Ladies Tights – The History of Hosiery
One fashion item never to go out of fashion are ladies tights. Fashions continually change but tights are likely to remain an essential item of clothing for women, even if materials change. Since the invention of nylon in the 1930’s and the rise of “nylons” to widespread popularity amongst women in the 1960’s, tights have become an essential everyday item for women everywhere.
Nylon was introduced as an affordable alternative to silk but with the advancement of technology other materials became just as affordable and now tights and stockings are avialable in many materials. The use of Lycra prevents tights going baggy at the ankles, which was a common problem for ladies in the 1950s; it also adds the stretch that keeps our tights up without wrinkling! Nowadays we’ve gone one step further still and developed shaping tights, there are whole ranges of shaping hosiery to help tone bits like legs, bum and tum.
A popular, classic material for making winter tights to keep you warm and toasty is wool, as it’s soft, comfortable and available in lots of colours. Stay warm but stylish during the winter by wearing wool tights, especially some of the gorgeous wool tights in really current colours such as deep reds and purples.
When the weather gets a little warmer but you still need to keep your legs covered opaque tights are perfect. Far removed from the days of sheer nylons, opaque tights have been an essential item for women for the last few decades. They are available to buy in lots of different colours and deniers.
The denier is the measure of thickness of the weave of the material that the tights are made from – whether that is nylon, silk, cotton, wool or whatever – and the higher the denier the thicker the tights. Opaque tights are usually 40 denier or higher and sheer tights start from 5 denier, going up to 30 denier, sometimes with re-inforced toes and top.
Sheer tights also come in lots of different materials, as the denier is decided by the thickness of the tights and not determined by the material they’re made of.
Whether you prefer opaque tights, support tights, sheer tights, coloured tights, footless tights, or suspender tights there are so many different tights out there to choose from that the list is almost endless.
If you feel unsexy wearing tights there are alternatives such as hold ups and stockings. Hold ups (stay ups or thigh highs) and stockings, keep your legs covered but are considered to feel sexier and therefore often chosen for more special occasions. In the same way that ladies tights are available in a multitude of colours and different materials, you can also get stockings and hold ups to match every outfit.
Ladies tights will no doubt stay a staple of most women’s wardrobes eventhough fashions in colour and materials change over time!
