Misery Loves Company

In early 2010, Garance Doré wrote the following in her blog:

"But then also, I’m a little weird.  Warning, you’re about to enter my brain:  For me, black tights ADD ANOTHER COLOR.  It’s not like all the girls who still have their sanity who say it’s neutral.  That hey, who cares?  Black doesn’t count.  But still, it creates a problem in my style equation.  So like, if I have a green skirt and a grey sweater with black tights, OUH NO NO TOO MANY COLORS.  THAT DOESN’T WORK.  And then A BLACK COLLAR WITH SHOES THAT ARE A DIFFERENT BLACK, EMERGENCY!  I pretty much have a fashion panic attack."

When I first read this, I had this overwhelming feeling of "oh my gosh, I found someone who understands me!  I must find her & tell her I am the same way!"  I, too, have this rather finicky issue with adding black tights into the mix willy-nilly.  Admittedly, I have caved & done it as I love skirts too much not to wear them in the winter & it's WAY too cold in New York not to pair them with tights, but then I feel uncomfortable all day that I added black tights to my non-black outfit.  I feel self-conscious, even though I'm probably the only one judging my hapless use of black tights.  The funny thing is that on other people, I view it as insouciant & cool when they mix black leggings into their brown-based outfits. 

Well, I found this pair of dark grey tights in my drawer & thought, "oh oh, maybe this will go better with my denim skirt & brown boots!"  I excitedly put them on one cold, gloomy morning last week & thought, "oh my gosh, I solved my problem."  I felt put together & less haphazard.  Now these J. Crew tights are my new favorite brown-based outfit tights. 

I can't help being crazy, but at least I'm not alone.