This trend has legs: Bold tights, leggings make great accessories
Strip off those trousers and shorten your hemlines. Legs are in fashion.
But they're not totally exposed. Omaha women are emphasizing their sexy calves with stirrup tights and legwarmers, bold-colored nylons, patterned leggings and knee-highs this season.
And they're not just wearing them out to the clubs. You can see the latest looks at work, school and church.
Opaque tights in rainbow colors have been prevalent on high-fashion runways from Chanel to Chloé. Cosmo Girl's October issue featured models in hot-pink mini skirts and knee-high stockings.
Wal-Mart has jazzed up its legwear collection. Leopard, argyle and houndstooth prints sell for $5 at local stores. At Omaha malls, Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal and DSW windows display lace stirrup leggings and knit legwarmers.
Local boutiques, such as Runway and the Garment District, stock a lot of nylon. And Target's racks feature 40 styles of stripes and bright colors.
The more you play up your legs, the better.
Omahan Angela Poor stacks brightly colored tights with neutral outfits. She'll wear her chocolate brown suit with aqua-colored legwear. The blue color pops from underneath her crop pants.
"Instead of using earrings, I use tights," said Poor, 35. "It's a great accessory."
Tights are relatively inexpensive and can transform your image immediately. You also can experiment — some favor lace or houndstooth prints.
Others layer knee socks, thigh-high nylons or legwarmers over tights, said Kara Birkenstock, spokeswoman for DSW. Leggings look nice when they're paired with dresses and pencil skirts.
Purple leggings on the runway.
"It's a versatile look," she said.
The sudden attention to women's legs has much to do with the super high heels, tall boots, dresses and pencil skirts women are wearing today, said
Sally Kay, chief executive officer of the Hosiery Association, a trade group based in North Carolina.
"We've got legs that are better than ever," she said.
Sales of tights and other funky legwear are booming.
Annual U.S. hosiery sales have grown from 3 billion to 3.2 billion since this time last year, Kay said, citing statistics from the NPD Group, a New York-based marketing and analysis company. Hosiery jumped in two areas: tights and knee-highs. Tights increased from 168 million to 255 million and knee-highs went from 265 million to 306 million.
Who's buying them? Mostly young girls and plus-size women.
"Younger consumers are very fashion-conscious," Kay said. "They truly do have a great relationship with their legwear."
Teens and twenty-somethings emulate what they see in magazines, music videos, blogs and popular television shows. White tights are a must for the teen drama queens in "Gossip Girls" and cutie-pie actress Ashley Tisdale frequently wears them.
Five years ago, plus-size shoppers couldn't find much variety in hosiery. Now they're able to choose from different colors, patterns and textures to blend with their outfits, Kay said.
Omahan Colette Murray owns more than 20 different pairs of legwear.
Some have chunky stripes. Some go just above the knee and others are funky printed tights.
Hairstylist Murray, 23, notes what celebrities like Rihanna and Sarah Jessica Parker wear and replicates it.
"Several of my customers like to come in to see what I have on," she said.
Kelli Smith of the Garment District, 16909 Lakeside Hills Plaza, said that when you consider colors, patterns and textures, women now have nearly limitless options to pair tights with outfits.
She suggested, for example, wearing a burnt orange-colored knit dress with ivory tights and tall brown boots.
The Garment District sells opaque tights in scarlet, charcoal and chocolate colors for $20 to $35.
Women should invest in a premium brand of tights, Smith said.
"They're more durable, thicker, shape to your leg and don't get runs or holes as easily," she said.
Poor, however, will stick with less-expensive options.
"You're getting the same thing, the same quality and its much cheaper," she said. "With a trend that will be gone in two weeks, I'm not going to invest in a pair of $40 Donna Karan stockings."