Most people may or may not know that one of the rules of etiquette among female royals is that they must always wear stockings (or come under fire for sure), as opposed to wearing nothing and "wearing" bear legs. This would then help people to justiyfy why Kate Middleton, since her engagement last November, is so often seen in them, and also why the nude stocking has come back "in" in such an big way. It's not because she's frumpy or old-fashioned (although the latter may be somewhat true), but because she's following the example of her in-laws. Also, it does seem much more elegant to be wearing something on one's legs at more formal occassions. Just because Americans have an issue with it, and are they're used to their Californian fashions from Hollywood, does not mean anything. WAY TO GO KATE! Once again she is bringing classic and classy back into style, and showing that although time moves on some things never die - or at least shes shows that maybe they shouldn't. The English perpetually do a good job of reminding us of how we can keep good things from the past (being modest and looking well put together and elegant) and make it relevant in the present and in the future.
Here is what the Daily Mail has to report on the issue:
"How did nude tights become the height of fashion? That the once rather dowdy look is now finding favour with the editor-at-large of the oh-so fashionable Japanese Vogue, Anna Dello Russo, is all down to one family. You guessed it. The Middletons.
‘Kate Middleton is quite old-fashioned... but when she was wearing fleshy, nude stockings it looked so avant-garde,’ she said. ‘I think she has the kind of personality to make them modern.’
While you might not take her word for it that ‘fleshy, nude stockings’ are suddenly the height of fashion, it seems the Middleton effect — both Kate and Pippa favour nude tights — has sent sales soaring.
Style statement: The Duchess of Cambridge has worn flesh-toned tights on all her recent engagements and during her tour of Canada
Debenhams saw sales of sheer tights lift by 65 per cent in the two weeks following the Royal Wedding in April. This spring/summer, following the royal tour of Canada and the U.S., when Kate wore sheer tights almost every day, sales were up a quarter on last year.
Marks & Spencer, too, saw sales of sheers soar by more than a third compared to 2010. The best-selling sheer tights at M&S this year have been the 10 Denier Ladder Resist Tight in Natural Tan, selling nearly 40 pairs an hour.
Even chic American women — long stalwarts of the bare, tanned, hairless leg, even in the depths of winter — are adopting the look.
‘The demand for very sheer, nude and transparent looks is being driven by London,’ an executive at tights company Kayser-Roth Hosiery told Women’s Wear Daily. ‘It’s about being elegant.’
Since the mid-Nineties, sheer hosiery has been abandoned by women, worn only if the office dress code demands it. I haven’t worn a pair of tights for 20 years because I think they look unstylish. Those orangey American tan tights are seen as something our mothers used to wear.
Before Kate came along, none of us would have dreamed of wearing tights, other than black opaque ones.
Kate knows she needs to appear with flawless legs (i.e., no cellulite, veins or bruises), but also that opaque black tights, which she adored in her student days, are no longer elegant enough.
Like Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Kate has opted for sheer and — voila! — suddenly, a tanned, bare leg looks a little cheap and disrespectful.
Joanna Townsend, hosiery buyer for Debenhams, which has brought out a range of sheer tights for different skin tones, says: ‘Nude hosiery is a woman’s weapon to fight the onset of winter, when wearing black opaque tights is too depressing on a golden autumn day.’
Soozie Jenkinson, head of lingerie design at M&S, thinks sales are also on the rise thanks to new technology making them easier to wear.
‘Our sales of sheer tights have increased this year, not only thanks to Kate Middleton, but because we’ve used innovative ladder-resist technology,’ she says.
‘My favourite Autograph sheer hosiery creates a flawless, airbrushed effect — like make-up for your legs.’
I hate black opaque tights: they are just not grown up enough. And while women believe they are flattering, they can make legs look like sausages, while the shiny opaques attract attention.
I was initially resistant to this new nude craze, feeling tights to be a bit too ‘old lady’ for me, but I applaud that this is one new trend that is forgiving rather than exposing every flaw.
These new tights are nothing like the ones my mother wore: they don’t sag, they rarely ladder or even catch, they don’t have ugly dark toes and heels, and they offer support, too. I put the leading brands to the test, which included me sitting with a rather scratchy cat on my thighs."
It also runs in the family: Kate's mother Carole and her sister Pippa are also fans of nude tights
