We have had a longstanding obsession with tights of all kinds here on Coutorture. We began playing with colored tights back in February with Look From London. Then our British community members Catwalk Queen, Kingdom of Style and Susie Bubble helped us reconnect with our love of shimmer pantyhose even in the dead heat of summer. So its no surprise to us that Women's Wear Daily is featuring a printed legwear story for Spring 2009. The photo editorial by Pasha Antonov made us giggle with its silly photoshopped backgrounds but we dig that its combining several aesthetics that have been speaking to us for sometime right down to the Mandy Coon hair.

The pantyhose debate continues to rage in small town America and corporate human resources departments. But frankly the right to bare legs (or arms, or even sometimes, shudder, midriffs) hasn't really been a concern for fashion women. So when we started to weirdly crave shimmer nylons in the dead of summer we knew something was up. Our first inkling came as we read Tom Wolfe's eulogy of Clay Falker in the great man's own New York Magazine. Discussing a style piece on Madison Avenue art girls we found ourselves inspired.

They became known as the “art birds.” As late as 1989 Japanese art collectors liked to have these pretty little American girls by their sides in the front rows for the “important” auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. They loved the pretty things’ lithe young legs with their epidermi of sheerest ravage-me nylon shimmering up to the most tumescent swells of their thighs as they crossed and then re-crossed and then re-re-crossed and then re-re-re-crossed them shimmer shimmer shimmer shimmer beneath the downlighters.

Now the fact that we found ourselves inspired by sheer nylons in midsummer by a man who habitually wears suits, albeit white ones, in even the warmest weather seemed fitting. But then today network partner Catwalk Queen admitted that she was a hosiery hoarder. She begins in the context of pre-fall trends and uses fellow community members Kingdom of Style and Susie Bubble as evidence. But its when she admits to loving "the new breed of truly barely-there nudes" we knew we were not alone. We have a few plans in mind for showcasing just how sexy the "shimmer, shimmer, cross re-cross" can be even in the middle of a heatwave.

Inside jokes are funny things as it is almost impossible to reconstruct the genesis of a witticism particular to a clique. Nevertheless we feel a burning desire to share with you a strange connection we have made in our heads here at Coutorture about the danger of going without pants. Please bear with us while we explain. Your Editor in Chief and Creative Director have a unique take on Men Without Hat's Safety Dance. For reasons unknown to to them, in some fit of fashionista perversity they have managed to transpose dance for pants in several instances of the lyrics. Thus

I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine

Has become

'Cause your friends don't pants and if they don't pants
Well they're no friends of mine

And no we aren't sure how we arrived at this conclusion either but many choruses of "we can pants" have been sung. But clearly if friends don't pants well then they're no friends of mine! Or at least that is what we imagine the Tights Aren't Pants Manifesto we discovered via community member Fashionation might have to say on the issue.

And yet as good Williamsburg residents we just aren't sure if, despite our revised lyrics, people without pants are in fact no friends at all. It would seem dancing about in fields in crazy tights or leggings might very well be the sort of liberating "we can dance" experience that was made for fashion fans crazy enough to style in the weirdest of leggings. Even if they use them as pants.

We've summarized the Fall 08 trends, as seen in New York Fashion Week. Although we're glad that the season's shows are nearly over, we don't mind reliving the trends for a sense of cohesion. Our thoughts on what Fall 08 in New York has come to represent include ladylike gloves, opulence, lean tailoring, plum (and a few other bright ideas), fur (an opulence overdose), bold tights, layered texture, and hats galore.

We also have impressive designer video interviews and original editorial spreads. May we cordially suggest perusing our selection? Enjoy New York Fashion Week Designer Video Interviews from Oscar De La Renta, Donna Karan for DKNY,Michael Kors, Isaac Mizrahi, Nicole Miller, Erin Fetherston, Ashleigh Verrier , Adam Lippes, James Coviello, John Varvatos , Monique Lhuillier, Joanna Mastroianni, Tory Burch, Neeam Khan

nostalgia

brace yourself

spin me

subversive

Photo By Coutorture's Alex Norden backstage at James Coviello Fall 2008.

For today's shoot we picked up some Look From London tights to show that not all of the Fall 08 trends are idle until the season is upon us. Indeed, we've seen bright and printed tights making a steady climb towards a trend takeover so the look, as inexpensive as it is, is easy enough to jump on now. Look From London, despite their slightly misleading name, is a Brooklyn based company who has been in business for over twenty years. Their product appears everywhere from the biggest runway shows to the littlest boutiques. In fact, this Fall 08 Look From London supplied Anna Sui (those pictured in our Tasty shoot) and Narciso Rodriguez (oh, do we have a penchant for white tights) with their hosiery. The hosiery, is more or less dyed and made to order, as we discovered on our jaunt down the BQE to pick our pairs up. In a warehouse with the most amazing natural light ten women, when we arrived, were dying dandelion colored tights and hanging them on a line in the window. Sometimes the most simple fashion accessories come to mean a lot more when you consider their origin. Opaque, over the knee, vermillion, copper, tydye, it's all put together here in Brooklyn and all for less than twenty dollars a pair.

nostalgia

brace yourself

spin me right round

subversive