Tattooed Tights

When I saw Marchesa‘s Spring 2010 collection last year, I wasn’t just fascinated by the origami-inspired folds on her dresses fit for a bride, but the nude stockings some of the models have on. After all such dresses can only be worn once, but stockings/tights are always good extras to have to spice up an outfit.

Marchesa Spring 2010

Gone are the days of boring nude stockings that are made unfashionable by robbery-type movies where thugs wear them over their heads to avoid being recognised.

Bebaroque is now synonymous with stylish hosiery. It is a Scottish label started by two designers who graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2005.

Hand-crafted soft stretch crop leggings

So sheer it almost looks tattooed on!

The gold ribbons glam up an otherwise boring ensemble of black tights and black heels.

I'm not quite sure this is Bebaroque's design. Could be by some other brand too.

I love these floral prints, but I don't think they are Bebaroque.

I’m not very adventurous when it comes to choosing colours of tights. I generally stay away from bright solid colours like white, pink, red, blue etc. I find that unless you’ve got mannequin legs, they just don’t flatter. I remember when I was in secondary school, I had a discipline mistress who was well known for her white tights. She was a fair, full-figured woman who had her hair slicked back in a tight bun and wore dark-rimmed glasses. She would wear all sorts of frocks but always with white tights and kitten heels. Those white legs really stood out. It wasn’t that she looked awful or anything, in fact, her legs were quite slim because we thought they were plastic! That became her signature.

So I guess who cares if it’s stylish or not? As long as you’ve got the confidence to pull it off, (either that or ignorance, haha!) it could become a statement.

I'm not a fan of white or off white tights. With the right styling it might work, but I would stay away from it.

Wearing heels with tights helps to elongate the legs and amps the style quotient. I would recommend eclectic wardrobe choices if you want to wear printed tights that could look very wrong. Somehow if everything that conventionally shouldn't go together is put together, it becomes right, albeit in a quirky way.

Going short on the hemlines is another way to give the tights extra mileage. I like the way she paired the bright yellow jacket with her otherwise monotonous ensemble. It complements the gold on her tights perfectly!

This kind of works, but wearing flats means the leg muscles are not fully engaged and it shows through the light-coloured tights. Oxfords or ankle boots might be more favourable. That would be school girl chic.

Bebaroque also makes body suits. Something like that could be paired with a poofy tulle skirt or a tight corset tube dress.

If you do not want to order directly from Bebaroque, you can find them on Asos.com (based in UK and more expensive but they also carry selected scarves) or Mytights.com (based in US and slightly cheaper, and also stocks hosiery from other brands). Price for Bebaroque starts at US$29.95 (S$42 approx.)