Ladies tights are one fashion item that never actually goes out of fashion. Fashions change but we will always wear tights (or pantyhose as they're known in the US) in some form or the other. Since the invention of nylon in the 1930s and the wide spread manufacture of "nylons" in the 1960s women everywhere have relied on tights for comfortable, practical everyday wear.

Nylon became an affordable alternative to silk but nowadays the further advancement of technology means tights and stockings are made from many affordable and comfortable materials. The use of Lycra prevents them from going baggy at the ankles, which was a common problem for ladies in the 1950s; it also adds the stretch that keeps them up without wrinkling! We have even gone one step further now and developed whole ranges of shaping tights, which help to shape and tone those extra wobbly bits that we'd all like streamlining.

A classic and popular material for making warm winter tights is wool, which is comfortable, cosy and comes in many different colours. Wool tights are the perfect way to look stylish but stay warm during the winter months, and some very current colours include rich autumnal reds and deep, luscious purples.

When the weather warms up a little but you still like to keep your legs covered good, old-fashioned opaque tights always do the trick. A far cry from the days of sheer nylons, opaque tights have served women well for the last few decades. They come in all sorts of colours and many different deniers.

The denier is the measure of thickness of the weave of the material that the tights are made from - whether that is nylon, silk, cotton, wool or whatever - and the higher the denier the thicker the tights. Opaque tights are generally 40 denier or higher, while sheer tights range from 5 to 30 denier, and often have reinforced toes and gussets.

Sheer tights come in many different materials as well, as the denier is determined by the thickness and not the material that they are made from.

Whether your preference is opaque, sheer, support tights, footless, coloured, or wet look tights, or even the latest suspender tights there are literally hundreds of different sorts available to buy nowadays.

If you feel that tights aren't very sexy you can always wear their alternative, hold ups or stockings. Hold ups (stay ups or thigh highs) and stockings, keep your legs covered but are considered to feel sexier and therefore often chosen for more special occasions. Just like ladies tights there are now loads of variations of colour and material so you can get exactly what you need to wear with every outfit.

Ladies tights will probably be around for as long as we are, and while fashions keep changing and technology advances we will probably change our tastes along with them, but we will never be without them in our wardrobes...