Sheer tights in summer?

[GraceMarks]

I want to wear some nice summer dresses and skirts that are around at the moment, but I can't stand the idea of going bare-legged. My legs are just too fat, too pale, too prone to chafing - so usually I'm in trousers until the temperature drops again. I was thinking that one solution might be to wear really sheer flesh-toned tights but I've been hesitating because... well, they're sheer flesh-toned tights, aren't they? Are they ever acceptable legwear really?

What do people think - would this be an ok thing to do, or do I just have to embrace the trouser for the next few months?

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If you've found this page in search of tights that have been tried and tested by fellow Mumsnet users, you might find our guide to the best tights useful. Hope this helps! MNHQ

How about using something like Sally Hansen Airbrush, or Vita Liberata Body Blur? They will give your legs colour, hide any blemishes and make your legs smooth and sort of silky so less chance of chafing. Ignore the nasty comments, you will look lovely.

Sally Hanson airbrush legs is available in pale colours. Roll on antiperspirant on the chub rub areas helps too.

I wear tights until I deem it warm enough for bare legs (around 23/25 degrees min for me). No one ever notices.

At the start of spring when it's still really cool outside I get a lot of "of aren't you brave walking around with bare legs" comments at work

I wear Heist tights and their nude tones are really good

Who was it aimed at, then? You already told me to lose weight in your previous post. On a thread where I was asking about tights. This is S&B, I'm sure if you want to go and aim some faux health concern at a fat person, there'll be a thread somewhere on AIBU that you can dump on.

For work I wear nude micronets, they are cool as they are more hole than material. They give the impression of a slight tan and disguise imperfections. Well, they don't if you get up close and personal, but that shouldn't happen at work . I love them, they have revolutionised my summer work wardrobe. I use a gradual tan moisturiser as well, and our of work I just go for it.

I live in a very hot city in Australia, this is a life changer:

www.amazon.co.uk/Neat-3B-Action-Cream-75g/dp/B001D8D7D0?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Yes I admit to being a tights wearer until the weather is hot enough, which it isn't yet. Heist 18 denier nude are fine

I would go for a midi dress with bare legs and sandals in very hot weather, with cycling shorts or the long leg sloggi briefs. Guarantee you will feel cool and comfy.

WalkerSisters where do you get those from?

I’ve never seen the problem with sheer nice tights in the summer. As long as you avoid the shiny ones (make legs look like sausages) and don’t wear them with open toed shoes they just look like skin. Just make sure you don’t get any that are too dark or too orange and you’re good. I also find them fairly cool to wear and less sweaty than bare legs.

My legs are very blotchy and never tan. If I put fake tan on, I get terrible dark patches below my knees and streaks at the ankles. The Sally Hansen airbrush stuff is good though. However, I swim a few times a week and chlorine + fake tan = disaster.

The problem with tights in the summer is that you can’t wear open toe sandals unless you get open toe tights. The sheer ones don’t really disguise purple bruises and blue veins. They rip. They sag at the ankle and look like folded skin. They are hot and sweaty. (I have to wear tights for work in the summer so face these issues a lot!) The nude micro nets are the best option, I think, but still not perfect.

My legs are bothering me this summer. I got some mosquito bites on holiday at Easter and because my legs are so pale, I still have dark red blotches where they were. I also have fat knees and cellulite on my thighs.

So I have ordered some anti chub rub shorts and I’m thinking maxi dresses might be a good idea this year. I will bare my calves though because I hate being too hot more than I hate having my legs on show!

I have some Jasper Conran at Debenhams and Jonathan Aston ones. EBay and online hosiery sites offer a selection of brands and prices, like all tights you can spend an awful lot of you want to. Only suitable for closed-in shoes of course, hence work-wear or formal attire (I wore some to a Buck Palace Garden Party recently).

Hi Grace I too wear Heist tights and they really work for me. I' m sure you'll look fab!

Right, I've got myself some of the M&S 5 denier sheer tights and some Sally Hansen Airbrush, so I should have all eventualities covered. I might order some bandelettes after payday as well!

Uniqlo do some long leg underwear thing in their excellent airism range. Life changing. I wear mine all the time under dresses.

I don't understand the MN hatred for sheer tights. My office has arctic aircon which becomes even more arctic in summer. Black tights just look wrong in summer and don't go with my summer clothes.

I have two friends with very pale skin who wear nude tights in summer and both look nice - seems to be easier to match skin tone to tights when pale. I can’t be arsed with them laddering though so use Garner summer skin moisturiser in light, which is one of those gradual tan things and it doesn’t streak and adds a bit of non-orange colour so my legs look okay.

I think it looks OK.

I usualky swap to matt sheer stockings for those cooler summer evenings, or cooler summer days, as they provide the right balance between keeping cool and keeping warm.

Occasionally I might opt for M&S 15 denier autograph tights instead. They have a strong cotton gusset so your body can still breathe and you don’t need knix under them; more comfy and they stay up better tgat way.

Correction. Typing lessons anyone? Sorry about the typos!

1. I usually swap.

1. They stay up better that way!

Many many years ago I HAD to wear tights all year round when I worked for the John Lewis Partnership. I think it may still be a rule. I actually think that it's one of those looking groomed and professional things, wearing tights/stockings rather than going bare legged. I hated it at the time, but now I see the benefit of it, and tights do stop chafing, so they're not all bad.

@CrotchetyQuaver - I can see where you are coming from. Although l go to work bare legged in the hot weather, l would not go to a formal event without stockings on.

I don't understand the hatred of nude tights. I wear them. I get decent ones from M&S and they're lovely and cool. I do agree with what people say, for work they look more polished. They make my legs look much better than they would if I tried to put fake tan on them. There's nothing worse than someone with bright orange legs and purple mottled arms.

"I don't understand the hatred of nude tights."

Me neither.

"They make my legs look much better than they would if I tried to put fake tan on them. There's nothing worse than someone with bright orange legs and purple mottled arms."

Fake tan is also so much more faff than just putting on a pair of tights (even if you do have to carry a spare pair in case of rips/ladders).

I’m a lawyer and attend court regularly. Would be highly inappropriate to attend bare legged. Flesh tights all the way!

Going bare-legged is a very fashiony thing, I think. The style writers in the Guardian seem especially obsessed with it, pretty much as soon as the clocks go forward they're ditching the tights... I think that, for work and if you have less than perfect legs, sheer tights do look more polished. I will be wearing them until it's genuinely too hot, and then switching to loose trousers and fake-tanning the small bit of ankle that still shows!