17 Surprising Ways to Style Your Favorite Fishnets

Fishnet tights have long communicated one thing and one thing only: sex. During the early 1900s, fishnet stockings were worn under maxi dresses—accentuating the leg any time it made a rare appearance.

Decades later, burlesque dancers appropriated the trend. Though this decision had more to do with fishnet tights’ comfort and mobility than anything else, it further cemented fishnet’s role as a seductive textile—a reputation that precedes it to this day.

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Over time, fishnet tights have truly transformed—and then transformed again and transformed again. Fishnets are available in all kinds of colors and patterns these days, and tights are no longer the only way to wear the textile. Fishnet tops and socks have pervaded the sartorial zeitgeist in recent years, offering style stars new ways to play with shape, texture and print.

Still, the notion that fishnet tights are a purely seductive item persists. Styling fishnet tights requires immense finesse and creativity; the wearer has to reinterpret the fabric—wearing it in a new way or pairing it with unexpected items—to keep it from conveying something unintended.

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Ahead, you’ll find 17 surprising ways to style your favorite fishnets—whether that go-to is a pair of fishnet tights, a fishnet top, some fishnet socks or something else entirely.

Consider this your unofficial field guide to styling fishnet pieces—street-style-star-suggested, StyleCaster-approved.