I Wore Tights Instead of Pants for a Week and I've Never Felt Dressier (2024)

Before this year, my relationship with tights was limited to my appreciation for my mom's work looks in the early aughts: monochrome skirt suits, nude pantyhose, pointy heels, and a perfect blowout. I remember how she carefully scrunched each side of material before sliding her legs in, and how frustrated she got when, inevitably, each pair ripped. Watching her, I never got the sense that tights were practical or comfortable, but rather staples of an elegant working woman's wardrobe. They felt more like an obligation than a choice—something women had to wear instead of something women really wanted to wear.

Times have changed since then. Tights aren't just popular in 2023, they're actually starting to replace pants entirely. And I am finally starting to understand why.

The first urge to pull on a pair of tights (and little else) really came to me last winter, when supermodel Kendall Jenner stepped out in Los Angeles wearing nothing but a black sweater, sheer black tights, matching pumps, and no pants. Hard to compete with that, and I won't be showing up pant-less to the office, I thought. But I stored the outfit in the saved folder in my brain for later use, just in case.

Then, it seemed as if every celebrity I idolized got in on the trend—incorporating tights into their looks not as an afterthought or a boring necessity, but to elevate them in a more interesting way. Hailey Bieber was photographed in an array of minidresses, micro skirts, and tiny shorts paired with tights. Dua Lipa partied in Ibiza in bright red plaid tights and no pants. Selena Gomez tried on a pair. Suki Waterhouse styled them with denim shorts (and even embraced the rips).

One day, the Instagram algorithm got the message and old photos of Kaia Gerber wearing her stockings with sneakers began popping up on my feed. Soon enough, I was scrolling through Calzedonia's site like I couldn't go another day without slipping my legs into some stretchy polyamide to see what all the fuss was about.

This week, I finally did it. For seven days straight I wore tights instead of pants, and to be honest, I've never felt dressier. Because my go-to has always been a long pair of pants, dressing in the morning had become a comfortable ritual for me—high-waited trousers and a sweater; vintage-wash jeans and a button-down; wide-leg cargo pants and a tee. Easy! But my repertoire of new stockings provided alternatives.

For my work outfits, I ended up gravitating toward oversized shirts and jackets, structured mini shorts, and statement coats. For my weekend looks, I took a chance with some long sweaters and leather trenches. What I found was that the tights were actually more comfortable than I had imagined (I recommend getting a size above your regular) and quickly elevated every look—whether I styled them with heels, boots, or sneakers, or paired them with a baseball cap or biker shorts.

Ilaria Bortesi, head of style at Calzedonia, confirms what I learned through my style experiment. "The tights as pants trend is a simplified way of pulling together a polished look. It allows you to play with accessories, shapes, and outerwear in a new way," she says via email.

She adds that the recent celebrity infatuation with the pieces has certainly "contributed to the tights comeback." It has also helped legwear brands get more creative. Calzedonia, for example, now offers tights in more designs, materials, textures, colors, and even opacity levels than before. One fun new pair has a sheer black base with the words "Girls support girls" in opaque black printed evenly throughout. Another pair features a floral lace motif in Barbie pink. When, on a recent Sunday, I decided to try out a Kendall-esque look and wear only a sweater with my tights, I opted for something more simple—a pair in the darkest shade of black—and not only were they insanely comfortable, they were also dark enough that my underwear underneath did not show (always a plus).

"Now more than ever, we are seeing an excitement around styling tights and playfulness with pattern and color," Bortesi says. "While the classic black tight will always be a staple, there are so many other options that allow our customers to tap into their creativity when styling their favorite tights. For the tights as pants trend, you can go very opaque or go for a monochrome moment while leaning into playful pinks, purples, and blues."

As I write this, I think about all the times over the years I've jokingly teased my mother over her '90s "mom style," only to, months later, obsess over a trend modernizing what she had been wearing in the first place—monochrome looks, baggy jeans, long socks, and now, tights.

Though my experimental tights week may be over, I have to say they've continued to enter my thoughts as I mood board outfits in my mind in the mornings. And now that the sun's out, I have a feeling I'll be ending my monogamous relationship with pants anyway, even if just for the season.