning to me is always cold--would only not wear if it's sweltering and then might wear something that is not a typical knee length dress. Very sheer and as "nude' as possible.

I do focus on closed-toe shoes, so if I want to wear sandals, re-thinking is needed, what outfit and how to wear. It's true that even to my eye they don't work as well in an outdoor summer setting, so I'll take that into account.

Of course, I have to be willing to take my fashion lumps, if any. Getting to wear what you want does not always mean getting approval.

Of interest, can you think of any other such absolute fashion rules? I'm not sure any, not even suggestions or styling recommendations discussed on YLF, are that rigid or lack exceptions, or change every few years, or turn out that someone really rocks something by trying something outside the box, which is another reason I don't take this one seriously.

Karie

(website)

Veteran

My legs aren't that great and I don't enjoy wearing heels. I WEAR NYLONS AND TIGHTS. Take that, Elle.

Anonymous

For years I've avoided nude hose out of fear of looking frumpy. You know, from the idea drilled into my head by magazines determining that the coolest fashion editors would never wear hosiery anymore. So , it has been tights in winter, and bare legs in the summer. But like many of us, as I get older, I'm less thrilled about my bare legs - summer or not. I think this is one reason I'm now completely on board with longer skirt lengths .

I did do a YLF not too long ago and wore nude pantihose with a dress I would always have worn black tights with ....and do recall feeling totally weird all day. I felt very conspicuous and stuck in the 80's or something. Which I know is ridiculous....
They are also so high-maintenance, and having to mince around making sure I wasn't catching any rough edges was a bit annoying.

I need more practice in adjusting to this one.

Echo

Veteran

Seems to me that nude hose are better for someone (like me) with less-than-perfect legs, as they gloss over imperfections. I never understood when nude hose became a faux-pas. There are many situations in which I don't think bare legs are appropriate, and then add in personal preference, and I think a lot of women have always worn nude hose. It was only that era in which women wore "suntan" hose in a colour nowhere near their natural skin tone when they looked unusual, IMO. As long as nude really does mean nude-for-you, I think they look fine.

And this is just semantics, but "sheer tights"? That's an oxymoron to me. Pantyhose/hose are sheer, and can be any colour or any shade of nude. Tights are opaque and are generally a colour, but CAN be nude coloured as well (generally only used by dancers). Leggings are thicker fabric, never have feet, and are never even a little bit sheer.

Diana

Veteran

I wore sheer black hose today. During the day, with combat boots and shorts, and for evening, with kitten heels and my bubble skirt. So there. Yes, I prefer bare legs but it's just too cold right now.

shiny

Veteran

Oh, the irony! I came of age when nude L'eggs were totally in. I recall insisting that I wear nude L'eggs with a dress to the first day of school in 6th grade. And then regretting it, because I was uncomfortable. I wore nude L'eggs through into college and first job too.

Flash forward.. I happily embraced bare legs when that became "in"-- so much more comfortable. As long as you could stand the blisters on your feet from pumps worn sans stockings.

Flash forward again... my legs still aren't so bad but let's face it, I'm turning 50 next year and the skin isn't so youthful. I think I will stick with bare legs as long as I can, but that may not be all that long, and I can see lots of fashion wisdom in embracing the right sheer nylons, to smooth over skin imperfections -- and especially to guard against blisters!!!!

For now I'm in an "in between" phase in which I like sheers that have some color, be it grey or black. Or nude micro fishnets, which have a subtle pattern. This may be more mental than anything else, erasing earlier associations, while getting comfortable with aging.

deb

Veteran

I wore the nude micro fishnets last year to work and got so many looks and comments that I will never wear them to work again. Out legal department women wear pantyhose/nylons when they go to court or are meeting clients otherwise they are bare legged in the office. There are some ladies close to retirement that still wear pantyhose and I must admit, they do look out of place. I will be 61 and will continue to go bare legged. I refuse to cover my arms in sheer nylon to make them look better so why should I cover my legs. I really do hate rules. Well, not really the rules, just following them.

kkards

Veteran

i don't wear nude pantyhose, will not wear pantyhose. i wore them in the 80s/90s, hated them. resented them. so i will not wear them again.

(sorry to be so blunt. if others want to wear them, that's their choice, and i'm ok with it)

K.M.

Veteran

This post read my mind! Just yesterday I was going over some old "treasures" that included sheer hosiery in assorted colors I kept all the way back from the early 90s (I took such care of them, like jewelry, that they were in relative good shape other than losing a bit of elasticity). I was looking at my rainbow of colors and wondering if I would never get to wear them again. And I swear I had thought of posting about it here today! Too funny to read your post and the article.

And maybe the Guardian writer has a case of poison eye. In the 80s and 90s people of all shapes, sizes, and heel preferences wore sheers, and no one thought it was odd. It's a bit of cultural body-dismorphia to say that only gazelle types could pull this off.

Aziraphale

Veteran

I don't have strong feelings about hose/tights/nylons (or whatever we're going to call them!) in terms of the frumpy factor. I think just about anything can look good and not frumpy -- it just depends on how you wear it. Imagine 'nude' hose in a shade too dark for the woman's skin, and bagging a bit at the ankles. Yep, that's frumpy. Now imagine nude hose that blends invisibly, and worn with a stylish outfit. NOT frumpy!

As it happens, I have recently taken to wearing nude hose. I have not historically been a wearer of nylons (that's what we used to call them too -- I'm with you, Deb!) because my lifestyle has not called for it. I still avoid them wherever possible, simply because I am WAY more comfortable physically in bare legs. But if the weather doesn't permit bare legs and I really want to wear a skirt, I've been using nude nylons and I think they totally work. Three years ago I would have used sheer black nylons or fine-gauge fishnet stockings, but these days I like the look of a 'bare' leg (even if it's in fact clad in near-invisible hose). And I certainly don't consider myself frumpy. I'm not particularly young, either.

Take that, Guardian.

Gaylene

Veteran

The very idea of a fashion "expert" dictating who should wear what seems rather quaint these days. I'll take a pass on Ms. Lowthorpe's thoughts on nude hose well as her endorsement of orange blusher, green eye shadow, lots of hair spray, and sheer polka dot tights. Horses for courses, as Angie might say.

It's the arbitrary nature of these "rules" regarding what is, and isn't, fashionable that give me pause. It makes total sense to go bare-legged (regardless of perceived "blemishes") in warm weather, but it looks ridiculous in -20F temps. It makes no sense to my mind to endure bloody, blistered, scabbed feet in the name of fashion, nor to insist that a 60 year-old woman looks "better" pairing her party dress with bare legs in an elegant setting.--or, even worse, to suggest that a woman spend hours with a paint can to cover her spider veins and then be afraid to sit down in case said paint rubs off on the furniture. And touting nude fishnets as the "solution" seems to ignore that (1) fishnets can be very uncomfortable if one is walking any distance and (2) fishnets have some unfortunate connotations in certain circles.

Can we agree to disagree on hose and let each woman choose the option that makes the most sense for her age, location, social setting, and personal preferences? I'll go bare-legged in summer (and if you don't like the look of my 65+ legs, that's your problem, not mine), I'll wear tights in the winter (black if I prefer!), sheer nude hose with my party dress, and socks with my boots and walking shoes. Fishnets and leg paint are not in my repertoire, nor is wearing multiple layers of tights (too constricting, to say nothing of bathroom contortions). And I promise not use words like dowdy, frumpy, trashy, ugly, or dumb when I see your choices if you'd do the same when you see my hose choices.

Gigi

Veteran

I have a hard time wearing nude hose because it makes me feel like I'm back in the 80s. It doesn't look bad; it's just that I have those kinds of memories attached to them. But I completely agree with what others have said about the temperature! You just can't go bare legged in late fall or winter, and that's a long time to go without wearing a skirt. I'm going to try some nude micro fishnets soon, because those will seem modern to me and hopefully not make me feel like I'm going to a high school dance.