Hidden underneath long boots until recently, tights and stockings are regaining popularity as fashion items. The favorites among young fashion aficionados hanging out in the Shibuya district of Tokyo are delicate lace tights in black and gray, which they often wear with tight or tiered miniskirts for a feminine finish. Stockings are also back after years of being shunned in favor of wearing mules on bare legs, a look that had been in vogue since the 1990s.

Fukuske stockings designed by popular models. (Fukuske Corporation)

Produced by Fashion Models and TV Stars
The casually dressed young women who populate the streets of Harajuku and Daikanyama are adorning their legs with flashy tights. As well as bright-colored plain tights in red, blue, green, or turquoise, there are also patterned tights with polka dots, stripes, or geometric designs. Tights are indispensable accents to their fashions: red tights with denim shorts, purple tights with a black knitted dress, and socks over printed tights, to give a few examples.

The popularity of tights and stockings is being boosted by the launch of a new line of stockings sold by Fukuske Corporation with designs produced by two top models of the fashion magazine CanCam, Ebihara Yuri and Oshikiri Moe. The F-ing Motesto stockings beautify the legs with rhinestone motifs on the ankles in shapes like hearts and ribbons. Despite the higher-than-average prices - mostly between ¥1,575 and ¥1,890 ($13 and $18 at ¥121 to the US dollar)  - the stockings were quickly snapped up when limited numbers were sold on the Internet ahead of the full launch in February 2007.

Fukuske's competitor Gunze also draws on the help of celebrities known for the beauty of their legs, selling stockings designed by actress Kanda Uno and featuring actress Shaku Yumiko in the advertisements of one of its stocking brands. The long dominance of the bare-leg look is finally giving way to stockings.

Colorful tights are all the rage. (Color & Design Research Room of Kyoritsu Women's Junior College)

Looking Feminine from the Legs Up
Legs have been a major focus of fashion for some time now, and the comeback of hosiery has followed on the heels of fads for leggings, knee-high socks, and leg warmers. After several years of striding in jeans and pants, young women are turning once again to feminine skirts and dresses, which necessitate more thought on the appearance of their legs.

Moreover, the elegance felt when wearing stockings and tights - a privilege reserved for women - is refreshing to the minds of women who have been so used to walking around in bare legs. Womanly fashions featuring stockings and tights are expected to spread further in spring 2007.