Ladies Tights and Hosiery

Ladies tights are one fashion item that never actually goes out of fashion. Fashions continually change but tights are likely to remain an essential item of clothing for women, even if materials change. Following the invention of nylon and the meteoric rise to fame of "nylons" in the 1960's, ladies tights have become an essential wardrobe item for millions of women all over the world.

Nylon quickly became an affordable alternative material to the more expensive silk but nowadays tights and stockings are made from various affordable materials. In the 1950's stockings tended to go baggy with fine wrinkles appearing at the ankles but nowadays the addition of Lycra prevents this and adds stretch to keep our tights up! We've even taken things one step further and now wear shaping hosiery, there are whole ranges of body shaping tights available to tone and shape all our wobbly bits, like bums, tums and legs.

A common material for winter tights is wool, as it keeps you warm and cosy, and comes in lots of different colours. Wool tights are the ideal way to look stylish but keep warm during the colder months and as they now come in so many different colours the choice is endless.

When the weather warms up a little but you still like to keep your legs covered good, old-fashioned opaque tights always do the trick. Far removed from the days of sheer nylons, opaque tights have been an essential item for women for the last few decades. They're available in many colours and deniers.

The denier is the measure of the thickness of the weave making the tights, whether the material is nylon, silk, cotton or wool, and the higher the denier the thicker the tights. Opaque tights are generally 40 denier or above, while sheer tights range from 5 denier to 30 denier usually, but often have re-inforced toes and tops.

Sheer tights are also made from lots of different materials as the denier is ascertained by the thickness of the weave and does not differ depending on the material they're made from.

Whether your preference is opaque tights, support tights, sheer tights, footless tights, coloured tights, trendy wet look tights or even the latest suspender tights there are literally hundreds of different sorts of tights available to buy nowadays.

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. Just like ladies tights, stockings and hold ups are available in a wide range of colours, materials and deniers so there's something suitable for every outfit.

Ladies tights are an essential item for most women and look set to remain that way even while fashions changes around them and technology advances!