Wearing colored tights, specifically blue tights, in the 18th century meant that you were an intellectual and cultured woman. The idea comes from the Blue Stockings Society, an English literary circle where women gathered to talk about books and discuss current and foreign affairs, the same way men did every night at clubs over a glass of gin and a box of cigars.
Asking to attend the women’s meetings, one penniless writer asked if he could show up in shabby clothes, the only ones he had. The request had been granted by the founder with the words, “Come as you like. Go ahead and put on your blue stockings.” The invitation to wear blue stockings (which refers to a shoddy material) became synonymous with the desire not to focus on the height of the participants’ fashion as much as the height of the conversation.
Blue tights have since been featured in some of the most iconic photographs. They have been spotted, for example, on the legs of both Dua Lipa in the cover of her new single “Houdini,” released after a long hiatus, and on Kylie Jenner for the first drop of her brand Khy. In both cases they are a way to self-legitimize and assert her identity.
Just a few hours ago, Sarah Jessica Parker confirmed their return. The actor who plays Carrie Bradshaw on the small screen chose to sport a pair that matched perfectly with her sweater; she broke up the blue with a whimsical tartan skirt and pastel pink pumps. This was the SJP seal of approval we anticipated. Even Prada, for spring-summer 2025, and Miu Miu, for fall-winter 2024–2025, had already predicted the trend.
In 2023, Dazed magazine wrote that thanks to brands like Miu Miu, the aesthetic of the “loser” girl was returning: cool librarian-style round glasses, disheveled hair, braces, and not-bare legs are now aspirational. It’s a reversal of all those movies we grew up with, which began with a dorky, badly dressed girl who had an unbridled passion for literature and no friends, who then underwent a transformation, beginning with her closet, which soon earned her friends and secret admirers. (The most perfect example comes from The Princess Diaries from 2005, in which the role of the loser was played by Anne Hathaway, complete with frizzy hair and glasses.) It’s a refreshing change that the color of tights to aspire to in the near future would be light blue, from the signifier intrinsically linked to the English girls of the 1750s who discussed books in their literary salons.
