Tights (from the Czech “kalhoty” - pants) are an essential element of a modern woman’s wardrobe. It's hard to imagine our life without this underwear. Properly chosen, they not only decorate women’s legs, but hide imperfections and help make the image more harmonious.
The twentieth century made its own adjustments to the world of high fashion. Skirts and dresses became shorter, the popularity of mischievous women's dances, such as the cancan, grew, and headbands were increasingly replaced with special belts.
But thanks for the appearance of tights in the lives of European women should be given to the American dancer Ann Miller. In the 1940s, she introduced something similar to them into use. Ann was a great tap dancer. She had no equal in this art: the dancer’s legs made up to 500 beats per minute. The garters could not withstand such a speed. The stockings curled up ugly and got in the way during the performance. To somehow change the situation, the dancer sewed them to her belt.
But this was also inconvenient: if an arrow appeared on the stocking, it had to be torn off, then a new one was sewn on.One day, Edd Miller came up with a brilliant idea: she connected stockings and a belt and turned them into a kind of pants that could be removed if necessary.
Tights came to the masses a little later. They were invented by Allen Gent, the owner of an American textile factory. In 1953, his pregnant wife announced that she would not leave the house until she gave birth, since she could not wear stockings without a belt (according to her, it was impossible to put a belt on her growing belly). Then an enterprising American came up with the idea of combining stockings and panties. He made his first tights from thick knitwear, but soon switched to nylon. On September 4, 1959, these products appeared on store shelves.
Nowadays, tights are made from spandex (lycra), nylon, polyamide, microfiber, cotton, and wool. They can be plain, with patterns or openwork. Tights also differ in density (it is measured in den). Models from 5 to 20 den are considered the thinnest; tights from 200 den or more are considered the warmest.
There are also functional models of tights that solve specific problems. Among them:
When choosing, it is important to pay attention to the finish of the top. So, there are models with tight panties (shorts, thongs or lace), high or low waistline. The toe - another part of the tights - should also be tight, since it is in this area that unflattering holes and puffs most often appear.
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