8 March 2010 – Tight Swap, originally uploaded by academichic.
Sources:
- Navy dress: Target
- Earrings: Honolulu swap meet
- Booties: Civico 10, via DSW
- Blue green tights: Hue
- Dark red tights: Hue
- Purple tights: Target
- Yellow tights: Gap
- Patterned tights: Celeste Stein
End Notes:
This week we’re exploring methodologies behind thoughtful tights usage, and for my tutorial I thought I’d demonstrate how dramatically tights can change an entire outfit.
I started with a simple dress in a soft neutral — navy — as my base, paired with my booties (or are they heeled oxfords?) which are a wonderfully indeterminate neutral somewhere between brown and gray. First up, blue green tights to create a monochromatic color scheme. The result is a trim, lean appearance, with dress, tights, and shoes all blending together for an illusion of length. It’s a sophisticated pairing that keeps the attention primarily on the dress.
Maroon tights were up next. I love how this deep, dark red adds richness to the navy blue, creating what we call a two-thirds color combination, that is, two colors — red and blue — from a triad. Because both pieces are darker shades of primary hues, they avoid looking like a cartoon or sports team pairing. While still sophisticated and slimming overall because of their relatively well-matched darkness to the dress, the maroon tights add a bit more pizazz to the look.
Bright purple tights create an analogous color combination with the dress. But, because the purple is lighter and more saturated than the navy, they “pop” more dramatically than the maroon tights did. As such, they give the dress a freshness that the other two tights-and-dress combinations did not have.
Ah yes, bright yellow tights. Or saffron, I suppose, if we’re getting technical. Like the maroon tights, this punchy pair creates a two-thirds color combination with the dark blue dress. But unlike the maroon tights, this yellow is a much lighter and more saturated shade, and they become the focal point of the outfit. As such, they transform a basic navy dress into a bold, lively “look.”
And then…patterned tights. After learning that this week was tights week, my sweet mother-in-law sent me this pair of swirly pink, navy, pale blue, orange, and red patterned tights. (She snagged them on clearance at Dillards; there’s a much better selection in stores than online, as is the case for stores like Gap and Banana Republic right now, I’ve found. Online, I’m drooling over some pairs of patterned tights in Anthropologie’s clearance: the Locket tights are marked down to just under $7, for example, and I would spring for the lace tights as well. And Bare Necessities has quite a few fabulous prints and textures on sale now as well.)
My husband isn’t sure what to think, but I’ve grown rather attached. Despite the admittedly wild overall print, the navy background of the tights helps to ground their connection to the dress. Sure, they’re a little wacky, but with these retro-inspired shoes and a curvy dress they add some spunk rather than scream “certifiably crazy”! I’d also be interested to try these tights on with this dress and my Steve Madden boots, thus mitigating the effect of the overall pattern going wobbly on my calves and ankles.
I like all of these combinations for different reasons and can see myself wearing each for particular occasions. I probably would not, for example, wear the saffron and navy combination to an academic conference, but I would wear it to a party or, let’s be honest, for a slow day in the library. Do you tend to use tights to add a pop of color or pattern to an outfit or to create an unbroken leg line? How do you decide what color to pull on?
