“I WEAR tights all yr spherical,” says Julia Roberts, in reply to the million denier query: when is it acceptable to fish the black opaques out from the depths of your drawers?

Roberts would say that. She has been the face – legs – of Calzedonia, the 30-year-old, billion-Euro Italian hosiery model, for the previous 4 years and was in Verona on Tuesday to advertise her newest marketing campaign for the corporate. Radiant at 49 (she seems to be about 30, and acts prefer it too), she was sporting a pair of metallic-flecked fishnets, paired with a black flip-hem skirt and a white shirt (she later turned into pink, with spot-patterned fishnets), and entered the room with a jovial holler of “Is everybody my legs?”

Learn extra: The 11 Largest Autumn/Winter 2020 Tendencies

We had been. However principally these fishnets. Brits have a sophisticated relationship with tights. It’s a love/hate yo-yo that makes Brad and Angelina’s divorce proceedings look civilised. For some, tights are a consolation blanket, an on the spot slim-fast for thighs and one which endorses a shorter hemline. For others they're an inconvenience, only one ladder away from slattern. British ladies, in my expertise, speak about tights the way in which the nation at massive talks in regards to the climate: endlessly and in extreme element.

Overlook about your views on Brexit: tights are the nice litmus check of our instances. Views on when it’s acceptable to put on them point out whether or not you’re taking public transport or dedicate most of your earnings to Uber; whether or not you’ve simply loved a final minute window of solar in Pantelleria or maxed out your vacation allowance; whether or not you could have 100k Instagram followers or 10. Naked legs can variously point out wealth, fame, insanity, youth (or an obsession with it), a wholesome immune system, an allergy. Usually their reception is city-specific. In London, in February, they’re scorned; in Newcastle, they’re a start proper. And in New York – the place else? – the honeyed limbs skipping by means of the snow on this season’s Céline cone-heeled footwear confer standing sooner than the footwear themselves.

As August plunges into September and all hopes of an Indian summer season look to be dashed, quite a few British ladies are reaching for the comforting inkiness of 60 denier lycras. However don’t despair: view this knee-jerk response to autumn as an impressed head begin on a key autumn/winter 2017 development. At Balenciaga each single look got here with tights (bar two pairs of trousers) – from the acid inexperienced and burgundy shades that recalled Jane Birkin gambolling round within the Sixties movie Blow Up, to the lacy black fishnet-inspired kinds that underscored the mini attire and set off scarf-print footwear. At Céline, lacy crochet wool tights peeked out from bubble-hemmed jersey attire, popping subsequent to gold footwear. And at Mulberry there have been thick, cosy, commonplace back-to-school fuzzy wool tights in candy store colors to offset chunky loafers.

Which brings us again to Roberts, sporting tights in Verona on a 30°C September day. The LA-based actress bears no resemblance to the Teflon New Yorker ladies for whom a polar vortex solely offers yet one more alternative to point out off freshly epilated shins. She’s having fun with a whimsical relationship with tights. “Possibly 4 years in the past I used to be getting a little bit lazy about my trend and this sort of introduced me again into the enjoyable of including the factor of tights. I used to be a sufferer of having fun with the naked legs and – not,” she laughs.

The prospect of turning 50 gained’t have an effect on her flirtation with fishnets. “It’s type of a stereotype that girls fear about getting older, or that males age higher than ladies, so it’s form of this made up factor that we perpetuate,” she says. “I’m excited to show 50 as a result of… it’s gonna occur. I really feel so proud of my life and the place I’m at, it’s extra about that than the quantity. I’d get up October 29 and weep however I doubt it. While you’re 50 how you are feeling is de facto excellent there in your face.” And in her case, your legs. Take into account your self liberated.