A couple of weeks ago I had me a bit of a fashion dilemma. You see, we’d been invited to a barbecue, and I had the perfect little dress to wear to it. But it was cold, and also: raining. My legs? Were pale and luminous, and completely unfit to be seen in public. The only solution available to me seemed to be to wear it with a pair of black opaque tights, so I tried them on. It looked great. One problem, though: I have this "thing" about wearing opaque tights in the summer, and by "a thing" I mean "I just won’t do it". It seems to me to be somehow wrong to be wearing opaques during the so-called summer, even if the weather’s cool, and it’s not much of a summer at all. So, I stiuffed my trusty old tights back in their drawer, and I pulled on my jeans, just as I’d always known I would.
Today though, I stumbled across this picture of Joely Richardson at last night’s premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum, and she seems to be channeling last year’s Sienna Miller, in her gold dress and black opaque tights. So I ask you all: do you wear opaques in the summer? Would you? And what do you think when you see other people doing it? Poll after the jump…
Weeeelllll, personally I would never do it and to see it on others, (to me) is a fashion “don’t”. HOWEVER – my solution for someone to get around this would be to wear very lightweight leggings instead of opaque tights. Then it makes the dress into a tunic. I don’t know….I still wouldn’t. Sorry!
I think it depends on the weather of that day.
But leggings are my choice for raining summer days, when your skirt/dress can fly because of the wind…
I don’t think I would wear opaque leggings during the summer. How about some flesh tone or light colored fishnets? It is kind of a quirky look, but it serves the purpose of covering up pasty legs (or at least distracting you from them) and its not nearly as hot as jeans/leggings/full tights. I am getting a little tired of leggings, far too many girls wear them with shirts that are just too short.
No, I don’t think I could bring myself to do it.
I don’t think I could either. It just looks… Off. In the comfort of my room, I think I could rally myself to think it was okay, but in sunlight – or even daylight if its cloudy/rainy – the subconscious knowledge that it is summertime would ruin it for me.
if i lived in England i would.
I haven’t yet worn opaques in the summer but I have been very tempted this year with all the rain and not so warm temperatures. If I succumb, I think it will be with coloured tights, not black.
No I couldn’t it either. To me long slim trousers or skinny jeans would look a ton more stylish.
you contradict yourself! there’s an “r” in summer, winter, and spring. you can’t answer no and yes at the same time.
she meant months, not seasons
To the anonymous commentor above:
“Summer”, “winter” and “spring” are not months. They are what we call “seasons”. January, February, March, April etc are “months”.
Hope this helps.
Oh, I am a criminal. I love my black tights (and am wearing them now). I don’t like the look in the photo, though. Also, I am firmly of the conviction that NO kind of tights are appropriate with open toed shoes, but a friend of a friend told me she thinks black tights are OK in that situation. Controversy abounds!
You didn’t say what color the dress was! If it is a lighter color dress, such as the gold dress in the photo, I’d say, no on the black, but yes on the tights. I personally think white tights are good looking with the right outfit. (Such as an outfit with lots of beige and white)
I’d suggest if you are wanting hose, but a little unsure of whether tights are right, I’d suggest you go with some kind of pantyhose. Linen, or whatever the daft name they give the color of “Kinda-Not-white”.
I don’t care what popular media said for most of the 90′s, hosiery is hot!
(And this is a guys position, if you didn’t guess from my name!)
I have a 17yr old grandaughter ,who wears them for school [Black 60 denier]..but i pursuade her not to wear them in the summer but to give them to me, i like to make rag rugs out of Thick Black nylon Tights.
I am going to the theatre this coming Friday in the West End of London.
I’m wearing a bright silver t-shirt style dress, with a black mini-cardigan, and black heels. I think I’m also going to wear black opaques, because if the colour of the dress matches it, then its cool. The black tights would be fitting with the outfit, so why not?
Besides, its London, on an evening, its never that hot there anyway!
Ally, 15
i happen to be an extremely pale person living in Seattle, WA, USA, were we have had even more rain than usual this summer. when i first moved here (from ALASKA) i thought it was okay to cover my legs by any means necessary, but now i prefer to dress more with the seasons. Aveda’s Sun Source is a god-send. My brightly pale legs quickly look more human than comic book hero w/o actually looking like I’ve tried to ‘tan’ my legs.
a g o d s e n d t r u l y i s A V E D A s s u n s o u r c e
i happen to be an extremely pale person living in Seattle, WA, USA, were we have had even more rain than usual this summer. when i first moved here (from ALASKA) i thought it was okay to cover my legs by any means necessary, but now i prefer to dress more with the seasons. Aveda’s Sun Source is a god-send. My brightly pale legs quickly look more human than comic book hero w/o actually looking like I’ve tried to ‘tan’ my legs.
a g o d s e n d t r u l y i s A V E D A s s u n s o u r c e
Some of us are not lucky enough to have a choice. If you have serious scars on your leg, from surgeries, or a car accident, wearing black tights is the only way you can wear a dress and feel comfortable. Fortunately I came from the time where we used to wear docs and tights with shorts or skirts anyway, so it’s not so shocking to my eye – it gives a modern pop. But anyway just remember that there may be other reasons.
I often think about wearing black opaque tights in the summer, but I still thinks it looks strange. Unless I’m going down the beach, I don’t get my bare legs out. I normally wear those opaque ones that just give you a slight tan and cover up any imperfections on your legs. My legs scar very, very easily. One scratch and it will be there for months, and I also have eczma. So some people may be in the same situation as me.