That probably sounds like a very silly question if you’re standing around waiting for a train on a typical winter morning in the UK . Black tights have been a staple of most women’s wardrobes for a good 20 years, the thicker and woollier the better. When Lycra was invented, women around the world happily pulled on their 40 denier tights and wore them on a daily basis.

This week, the Guardian posed a question that most women just laughed at; “When is it socially acceptable to wear black tights?”

Um…always?

Jess Cartner-Morley said that, “When – or if – you wear black tights reveals a lot about your status, age, class and self-image. And it signals just how much you are prepared to suffer for your look.”

Jessica thinks the right answer is that you should only wear them on months with an ‘R’ in. Which to be fair is probably most of the year. Fashionistas seem to disagree with this easy rule though and sniff haughtily at the very idea of black tights. They would rather freeze to death than be seen in tights, because that would hide their perfectly spray-tanned legs and mark them out as mere mortals rather than elegant fashion icons.

The argument is null and void of you have a job that requires waiting for public transport, so it’s probably a class issue as well as a fashion decision, the article argues. If you can go bare-legged you can probably afford a taxi and you don’t need to cover your legs up against the wind chill.

Bare legs are  also seen as an age-related luxury. Call us ageist, but older women get to a point where they start to value their comfort, and going bare legged (or armed) in winter is just a damn silly thing to do rather than a style statement. Twenty- somethings might be able to get away with tiny skirts and sleeveless tops when the weather is more Ice Hotel than Ibiza but older women will just raise their eyebrows, cover up with tights, Wingz or a jumper and watch the younger women shiver. Goosebumps aren’t such a good look.

So – where do you stand on the issue of tights? Love ‘em or hate ‘em? Would you opt for American Tan or barely there sheer tights over thick ones, or do you break out the warm woolly leg wear at the first sign of autumn and hate to be parted from them until at least May Bank Holiday?