Brown Tights: Chocolate, Cognac and Taupe With Dresses

Brown tights look best with dresses in warm, earthy colors (camel, cream, rust, olive, burgundy and brown itself) and with brown or tan boots and flats. Choose dark chocolate opaques for cold days and casual knits, and sheer brown for a lighter, dressier look.

If black tights feel too harsh with your fall and winter wardrobe, brown is the fix. It does the same job, softer.

Shades of brown tights

Brown covers a lot of ground, from almost-black to pale latte. Two groups are worth knowing.

Chocolate brown

Chocolate brown tights are the easiest shade to wear. Dark enough to read almost like black from a distance, they look warmer and softer up close, which makes them a natural match for camel coats, knit dresses and brown boots. If you buy one pair of brown tights, make it chocolate in an opaque denier. It goes with nearly every warm-toned outfit in a winter closet and looks right at work.

Some brands call the same shade espresso, dark brown or coffee, so read the color name and look at more than one photo.

Cognac, taupe and mocha

Lighter browns give a softer, more vintage look. Cognac has a warm, reddish tone that's lovely with rust and olive. Taupe is a gray-brown that pairs with cream, gray and stone. Mocha sits between chocolate and taupe. These shades look especially good in sheer and semi-sheer deniers, where the color warms the skin rather than covering it, and they suit spring and fall days when black would feel heavy.

Brown, black or nude: which to choose

Most winter outfits could take any of the three, so here's a quick way to decide.

Choose black with black shoes, with cool colors like gray, navy, icy blue and bright jewel tones, and for formal evening events. Black is crisp and looks sharp in contrast.

Choose brown with brown or tan shoes, and with warm colors like camel, cream, rust, olive, mustard and burgundy. Brown looks relaxed and warm, and it's kinder than black to pale outfits, where black legs can look heavy.

Choose nude for daytime weddings, with pale or pastel dresses and with nude or metallic heels, when you want covered legs without adding a color.

If you're still unsure, look at your shoes. The tights that match them are almost always the right pair. And for a bolder color in the same warm family, burgundy tights work with many of the same dresses.

Sheer or opaque brown

How much skin shows depends on the denier, the weight of the yarn. The hosiery maker Fogal puts sheer at 15 to 20 denier, semi-opaque at 30 to 40 and opaque at 50 to 80; other brands, Snag among them, call anything up to 30 denier sheer. Opaque brown tights give a solid, rich color and are the choice for cold days, casual knits and the office. Sheer brown tights look dressier and lighter, especially with suede boots or heels. For the full denier explanation, see sheer black tights and deniers.

A good rule: the lighter the shade, the sheerer you can go. Pale taupe in an opaque denier can look flat; chocolate at 15 denier can look patchy. Chocolate looks best opaque, and taupe and mocha look best sheer to semi-sheer.

Brown tights outfit ideas

A brown tights outfit is built on warm colors. Here's what to pair with which shade:

• Camel sweater dress: chocolate opaque tights and brown suede boots. The easiest winter outfit there is.
• Cream knit dress: chocolate or mocha tights and tan or brown boots. Softer than black and very polished.
• Rust or terracotta midi: cognac or chocolate tights and brown boots. Warm all over.
• Olive shirt dress: chocolate tights and brown loafers. Good for the office.
• Brown corduroy pinafore over a cream knit: chocolate opaques and Mary Janes, for a playful look.
• Burgundy velvet dress: chocolate tights and burgundy or brown heels. Rich, and a change from black at a holiday party.
• Black dress: chocolate tights as a softer alternative to all-black, with brown boots so the tights and shoes match.

For more ways to style knit dresses with tights, see sweater dress outfits, and for the dress itself, brown dresses covers shades from chocolate to caramel.

Shoes with brown tights

Shoes make or break brown tights. The safest choices:

• Brown suede ankle boots: the classic pairing. The soft texture suits brown tights better than shiny leather.
• Loafers: brown or burgundy loafers with opaque tights look neat for work.
• Mary Janes: a slightly vintage look with a knit dress or a pinafore.
• Tan or cognac boots: with lighter shades of tights.
• Black shoes: possible, as a contrast, but the outfit looks most pulled together when the shoe matches the tights or is a shade darker.

Tall boots work too, though they hide most of the tights. If the tights are the point, choose ankle boots or low shoes.

Brown tights for work and weekends

Brown tights are easy to wear in most settings once you match the denier to the occasion.

• At the office: opaque chocolate tights with an olive, navy, camel or cream dress and loafers. Quiet and polished.
• On weekends: opaque chocolate or mocha with a sweater dress, a pinafore or a corduroy skirt and flat boots or sneakers.
• At a dinner or party: sheer chocolate or cognac with a velvet, satin or knit dress and heeled boots.
• For a fall wedding: sheer brown or taupe with a rust, olive or burgundy dress, if the invitation allows a relaxed look. For a formal wedding, sheer black or nude is the safer choice.

Warmer and extended-size options

For real cold, fleece-lined tights in brown add a soft brushed lining and work like opaques from the outside. They're thicker, so they suit boots and loafers better than delicate shoes; fleece-lined tights explains the different styles.

Some extended-size ranges include brown, so check the color list next to the size chart, and go up a size if you're between two. Plus size tights walks through reading the charts and choosing a waistband.

The shade-matching trick

Match the tights to your shoes, not your dress. Chocolate tights with chocolate boots make one long, unbroken line from hip to toe, which looks taller and more deliberate than tights that match the dress and stop at a contrasting shoe. If you can't match exactly, go a shade darker with the shoes. It works with every shade on this page, from pale taupe to the darkest chocolate.