Nude tights gave Millennials the ick. Now Gen Z is embracing them
Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
Even from the nosebleed seats of the Short n’ Sweet tour, Sabrina Carpenter’s legs look like they were dipped in Krispy Kreme glaze. You almost can’t take your eyes off them. And if you caught her opening set for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, her show at Coachella, or her 2024 VMAs performance, you’d have seen the same thing: her legs glistened with every outfit change and sassy hip pop.
Over the past year and a half, the 25-year-old “Espresso” singer has taken a style cue from Swift’s stage book and donned double-layered nude pantyhose – a functional and flattering fashion secret that’s been embraced by everyone from Beyoncé to Demi Lovato.
No need for these pop icons to lather their legs in moisturizer or liquid shimmer; the sheer garment creates an instant glossy leg effect, no muss, no fuss. Now, performers’ preference for the trend is finally filtering down to the woman on the street – skin-toned pantyhose are officially making a comeback.
Allen E Gant first created pantyhose in 1959 to solve his pregnant wife’s issue of constantly needing to pull up her stockings. He sought to design a garment that would run from the waist down and over the toes, eliminating the need for garters entirely.
Moving into the 1960s, when Mary Quant popularized the miniskirt, tights transformed the style into an “appropriate” everyday look. Just because hemlines rose, it didn’t mean it was suddenly appropriate for women to show off their stockings and lace garters. Women relied on pantyhose to keep things somewhat modest beneath the thigh-skimming garment.
Over the next decade, nude tights became an office essential enforced in most employers’ dress codes – bare legs were prohibited, with women instructed to wear pantyhose if their bottoms were mid-calf-length or shorter. But by the 1990s, as definitions of workwear expanded, pantyhose were deemed outdated and frumpy.
After being ditched in professional settings, nude nylons went from polite undergarments to ultra-playful pieces of costume wear. If you weren’t a ballerina, figure skater, aspiring Broadway dancer, or, well, Taylor Swift, it was just plain weird to be wearing pantyhose that matched your skin tone.
In 2024, the fashion landscape has changed once more – and a huge generational divide has emerged. To millennial non-A-listers, nude tights are still considered underwear elders used to wear. As one X/Twitter user put it, this is a garment that will forever be associated with Nora Batty from Last of the Summer Wine. But, to Gen Z, they’re a new sexy staple – the ideal alternative to self-tanner and “very hot”, according to one pantyhose social media stan.
Millennials and Gen X who buck the trend only do so because they can’t shake the conservative values instilled in them by their mothers and grandmothers. One Gen X woman, for example, claimed online that she only wears skin-toned tights because of her relatives. “I just cannot bring myself to go bare-legged if I’m wearing a skirt,” she confessed. “If it’s a long, summer skirt, OK, but if it’s a tailored skirt with a blazer or jacket, I must wear pantyhose. I can’t not. I hear my mother’s and my grandmother’s voices in my head.”
Some women took to Reddit to share their trauma of having been forced to wear the flesh-toned so-called “granny panties” in their youth. “My first job out of college required pantyhose when wearing skirts and also with sandals – this was in 2000 and one of the reasons I left after 18 months,” said one. “Nope, nope, nope! I always hated them. I am pale and could never find a nude that matched. I have worn black pantyhose, fishnets, tights, stuff like that but nude hose? Never again,” another agreed.
This particular grievance was shared by others online, with people highlighting the fact that most companies have a limited range of skin-toned pantyhose. “The skin tone on my legs DOES NOT match my arms,” a frustrated woman exclaimed on Reddit alongside a self-identified “elder millennial”, who admitted: “I haven’t worn ‘nude’ stockings or tights since I was a kid. I often wear patterned or fashion tights (both sheer and opaque) in a variety of colors as an outfit accent but not in my skin tone.”
Yet high-fashion and affordable brands alike have continued to push the concept of flesh-colored tights, with new offerings and expanded skin tone options from names such as drugstore staple, L’eggs.
The Row, Miu Miu and Maison Margiela have all endorsed pantyhose, campaigning for their chic revival in past runway collections, especially in the last two years as the no-pants trend took off. For her Fall 2023 ready-to-wear, Miuccia Prada’s message was clear: not only can pants be optional, but showing off what’s underneath is actually in vogue.
Gen Z stars like Addison Rae and Sydney Sweeney followed where designers led, publicly eschewing pants and further propelling tights into the style stratosphere. But even millennial stars are getting in on the act – Kristen Stewart and Jodie Turner-Smith have both stepped out in itty-bitty underwear and nude hosiery. While the no-pants aesthetic is most often rocked with colored or sheer black options, Stewart decided skin-toned pantyhose would work just as well. In March 2024, the Twilight star was seen strutting the New York City sidewalks in light tights and cable-knit underwear.
Sure, the “pants-less” look may be a fashion bridge too far for anyone other than celebrities. But there’s no doubt that the trend, along with Carpenter-mania, has put nude tights firmly back on the style map. Sorry millennials – it looks like Nora Batty was ahead of her time.
