The wisps of fall bring cardigans and sweaters. Summer is a time of sweet miniskirts and short dresses. But during the winter, we can combine these seasonable favorites into a fierce, layered look.
Even more exciting is the prospect of fashion hosiery to transition a classic vest, sweater or dress into certified style. Hosiery can be the perfect addition to those tube skirts you bought in June, as well as the oversized sweater you found in your father’s closet. If you’re in sync with the times, you’re probably wearing them together.
As wide waistlines take the spotlight this winter, I’ve spotted plenty sweatshirt-and-skirt combinations. Rebellious but eccentric fashion print tights provide an exciting pop accent between your hemline and the top of your knee or calf boot-du-jour.
A heavy hitter in the American fashion hose scene is American Apparel, but we’ve come a long way from the watered-down African and Aztecan prints that the brand is known for. American Apparel will have every solid color and metallic legging you may need, but if you take a little time to explore local and overseas brands, you can get more bing-bada-bang for your buck. 
Hosiery is just as popular on American runways as it has always been, but the high-fashion leg accessories that tickle my fancy are finally trickling down to discount pricing.
One such brand I admire for its quality and trend analysis is HUE, which caters to a colorful aesthetic and incorporates innovative prints and popular lace weaving patterns, all for less than $20. A plethora of other designer brands also cater to the same aesthetic, if you care to extend your pretty pennies.  
My vote rests with some of the international hosiery brands like Wolford, an Austrian company specializing in knits and hosiery. This brand is one of the most luxurious of its kind, carried in retail establishments worldwide. Even though there’s a much more comprehensive appreciation for leg-cessories across the pond, I’ve been a longtime fan of the visual fireworks the right pair of hose can ignite.  
Cette, another great supplier to hose addicts, hails from Belgium, and its reputation for tights is known from coast to coast. 
House of Holland comes from a young designer who gifts the fashion community with colorful collections of cocky but classy prints live from London, and he has the hose to prove it.
Tiffany Quinn is another fashion tights brand that takes pride in its on-trend attentiveness and quality production, making loyal customers proud to pay such a small price for such a large boost of leg drama.
There are plenty other brands that won’t be upstaged by competitors’ print persuasion, like Miss Oroblu, a stunningly eye-catching brand of tights headquartered in the UK that delivers an array of new designs for hosiery. 
Another hard-hitting UK-based brand is Pamela Mann, carrying the boldest, baddest two-toned tights a girl could crave. If you’re in the mood for some jester styling — or ‘parti-colored’ looks, as the tights have been fondly referred to in costume stores — Pamela Mann is your go-to brand.
With so many different brands to utilize for your hose emergency, one should never be without a pair on a windy day. Many of these brands and more can be found on the likes of popular European hose websites such as UK Tights or the more central MyTights.com.
 
—-
Contact Al Burks at [email protected].