Pantyhose & Tights

(The original video for this one has since been taken down from YouTube — keeping the write-up for the record.)

Today’s featured pantyhose music video was directed by Diane Martel for the Editors and it’s a nice indie rock post-punk revival track called “An End has a Start” featured on the band’s second album, released in 2007, which shares the same name. The video has some conceptual similarities to the Calvin Harris one we posted since they both feature minimal settings and multicoloured opaque pantyhose.

Diane Martel‘s resume is impressive, she’s directed well over 60 music videos all the way since 1993 including some for artists like Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Method Man and other celebrity pop stars. We’re glad she underwent this much more alternative project with the Editors which culminated in this fun colourful legwear experience.

Unlike what’s seen on the Calvin Harris pantyhose music video here the pantyhose are completely visible right up to the waistband and seams in an underwear as outerwear approach. It’s dressed over tight black leotards while the tennis shoes with high soles are of a contrasting white.

There’s also a doll like automaton appearance to the dancers like they are semi-dressed window mannequins made to perform in sometimes robotic choreographed danced moves at the will of the musicians.

To summarize it we think it’s a really cool minimal pantyhose music video and is a definitely worth addition to our list of favourites.

The “underwear as outerwear” idea this video leans on has had a longer life than you might expect: full-coverage opaque pantyhose worn as a visible, deliberate part of an outfit rather than hidden under a skirt has cycled back into style more than once since 2007, and it’s still one of the easiest ways to build a minimal, slightly severe look without needing much else. A single block colour of opaque tights under tailored shorts or a short skirt, paired with flat shoes rather than heels, gets close to the doll-like stiffness the video is going for.

What holds it together visually is restraint: one colour of tights, one colour of top layer, nothing patterned competing for attention. That’s a useful rule of thumb generally when trying to make opaque pantyhose the visible focal point of an outfit rather than just a layer underneath, since the moment you add a second bold colour or pattern the eye stops reading the tights as intentional and starts reading the whole outfit as busy.

It’s also worth pointing out what makes this specific styling harder to pull off than it looks: opaque pantyhose worn fully visible, right up to the waistband the way it is here, only reads as intentional if the fit is genuinely good. Any bagging at the knee or ankle, or a waistband that’s visibly rolling, breaks the clean doll-like silhouette the video is built around immediately, so this look leans much more heavily on a well-fitted pair than most legwear styling does. It’s a good example of why fit and denier consistency matter more than colour choice once tights become the visible centrepiece of an outfit rather than a layer worn underneath something else.

If you want to try a toned-down version of this for everyday wear rather than a full performance look, the easiest entry point is a single solid opaque colour under a short structured dress or tailored shorts, skipping the leotard-and-platform-shoe styling entirely and keeping the tights as the one deliberate statement piece.