Legs of colour

A quickie today on coloured tights, but before I go there I'm indebted to sarah for letting us know that the "what I wore to work" frock is now completely sold out. Hopefully that'll send a message to the powers that be, that we want more of that kind of thing.

So - to hose. The 'rules' tell us to try and create a column of colour - match tights to hem and shoes to tights. This creates a longer sillhouette and, in a dark colour, is slimming. This is why opaque tights in black or, to a lesser extent brown, are such a fantastic wardrobe staple. But brown can be tricky because shades vary immensely, and that's also a problem with matching the new gorgeous shades appearing. One shade of purple is massively different from another, and because even opaque tights are slightly sheer and blend with your own skintone, it's hard to predict what the colour in the pack will look like on your legs.

But sometimes we break rules. We say "Soddit! I have short fat legs. I'm not going to suddenly convince onlookers that I resemble Jodie Kidd and so I may as well wear something gorgeous." Up to a point, at least. No matter how much I adore the idea of bright scarlet tights, I know the reality would be an eye-grabbing, medieval minstrel show of 'look at me, I'm kerrrazy!' that I'm just not ready for.

Sophisticated, slightly muted jewel colours: wine, teal, purple, holly - these look splendid as the accent colour of an otherwise neutral outfit. Style-wise I like them with knee boots, biker boots, and mary janes (high and low heel). I think if you're going to be flamboyant in your hosiery, you hve to have something a bit gorgeous on your feet, basically: a pair of low heel court shoes from Next or M&S aren't going to cut it. If you look at the pics below, I don't buy this look when worn with plain shoes or ballet flats (and let the last shot be the only thing we need to say about footless tights).

Where to buy? Where the colour is important I prefer to buy in person, but the high street isn't helpful if you need something beyond the stretch of 'one size'. Marks and Spencer have a couple of interesting colours in their range of sizes (S, M, L, XL), and you know the quality will be reliable. Evans has no colours at all, but Dorothy Perkins, their sister shop, scores a jackpot with a massive range in S, M and L sizes only.

The internet, of course, yield the best choice. Of all the sites, I'm quite keen on www.tightsplease.co.uk who carry the (up to XL) Charnos range - a range of colours for £4.99 a throw. If you can wear 'one size' they also carry the much larger range of colours by Jonathan Aston (£5.99) - but I'd be inclined to check out Dorothy Perkins first. One thing in Tights Please's favour is a zero delivery charge. Always a good thing.

Lastly, as a post script to yesterday's blog on tartan, i thought I'd show you a picture of something I just won on ebay.


This belt by Primark is scattered all over ebay at the moment. I paid £6 - which is probably well over the retail price, but still fair for a belt. Looks fun, I think.