Would you dare to go out in a dress with bare legs?
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| What's in your sock drawer? |
For daytime, I always wear pantyhose with dresses, skirts, and dressier pants. My own preference is to wear Hanes® Silk Reflections® sheer pantyhose. The color "Barely There" is very close to my own, and they are not super tight or shiny. I always have an unopened package of both "Barely There" and "Jet" on hand. I wear sheer black in the evening with black pants and black shoes. If I wear any other color of shoes, I wear nude hose. (For example, black hose with silver shoes looks so wrong.)
Nude means the color of your skin, not the name on the package. You may have to experiment to find the color that is right for you. Be sure to check the color of your legs in natural light. This rule also applies to wearing nude shoes and finding the perfect neutral nude bag. If you match your skin tone, you will be able to wear these neutral items with most of the colors in your closet.
These shoes from my closet show the wide variety of tones that could be considered nude. The shoe second from the right happens to be the color closest to my own skin tone, so it is my perfect nude.
I get regular pedicures and wear open toe shoes and sandals in warm weather, but I rarely wear a dress. If I do, it is longer than knee length, and the shoes are the main focus.
With jeans or any casual pants, I wear crew socks in a tone close to the pants' color. For example, navy with dark wash jeans would work best. Crew socks are the best length for me since I have thick calves. If I wear trouser socks, the band at the top may show through the pants' line. The pant leg often drags or clings to the trouser socks as I move, so I no longer buy those.
If you sit down and cross your legs and the pant legs ride above the top of your socks, showing bare legs, you might want to consider wearing tights instead. Opaque tights are excellent for added warmth in winter. They look great with boots and shorter skirts too!
At this time in our lives, bare legs in a dress can be the wrong look for us even if we are toned and tanned. I often see women over forty in the entertainment business being interviewed on some late-night show. The ones who show up with bare legs never look quite as polished.
The skin is made up of 3 layers - the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. As we age, the supportive tissue layers become thinner, so the upper skin layers sag and become thinner and dryer. We also often have issues with veins that show through thinning skin after forty.
I feel more confident and well dressed, wearing proper foundations, including the appropriate legwear.
