Colored Tights and Hose

colored tights
Originally uploaded by Peacebang.

Gentlemen, unless you're appearing in a Shakespearian production, you can sit this one out.

Ladies, Juniper asked in the comments a few days ago what PeaceBang thinks of colored stockings, tights, hose, etc., and what color hose I would wear with my new palm green Born shoes (scroll down for photo). First things first: I would not wear any colored hose with those Born shoes. I would not wear hose at all unless absolutely necessary, and if so, then a nude shade. If wearing the shoe with pants, I might wear a cute sock, like the cable knit tan ones I had on the other day. That shoe is too casual to be paired with a dressy skirt. It will look much better with sporty professional wear.

It's true that the fashion magazines are showing all kinds of colored hose this season, but we should wisely note that the gals wearing them are, shall we say, a little more junior in years than is PeaceBang (and most readers of this blog). Which is to say, cookies, we're mostly too damned old for colored hose.

As they used to say on "Hill Street Blues" (there! PeaceBang is showing her age again!), "Let's be careful out there." Colorful legs are the prerogative of the young and kicky. And clergy of any age, while young, should not be striving for a "kicky" look. Navy hose with a charcoal gray knee length skir and navy blazer, great. As long as the skirt is of a fine cut and fabric, and doesn't look cheap and schoolgirlish.

Opaque brown hose with a creamy ivory dress and brown blazer, loads of fun chains and a pair of fabulous knee-high boots, fab.

A peek of neutral fishnets worn with a pair of pointy-toed pumps, paired with a pair of flared trousers, classic jacket and blouse...fun for spring. Slightly naughty, but very "in." Fishnets of any other kind, anywhere else, visible for more than an inch of ankle...NO. Never in public.

Red legs? Gods, no! Pink, fuschia, stark white? No. This isn't 1967, and you're not Rita Tushingham in "Smashing Time."
As a general rule, use colored and patterned hose only if you have great gams, only if you're pairing them with a substantial shoe (don't ever wear a heavy hose stuffed into a delicate pump; it looks awful), and use them as an accent, not as a focal point for your outfit.

Keep fishnets in the bedroom, and gentlemen, that goes double for you.