Tights, glorious, tights!
I haven't a clue whether Celeste Stein tights are a huge brand in America and perhaps I'm just a silly British numpty who has not been aware at all. Perhaps bloggers have gone loopy for them and I didn't know. Perhaps Celeste Stein makes people go 'Urgh how tremendously tacky...' and I still didn't know. Then again, that all doesn't matter a jot to me seeing as the important thing is that I've found a new source of quirky hoisery and we all know how much that pleases me! The sheer number of prints that Celeste Stein has available is just mind boggling in the truest sense of the world. Who knew someone was running a company in Texas making over 1,000 prints available to be printed on your choice of opaque tights, sheer tights, fishnets, thigh highs and nylon socks? Ok, maybe you all knew but I didn't so you'll just have to bear with me raving about them.
So not all the prints are going to be to everyone's tastes but surely one or two will catch your eye from a choice of 1000 in all sorts of colours and categorised into different pattern groups such as floral, paisley, dots, lace, denim, plaid, camo and animal print. I may be preaching to a 'block colour opaque tights' only crowd but I'll take the risk of saying that I'm straight off the bat, loving the array of floral prints they have.....
I know you don't believe me when I say I know there is a way of making these work but I'll still try my hardest to convince you otherwise....
Various other patterns have also caught my eye.....
I'll slowly be going through the catalogue of prints and making a careful selection as opposed to going mad and saying 'I want that one, that one and that one....'. My Tights.co.uk has a small selection but I'm going straight to the source me thinks...
EDIT: I had to laugh out loud when Queen Michelle also simultaneously posted about Celeste Stein. All the more encouragement and support for the printed tights....
Heehee...funny coincidence. The first blog I checked this morning was Queen Michelle's and then yours,
The tights are fab!
Posted by: Fabi | 24 January 2008 at 16:44
Wow, these are printed tight designs? The craziest tight designs I've seen here are polka dotted. I LOVE the floral prints -- I wonder if we have anything like that around here in California.
Posted by: Noel | 24 January 2008 at 16:44
Haha! That's funny! I, rather bizarrely for me, ordered some floral ones!!! I wanted the oriental birds but there was an error on the site so I couldn't get them.
Posted by: DJM | 24 January 2008 at 16:48
Those floral ones are gorgeous. But I must admit the most intruging pair of all is those with the jeans pocket prints. So many possibilities..
Posted by: miss woo | 24 January 2008 at 17:13
This is why you and KoS are leading the rank and file, SB!
Patterned tights like these I recall seeing during the eighties. I may have only seen two pairs, on the sidewalks of Manhattan. White with floral decoration, worn with a white poufy dress a la Lacroix. A large checked pattern of green with red, worn with a leather mini. This latter was seen downtown.
I have two words for these tights: thin legs!
Posted by: Suzanna | 24 January 2008 at 17:21
Any tips as to how to pull these incredipble options off?? Aside from wearing black...
Posted by: riz | 24 January 2008 at 17:22
Ah Riz... all will be revealed when I receive the tights!
Suzanna: Lacroix did come to mind when I saw those tights.... we shall see how me and KOS fare with them though my legs aren't of the skinny minnie variety...
Posted by: susie_bubble | 24 January 2008 at 17:25
my brain is already chugging with outfit ideas! this will be so much fun to play with. thanks so much for this!
Posted by: dreamecho | 24 January 2008 at 17:45
oh my god... these look wonderful! i've never heard of celeste, but here in san francisco, we have http://www.piedmontsf.com/
and they have every type of tights you can possibly imagine, unforch the website doesn't do the shoppe justice, and they don't allow pics to be taken...
:(
Posted by: lady coveted | 24 January 2008 at 18:04
oh my goodness...how amazing !!!
Posted by: annah | 24 January 2008 at 18:32
Do you know if the patterns are printed on the tights or woven in?
Also, do you think sheer or opaque would look better?
I think I've stumbled into some sort of fantasy with this website.
Posted by: Amy | 24 January 2008 at 18:37
wowowowowowowow!
that website may occupy me for several hours...
Posted by: nina | 24 January 2008 at 19:17
Amy, the ones I have are printed on.
Susie, if I had any idea you didn't know, I would have told you!!! I love some funky legwear.
Another source for prints is http://www.joyofsocks.com. Although the selection isn't nearly as large as on the Celeste Stein site.
Posted by: T-Rex | 24 January 2008 at 19:49
Flowery tights can look so good, when done right!!! I really want to find a pair for myself, they look so crazy and original.
Posted by: Bojana | 24 January 2008 at 19:54
Oops. JoyOfSocks only ships to the U.S.
I wouldn't say printed tights are a big thing here. Most Americans are way too conservative/timid to wear something that bold. Which is a shame, really.
Posted by: T-Rex | 24 January 2008 at 19:55
I just saw these on KoS! I'm definitely getting the '60s flower print.
Posted by: WendyB | 24 January 2008 at 21:09
Wow! Thank you for pointing this website out to me! I've been looking for colorful tights for a while now, without much luck. This is super!
Posted by: blacksquirrel | 24 January 2008 at 22:36
Hold up - there's a torn jeans patterned tight?
Posted by: Thom Wong | 24 January 2008 at 23:45
I'm embarrassed to say that I've never seen/heard of these tights, which is quite silly. Just yesterday I was lamenting my lack of legwear—it's been keeping me from wearing skirts all winter.
Now I'm really sad I put the S.I.N.C.B.M. (self-imposed-no-clothes-buying-moratorium) into effect, because that means I'm not allowed to buy any tights.
Unless tights don't count as clothes.
They don't count as clothes, do they?
Posted by: enc | 25 January 2008 at 00:07
God they are perfect for shoots! LLG xx
Posted by: Libertygirl | 25 January 2008 at 10:28
Hold up.
I'm from Texas and even I didn't know about this.
H-e-l-l-o story pitch.
Posted by: Halz | 25 January 2008 at 13:16
Ahh, thank you so much for posting this! I used to be obsessed with printed tights, but they seem hard to come by [I still have my cloud tights from grade seven!] I am fascinated by the more absurd prints, like the vintage marionettes and scissors.
Posted by: valuska | 25 January 2008 at 15:28
Thanks Susie for posting this!!!! There is nothing like these in Hell A (Los Angeles) I am dependent on my tights to my three weeks spent in London every year. And if you can find tights in LA, they are usually expensive ($20 for "opaque" tights that are really sheer and run within a second of wearing them is not cost effective) Now to go and get a second job so I can fork over my earnings to Celeste!
Posted by: Catheryn | 25 January 2008 at 19:24
Impressive tights, thanks for sharing!
Posted by: fruchtzwerg | 27 January 2008 at 10:42