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13 April 2012

To wear, or not to wear - that is the question. Or at least, that is the question when it comes to hosiery. April is the cruellest month: sunny one minute, icy cold the next, presenting a real conundrum when it comes to the small but pressing matter of tights. Whether 'tis nobler to the legs to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous weather is a moot point, for surely there is only so much a lady should suffer in the pursuit of style.

The tights problem was illustrated yesterday by First Ladies Sarah Brown and Michelle Obama. Rarely does Mrs O wear tights, even in the wintry chill of her native Chicago, so a nippy British April was never destined to have her reaching for the Wolfords. Besides, tights of any sort would have compromised the bright spring colours of her London wardrobe, and with legs this fine, it would be a travesty to cover them up.

In contrast, Sarah Brown made the right decision in teaming her black Britt Lintner dress with charcoal grey tights. Black ones would have looked too solid, and bare legs would have looked too stark when worn with a black dress and black court shoes. As a fellow Scot, I can vouch for the blue-grey tinge that Mrs Brown's legs would have displayed had she unmasked them. If my own are anything to go by, I'd say she did us all a favour by keeping them under wraps.

On the party circuit, the tights question is vexing London's finest. A recent night out in Mayfair saw Kate Moss prove she is not yet ready to ditch the black opaques, despite being sunkissed from a recent beach holiday. By contrast, Alexa Chung (Kate's biggest rival for the title of London's Most Stylish Girl) has been doing bare legs for months, with no qualms about flaunting her lily whites. And therein lies the rub: that legs as long and slender as Alexa's can be any colour they like and still look fabulous.

In fashion circles, it is generally considered poor form to wear any tights past January. This is, of course, an easy rule to adhere to if you have a driver. For the rest of us, beholden to the vagaries of both weather and public transport, a compromise can be reached in the form of trusty 15 deniers. In the fashion wilderness for several seasons now, these are enjoying a bit of a moment. Granted, they're not much of a fashion statement, but then, neither are goosepimples.

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