SOCIAL CLIMBER: Nice girls wear Emilio Cavallini’s tempting tights

Photos by Elton Lugay

By Elton Lugay

Hanes may have introduced hosiery to Americans, but it took Italian designer Emilio Cavallini to transform simple stockings into a fashion statement that is stunning and chic and screams: Peel me.

Legendary legwear designer Cavallini, who once produced stockings for Dior, Balenciaga and the late Alexander McQueen, presented his Fall/Winter ‘12 collection “Risque Business: Luxury Legwear Designed to Thrill” at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week on February 13. It was a daring and sexy collection of tights and bodywear designed, he said, to “incite a woman’s sexual fantasies.”

I was among the hundreds in the crowd who watched with amazement. Boy, the tights, stockings, socks — whatever you call them — have evolved into something other than predictable. More than giving legs the sheer look or to hide flaws, Cavallini stockings dared and dazzled!

The presentation was cutting-edge: no ramp for the models, no seats for the audience. Everyone was SRO, and we were free to move around. One could get lost, mesmerized by the cavalcade of pretzel sticks-looking legs as the models strutted in fishnets and bodysuits in tattoo motif, optical graphics, bold stripes and dots with 3-D effects. Animal prints amped up the flamboyance meter, while argyles, plaids and paisleys were understated but striking.

Top photos, Legs up! The author with the legendary Emilio Cavallini


“My collection took inspiration from 1950s pin-up model Bettie Page, but really explores the sexual expression and fantasies of all women,” said Cavallini in a press handout. “Bettie Page was the ultimate femme fatale, inciting the fantasies of men and women at a time when nice girls wouldn’t dare to look like that or act like that.”

Cavallini, who started his company in Spain during the 70s, said he was intrigued by the idea of “pulling hosiery out of anonymity, of transforming it into a garment unto itself.”

He said, “Miniskirts expose so much of the leg that tights are an integral part of any outfit. Let’s face it, the leg makes up more than 30 percent of a head-to-toe look.”

Cavallini’s bodywear are for women who love to take risks with their individual style. Madonna’s dancers during her recent Super Bowl performance wore Cavallini body suits. Watching the show made me lose sight of what clothes the models were wearing, as I focused on how their legs were dressed up.

HAIR by Yan Varin and Creative Team from Varin Salon
MAKEUP by Angela Rafaela



One Comment

  1. M. Matthews wrote:

    Another hot article with sexy photographs about stocking, the look and fashion style by the legendary Italian fashion designer Emilio Cavallini.

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