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"I'm buying a holiday party dress, but I don't think I can bare my legs anymore! Not after so many months in comfortable clothes! Also, I feel that my late mushy legs need some help. In the past, I will only grab a pair of pantyhose, and it will feel more tight and polished in my outfit. But I am worried that the pantyhose is out of date. Are they cool or not?"

News Flash: Pantyhose is back in fashion! Even sheer pantyhose. Even naked pantyhose! I think this revelation is large enough to occupy its own paragraph.

I'm with you; I don't think I have worn sheer socks since around 1995, when I started to imitate the trendy European fashion editors, they wore chic pencil skirts, bare-legged, not afraid of wind and rain. This large-scale movement away from stockings is a full swing of the fashion pendulum that lasted for a quarter of a century (unless you work in finance or the crew, where the stubborn dress code of female employees has been tolerated).

In 2015, the New York Times described not wearing pantyhose as “an act of strength, indicating youthful vitality and Pilates muscle tone, and may further imply the shortness of walking from a rented car to a reserved table.”

In those bare-legged years, I must have tried all the shiny, shiny, bronze leg makeup on the market, leaving a stain on the sheets and sofa, and shining on the dating suit pants sitting next to me. . The appearance of pale legs in winter is something a few people can accomplish (see Pilates and limousine ideals above), and everyone has no blemishes-varicose veins, abrasions, bruises, scars, wrinkled skin-we would rather cover.

Perhaps the popularity of pajamas and sweatpants makes us yearn again for the pleasant formality of silky legs and socks. In the spring of 2021, the tight pants under the skirt reappeared this trend, which is a return to the beginning of this century. Then in October of this year, Harper's Bazaar launched a series of coveted tights and offered a variety of pure options. Lady Gaga wore fancy leggings. She wore a fishing net and was acclaimed at the British premiere of "House of Gucci". She paired it with platform boots and a purple Gucci dress with high thigh slits to better display the socks.

I grew up in Hanes and L'Eggs commercials on TV. Pantyhose is considered young, sexy and powerful. So, I am going back. Think of the generation who never wore stockings, now they can play with a brand new accessory!

So, bring pantyhose. Except, we no longer call them "pantyhose": part of the socks repair project includes a name change. The word now used is "tights". "Tights" used to refer to only opaque leg coverings, but now includes pure styles. Tights is an expression of Britain, imported from this country, and its royal women are actually not allowed to leave the palace without wearing tights. Americans tend to use the term "nylon", referring to the breakthrough technology that replaced stockings with nylon versions before World War II.

"People really don't like the word underpants," said Toronto leggings entrepreneur Xenia Chen, who used to work in the financial industry (and struggled with socks tasks). Her company Threads provides direct-to-consumer leggings (20 denier transparent, with tone matching technology, 60 denier opaque) and optional subscription services.

When she was tired of “either spending $10 on poor-quality drugstore leggings” or spending six times as much on European brands such as Wolford or Falke, she thought of Threads. These are also torn-they will only break your heart a little bit more. "I thought,'Why don't we have a better product with thoughtful design and reasonable price?'" She also pointed out that the "control top" hose "often makes you feel like a sausage in your intestines." So she conducted an investigation and It is found that, as expected, most hosiery groups are run by men.

Chen said that what surprised her was that once she started selling online (via Facebook advertising), she discovered that there were also many men who wanted tights of various weights. "About 40% to 50% of our business is now male," she said. "We hope to make progress in eliminating social stigma. Many men are very uncomfortable shopping in stores, so they prefer to order online, and the packaging is gender-neutral and cautious." Chen added that this temptation is often practical: "Many men tell me that they want warmth or compression under their pants; many people in the military tell me that they wear tights under their uniforms to prevent abrasions and prevent ticks and bugs. Many men wear tights for Fun and stylish." Chen adjusted the size (A to F is the current extended range of men) and marketing (half of the images were shot on men) to suit the customer base.

There is no age limit for tights. "We have customers between 18 and 85 years old," Chen said. She recently began to use TikTok to target advertising to young people in this field, and this group may have never tried transparent tights before.

As for shapewear, Chen said, “Women like tops that are shaped and controlled, but they clearly don’t want to feel like they can’t breathe. But they want to repair some areas, such as caress or abdomen, so we targeted these areas and added Enhance the strength of your hips."

Threads uses 3D structures to improve durability. Although they will not last forever, especially transparent, Chen said that if you wash them in cold water in a laundry bag and lay them flat to dry, they should last about a year ( The opaque time is longer). They are also produced by a family factory in Italy, so she can guarantee that the labor regulations are fair and the tights supply chain has passed the OEKO-TEX certification.

Pure black and pure nude colors are the best sellers in this series. "There is a kind of sheer black leggings that really unites you. It needs your gear from 80 to 100." In the language of social media, "It's like a real Instagram filter that fits your legs. ."

For those who want to re-enter the tights trend, the market may have changed since you last walked into the sock aisle.

Threads transparent leggings, $20, yourthreads.co buy here

As an original bestseller, this style has some shapewear control (and hip lift effect) at the waist, black and four nude shades, from ivory to maroon, with tone matching technology, suitable for a wider range of skin tones.

Threads Sheer-To-Waist leggings, $20, yourthreads.co buy here

This new style just debuted this week. It launched a variety of sizes (men's and women's) tan, and more colors.

Wolford leggings, $70, farfetch.com buy here

These European-style luxury leggings perfectly blend transparent and opaque colors to create beautiful shadows and tones for your legs.

Sheertex sheer leggings, $63, sheertex.com buy here

Another direct-to-consumer Canadian brand, Sheertex, offers a 30-day damage warranty. Judging from the number of times I have seen their targeted ads on Instagram, I guess I am in their demographics!

Simons Valenza transparent pantyhose, $12, simons.ca buy here

A pure waist budget friendly option. Made in Italy, specially designed for Simons, available in a variety of skin tones and blacks.

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