As the nation’s obsession with Kate Middleton continues, the latest news from brands desperate to be mentioned in the same sentence as the Duchess of Cambridge, is that Kate is responsible for a huge rise in the sale of sheer hosiery.
Selfridges is reporting a 40″ increase in sales of sheer tights since this time last year, while TightsPlease are doing even better, with a 90″ increase in sales of their “Kate Middleton style” nude tights.
For Kate Middleton herself, of course, shiny, sheer tights have absolutely nothing to do with fashion: they’re purely a matter of royal protocol, which dictates that female members of the royal family should always wear hosiery, and closed-toe shoes. (Kate slipped up on that one, by the way, when she wore a pair of LK Bennett sandals to a polo match last week in California. Don’t worry, Kate, we won’t tell…) It’s always possible that Kate would chose to always wear tights anyway, regardless of that fact, but it has to be noted here that she is operating under a very different set of “rules” from most of us.
Sheer tights and the Kate Middleton effect
As for the rest of us, however, it would probably be fair to say that until the so-called Kate Middleton effect took hold, sheer hosiery, especially of the “nude” variety, had rather fallen out of fashion. In fact, unless you have an occupation with a dress code which forbids bare legs, or are a lady of a certain age, for whom the very idea of bare legs goes against a lifetime of fashion teaching, it’s entirely possible that you don’t even own a pair of nude tights. Opaque tights, yes: in fact, over the past few years, opaque tights have stopped being simply undergarments, and started being fashion items in their own right, with brands constantly bringing out new colours and patterns. You may even own some fishnets, or lace tights, or tights in some other fabric or style.
But the sheer, shiny nylons of the 70s and 80s? We’re going to take a guess that they probably haven’t had much of a role in your fashion life, at least not within the past few years, when it’s been pretty much a case of bare legs or opaques, with nothing in between. Memories of the American Tan of the 80s have made sheer hosiery seem dated and fussy to some generations of women – and, of course, the fact that sheer tights tend to ladder easily and aren’t always the most comfortable things in the world to wear don’t help much either.
Sheer hosiery makes a comeback, nothing new under the sun
Of course, there was a time when bare legs were seen as a serious fashion faux pas. That time wasn’t even particularly long ago: in fact, any time we write about the issue of tights with sandals, we can guarantee we’ll get a selection of comments from women who were raised to believe that a lady never goes bare-legged, and who can’t imagine deviating from that rule, especially in the workplace. So if, indeed, sheer hosiery is making a comeback, it’s just one more example of fashion coming full-circle.
Do you wear sheer hosiery?
Never mind Kate Middleton, though: we want to hear about you, the woman on the street. Or on the internet, rather. What’s your take on sheer tights? Do you wear them? Would you wear them? Are you starting to see them as “fashion” item now that they’ve been given the royal seal of approval -albeit as a matter of protocol – or will you be sticking to your trusty opaques or nothing at all, and letting the royals keep all the sheer tights for themselves?
In other words: what do you think of sheer hosiery?
(Bracing ourselves for the usual male-generated nylon-fetish comments on this one…)
We spoke about the one-sleeved trend last week, and now here’s an example of it in action, in the form of Emma Watson wearing a sparkly, one-sleeved dress by Balmain to Letterman last night.
We should probably be thanking Emma Watson for wearing this dress, because, by doing so, she’s finally helped us identify why it is that we don’t love the Single Sleeve: or at least why we don’t mind some examples of it, and actively dislike others. It’s that it doesn’t look deliberate. This dress, for instance, doesn’t look charmingly off-balance, in a cunning, “isn’t that clever” kind of way. It looks like the dress met with an unfortunate accident of some kind, which left is sans sleeve.
In fact, we’re now wondering if there’s some kind of Sleeve Stealer at work. Should we put out an APB, we wonder? Or do you think the Sleeve Stealer should be left to go about his – or her – business unhindered? And while we’re on the subject, what about Emma’s Christian Louboutin wedges?
Are you thinking “too clunky for that dress”? We’re thinking “too clunky for that dress.” Although we’d love them with something else.
And speaking of something else:
Here’s Emma in Bottega Veneta at the New York premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. We really want to love this gown. We do love the colour, you see, and the design is refreshingly different, but we feel bound to point out that it looks like someone has hastily pinned a curtain or other random piece of fabric onto the bodice, almost as if Emma was just about to step out the door when the original skirt fell off and this one had to be cobbled together in a hurry. Shades of Scarlett O’Hara and her famous curtains, perhaps.
For this event, Emma went with slicked-back hair and dramatic, dark eye makeup:
Definitely not a look everyone could pull off, but we reckon she’s got the face for it.
What do you think of these two different looks from Emma Watson?
As with many other so-called “new” fashion trends, skater dresses aren’t actually particularly ”new at all”: in fact, those fitted waists and circle skirts harken back to the 80s, while the typically short lengths are more reminiscent of… well, of an ice-dance costume, which is where the name comes from. (And try telling us you’d wear a skater dress and NOT want to twirl in it a couple of times. We find it physically impossible. A girl’s gotta twirl when she’s wearing a full skirt…)
Skater dresses on the high street
2011, however, has seen more than it’s fair share of skater dresses, which are currently being sold, in almost every high street store in the UK. The current crop of dresses come in all the colours of the rainbow, and are typically high-necked, with cap sleeves (or no sleeves at all), and are designed to hit at around mid-thigh. We like the Ponte Di Roma fabric skater dresses are often made in because it holds its shape well, and tends not to crease too badly, but the current popularity surge has seen them appear in various different fabrics. Lace is particularly popular with this style of dress:
Long sleeved versions, like this one from Topshop, are also fairly common, and perhaps a little more practical for daywear, and colder temperatures.
Longer length skater dresses
The skater dress is normally mini-length (although not quite as short as an actual skater’s costume, for which The Fashion Police will be forever thankful), but if you prefer your hemlines just a little longer, fear not: the current trend for midi skirts means that it is possible (although not exactly easy) to track down similarly shaped dresses in a longer length. We found this one at ASOS:
This dress is basically a fashion editor’s dream right now, checking the boxes for three different trends in one:
- Midi length? Check. - Bright orange colour? Check? - Can have the word “skater” applied to it? Check.
So if you’re the kind of person who worries about being “bang on trend”, go for it. If you’re not, it’s also available in a shade ASOS call “cafe creme”, and which we’d probably call “beige”
How to wear skater dresses
One of the joys of the skater dress is how easy it is to wear. The simple shape and typically bright colours these dresses come in mean they really lend themselves to a similarly simple outfit: they’re the kind of thing you can just add a pair of shoes to, and maybe tights if it happens to be cold out, and be ready to go. A slim belt will also help accentuate the fitted waist even further, and a brooch or necklace doesn’t hurt if you really want to accessorize.
What do you think of skater dresses, readers? Got any? Want to get any? Just desperate for them to disappear off the face of the planet?
It was the BAFTA Brits to Watch event, but let’s face it: no one would really be watching the Brits in attendance (including guest of honour Kate Middleton, in Alexander McQueen), when J.Lo’s abs were there to be watched instead, would they?
And quite some abs they are, too:
Now, The Fashion Police have never been big fans of dresses designed to showcase random parts of the body, whether through a Boob Window, or, as in this case, an Abs Window, although we don’t deny the possibility that if we were built like J Lo, we might feel differently.
What do you think, though? Is it appropriate to flash your abs in front of loyalty? Did J Lo overdo it ever so slightly? Or is she just doing what J Lo does best: showing off her fabulous figure in a show-stopper of a dress? (Well, she IS still Jenny from the Block, after all…)
This isn’t the kind of thing that would normally grab our attention, but the colour is a favourite of ours right now, and as we looked at the photos of it, the word “flirty” popped into our minds, and we thought, “Hey, this should totally be Dress of the Day!”
“Get a tan!” “She’s too pale!” “Urgh, she really needs some sun!”
These are all comments I’ve read recently on various fashion and celebrity websites – and sometimes right here on The Fashion Police. They probably sound pretty familiar to anyone with pale skin who’s ever been on vacation and returned home to a slew of comments along the lines of, “You don’t have much of a tan!”, always uttered in a vaguely accusing manner, as if the pale-skinned person has somehow failed to live up to some agreed standard of skin colour.
As a pale skinned person myself (I’m more pale blue than I am white: my natural skin colour is similar to Nicola Roberts’ in the image above), these comments never fail to depress me. I don’t tan. Ever. I would no more lie out in the sun without SPF70 than I’d throw myself in the fire. This is not a fashion statement: it’s just plain common sense for someone who burns easily, and who’s in a high-risk group for skin cancer because of it. I will not risk my health for the sake of fashion, and I don’t believe anyone else should, either.
The thing is, I don’t think anyone would argue that a sun tan is worth risking skin cancer for. On our post about Rumer Willis last week, though, for instance, I noticed a couple of comments about Rumer’s skin being “too white”, and those comments surprised me a little because as far as I can see, while she obviously has pale skin, that’s her natural colour.
When did it become OK to criticise people for their natural skin colour, or to suggest that they should cover up, because that colour is somehow too unattractive to be on show? Imagine the outcry there would be if a photo of Beyonce, say, was greeted with comments of “She’s too dark.” And what do the people who criticise pale skin want us to do, anyway? Lie in the sun and risk our health? Grab a bottle of fake tan and turn ourselves orange?
Just to be clear, I’m not against people tanning if they want to, or, indeed using self tanner. In fact, I’ve hit the bottle myself on occasion (the bottle of gradual tanner, I mean. Not the wine bottle. Although that too, sometimes) and will probably do it again if I feel like it. It’s the idea of it being a requirement that bothers me. This idea that if you’re pale skinned, you MUST try to change it, or that a pale-skinned woman cannot possibly be considered beautiful or stylish. (The women pictured at the top of the page would all beg to differ.)
As far as I’m concerned, skin colour is not a fashion statement, and never should be. No one should be made to feel ashamed of their natural skin colour, be it black, white, or any of the many, many shades in between. No one should feel like they have to change their skin colour in order to wear certain clothes or feel “fashionable”. Comments like “she needs to get a tan!” should have no place in an enlightened society.
What’s your take on this one? Can pale people wear shorts? Or do you agree that when it comes to fashion, skin colour shouldn’t be a factor?
This dress is from Topshop’s ‘Dress Up Topshop’ collection, which, as the name suggests, is a collection of dresses. Do you see what they did there?
According to Topshop, there are two different ways to wear this dress. Well, we mean, we’re sure there are more than just two ways, but there are just two which they’ve chosen to illustrate: the traditional, pretty-prom-dress way shown above (i.e. add shoes, a bag, and maybe some jewellery and you’re good to go), and this, more casual way:
(Aside: this model really looks like she means BUSINESS, no? No one’s going to be accusing HER of looking all girlie in her tulle prom dress, no siree.)
(We also like her shoes. OK, we’ll stop with the parentheses now.)
Ah, the old prom dress “toughened up” with t-shirt n’ tights trick! Fashion magazines are very fond of showing us how to “toughen up” very traditional style dresses, but does it work, we ask you? Because we always die a little on the inside when we see this happen.* It’s like the person wanted to wear the dress, but then, once she put it on, she got all sel-conscious about it and tried to downplay it, like, “Who, me? No, I’m not wearing a prom dress. *Whistles*) And we say OWN IT, sister. If you want to wear the pouffy dress, wear it. Save the thick tights for something else.
Then again, if we were feeling generous, we could just choose to see this as an easy way to make an evening dress look a little more casual. Because, after all, it’s not like you can realistically just walk around the supermarket, or whatever, in a strapless prom dress, can you?
What do YOU think? Which way do you prefer this dress?
Well, that is quite some dress, no? It’s a dress right out of a fairytale, which is almost right, because this is what Emma Watson wore to last night’s world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. It’s the final instalment of the series which made her name and, well, there’s really no point in downplaying something like that, is there? If ever there was a time to break out the Oscar de la Renta, this would be it, and we think Emma done good here, with the fairytale feel of the dress working well with her elfin crop.
What do you think, though? You’ll find some more photos of Emma, plus some of the rest of the cast, in the gallery below, to help you make up your minds.
