What I'm Obsessed With Now: Tights

My MASSIVE tights collection

Over a decade ago, I was young, naive, and living it up in college in Massachusetts. While in college, I rarely wore skirts. Why? Well, first off, black pants were all the rage. Especially stretchy, flare leg ones. No, I'm serious. (Feel free to laugh, but if you lived through the late '90s, early '00s, you'll remember!) Secondly, winters in Massachusetts are COLD! Skirts in that kind of weather just didn't seem appealing to me. However, one of my best friends in college used to wear skirts with tights pretty frequently. I asked her why she wore tights. She told me that they kept her legs warm when wearing skirts and she really liked them. Me? Not so much. I was anti-tights.

Half a decade ago, I was single, sassy (well...I'm still sassy!), stylish (still that, too...) and living in New York City. During my time in the City, I was reluctant to wear skirts in the winter. Why? Well, wearing them with stockings was DAMN cold and, like I said earlier, I was anti-tights.

To me, tights were for little girls. They looked young and unsophisticated. I pictured white, opaque tights (which are, probably, the only color I still don't have!) on a young girl with patent leather Mary Janes and a plaid pleated skirt. Tights were utterly unappealing to me.

I know, I know, dear reader. That line of thinking is cringeworthy. But, I promise, I've changed! What changed me, you ask? Well, I'm happy to share!

About 3 years ago, I was spending the night at my parents' house and really wanted to wear a skirt. But, it was the middle of winter and I didn't pack stockings. My mom suggested that I borrow a pair of her tights. (My mother was always a fan of tights--as far back as I can remember!) She loaned me a pair of brown ribbed tights. I reluctantly borrowed them. Well, as the day wore on I found that I wasn't cold and that tights are amazingly comfortable! On top of that, I also realized that tights aren't unfashionable and they aren't just for little girls. In fact, most tights are super, duper stylish!

I loved these tights so much that I kept them for several weeks, until my mother begged me to give them back. They were one of her favorites, after all. At that point, I felt that I needed to go out and get tights of my own. In the beginning, I played it safe--I bought a pair of plain black tights. Well, I loved those so much, that I branched out and got a pair of brown, cable knit tights. From there, I moved on to navy blue semi-opaque tights and, since they were on clearance, a pair of deep purple cable knit tights. I wore these pairs of tights over and over again throughout that winter. (In fact, I still have them!)

The next winter, I decided to branch out a little more and started adding some color into my tights repertoire. After wearing colored tights, I found I loved (and still do) the pop of color a great pair of tights can add to an otherwise monochromatic outfit.

I then got the itch for hot pink tights. I had a vision of wearing them with a fabulous black outfit and black boots. Alas, I couldn't find them anywhere. I found magenta (and bought them) and fuschia (bought them, too), but no hot pink. Once again, my mom was the tights fairy and came to the rescue--she found me a fabulous pair of hot pink tights...which I still rock!

This winter, I have branched out even further. I have almost every color under the rainbow...except yellow, orange and white. (I also tend to stay away from tights with patterns as it drives me crazy when I can't get the pattern to line up!) In fact, my tights obsession has gotten so bad that Princess literally steers me away from the tights display in stores when we're shopping. She actually won't let me buy any more tights! (Good thing I do actually go shopping without Princess sometimes, but, shhhh...don't tell her I buy tights!)

In winter, I now wear skirts and dresses far more than I wear pants...not only am I warmer, I'm far more comfortable and far more stylish. Thanks, tights!