Review: Max Mara Tulle Tights

Yesterday, I revealed my most treasured work dress. Today, I’m going to tell you all my my choice for work shoes. I love, love, love ballet flats, and my favorite place to buy them is from Target. With literally dozens of styles and colors in the ballet flats section alone, I have to admit the red circle is always my first stop for shoe shopping.

It may surprise some that, with my affinity for expensive hosiery, I wear such cheap shoes. However, I find that quality nylons can actually make everything else look better. Few people guess you’re wearing $12 shoes when you have $30 tights alongside them.

Today, I wore my Max Mara Calypso Tulle tights with my ballet flats. The Max Mara’s are one of the dozens of tights I bought during my three month trip to Europe, but I’d never worn them until now. As an aside, one of the undeniable perks of my new job is that I’m finally getting to wear everything I bought in Europe!

Available in black and brown, these tights are composed of 85% nylon and 15% lycra. I purchased size large in the color brown (“Marron” on the package). My first impression is that these are comfortable tights with good fit and great stretch. According to the size chart, I should actually be an extra large, but I found I had plenty of room to spare in a large. There’s also a cotton gusset which, with all the hot weather we’ve been having in WA, is an absolute necessity.

Another great feature of these tights? The waistband. Instead of using elastic, the waist is simply composed of a thicker nylon/lycra blend. It not only stayed in place, but didn’t dig into my skin or roll down. The Max Mara waistband is an innovation I’d like to see other hosiery companies borrow.

On the downside, while the package photo makes these pantyhose appear like semi-sheer micronets, I wouldn’t call the Calypso tights either a tulle or micronet. The texture is so subtle it’s almost unnoticeable. In addition, I found these tights to look more semi-opaque than sheer.

Though I don’t remember how much I paid for my Max Mara tulles, I see no reason to buy them again. Don’t get me wrong. These aren’t bad stockings; they’re just unremarkable. In attempting to straddle the line between fishnets and pantyhose, they don’t really succeed on either. I’d rather wear a true micronet (like from Aristoc) or a true pair of pantyhose (like from Pretty Polly). At the end of the day, this simply doesn’t push my buttons.