Category: Pretty Polly

The House of Holland range is very much “in fashion” at present. We had hoped to include photos of one of our ladies in these tights, but she declined based on poor experiences with the brand’s quality in the past, so you will have to make do with words.

The tights come in the standard House of Holland square box. The inner packet is sealed with a label that includes instructions as to how to put them on. The instructions are a good idea, but they also hint at worries about laddering.

OK… £12 for one size tights. They must be joking! One size is up to 5’10” (178cm) tall and 42″ (107cm) hips, by the way. Detailing is quite bare. Straight legs with a reinforced toe, sheer to waist with flat seams in the panty and a cotton-lined gusset. The waistband is quite deep at nearly 4 cm, but there is no finger band.

The sizing looks very small at, but you can feel the capacity of the material to stretch. We chose a model with long legs to see just what the tights can stretch to, as is our habit. Well, a 34″ long leg was no problem. There is plenty of stretch, and once on, the fit is good too. The colour is perfectly even, and the finish is a matt, a combination that does an outstanding job of emphasising the curves of your legs.

The house design is a matter of taste. From our point of view, we can’t see that adding beige houses to black tights do anything other than telling people you bought this brand. The design seems to introduce weakness too, despite applying even more care than usual, our test pair developed a run starting at the corner of one of the houses on the hip; in this case, out of sight, the tights are still wearable. Would we buy these tights? Most certainly not, £12 for tights that you may not even get to wear once, and after one wearing the novelty will have worn off anyway, is just far too much.

For more Pretty Polly products, click here. For more reviews, click here.

These tights are supplied in the open packet often used for opaques, so you may find that you need to wash them before you wear them. The packet doesn’t tell you very much. All the size and style information is stuck on the bar code label.

The picture above is very carefully posed. The pattern must stop mere fractions of an inch above the hem of that skirt. Although the colour of our test pair is described as Mulberry (as pictured above), that is the colour of the legs only. The plain panty is black. While on the subject of the panty it has a very well made seam. But it is not flat, and it is very heavy/ So it may show through any very tight or close-fitting shorts or skirts.

The legs are straight tubes, and the toes are un-reinforced. The toe seam is well finished. Some thought has gone into the design of the legs. Although described as 60 denier, the look and feel are far lighter. The stretched material gives the effect of semi-opaque flowers on a fine checked background. You would almost swear that you could see through, yet every skin blemish is completely concealed. A very effective look that will add that extra touch of style to an outfit.

Fit on the legs is pretty good, and the sizing is accurate in that you won’t find they are too small if you are within the “one size” limits. Fit is the panty is somewhat below par. The lack of a gusset is a serious omission. The heavy seam in the panty flattened quite a lot under tension, so it was not as much of a problem as we feared. But please look in the mirror before going out wearing these tights under tight clothing.

While loving the design, we can’t help feeling that Pretty Polly cut just too many corners. At £6.25, we don’t expect the earth, but we would have liked to see a gusset and the pattern to the waist, flat seams, and a choice of sizes would have been nice but are perhaps too much to expect from PP at this price. A great look for your legs could have been great tights, but too many compromises in the design for us.

For more Pretty Polly products, click here. For more reviews, click here.

The first thing we noticed about these tights from the leading British brand Pretty Polly. Based in the heart of the traditional hosiery producing area of Derbyshire, there was that the small back label said in tiny print under the fibre composition “Made in Turkey”.

I don’t suppose we can be too critical of Pretty Polly for this. Many brands have no factories of their own, instead of contracting out batches of production or even the entire range to factories in Italy, China, and Turkey. It would, though, be nice to see prices coming down to reflect production in low wage economies rather than going up in response to increased raw material costs.

Previous tights styles we have seen from Turkish factories have been pretty good, so perhaps time to end the rant and look at the tights. Almost at once, we are back to griping… £10 for a pair of tights made in just one size! That one size is designed to fit up to a height of 5’10” (158cm) and hips up to 42” (107cm). Weight is mentioned too but is instead a redundant number given height and hip information.

First impressions of the tights are excellent. Soft to the touch and folded so that the gorgeous satin bow that will sit on your calf is on show. Take care unfolding, though. On our test pair, a rough edge on the bow had snagged the sheer material of the leg. A meticulous extraction was required to avoid damage. Raised seams and an unlined gusset in the panty, straight unshaped legs finished with non-reinforced toes. Quite a basic detailing but adequate.

A broad stripe seam in the contrasting thread from just behind the toe seam to the bow (about 40% of the way from toe seam to gusset). Pretty Polly is selling these tights short with the suggested sizing. You could easily get away with a couple of extra inches on the hips. A 34” leg (measured gusset to heel) was accommodated with ease. Even stretched beyond the suggested maximum size, colour density easily met the expectations of 30 denier and was perfectly even over the leg.

The panty incidentally is a different knit to the leg. The transition around 1” (2.5cm) below the gusset is quite apparent so take care wearing short skirts/shorts. Fit is excellent. The matt finish material follows the curve of the leg perfectly.

The seam runs perfectly straight with no problems at all, a great highlight to draw the eye to your calves. The satin bows are a lovely touch and make these natural fun party tights. The bow is positioned perfectly to sit just at the top of the calf, even on a long leg. Wear these tights for a few minutes, and all the minor grumbles and even the bigger grumbles melt away.

Warm, comfortable, stylish, flattering and fun, these are tights that you can fall in love with. Sure, there are areas where they could be improved. But we would pay £10 for them quite happily in the final analysis, and your wardrobe will be lacking without them.

For more Pretty Polly products, click here. For more reviews, click here.

There are two descriptions to ascribe to these tights, fun fashion and one size. They are fun fashion, pretty evident from the picture, although what is not apparent is that it is pretty hard to get all those big dots to be round on your leg. Look carefully, and you will see that some are somewhat oval even in the carefully posed packet shot.

The lace features quite heavily in the design. Not only are the dots filled with a lace pattern, but the high leg panty is lacy too. The panty also features flat seams and a cotton-lined gusset. The only darker portion that is plain is the reinforced toe. The toes incidentally come a long way up the foot.

One size tights fill us with dread here they suggest a height range of 5’0-5’10 (152-178cm), a weight range of 44-72kg and a maximum hip size of 42” (107cm). For once, we had no problems with one size being too small, these tights will easily stretch to fit 44” hips and a 34” legs which is a lot of leg at 5’10. The fit was not great even when stretched beyond the suggested maximum. So if you are petite, you may find this style of tights too big for you.

For once, we have no quibble with Pretty Polly’s pricing. They put a lot of quality features into their Lace Spot Tights. Slightly more attention to sizing would have been excellent, but otherwise, these are great fun tights for the larger or taller lady.

I nearly forgot. These tights are made in England. At least our review pair was. Rather a shame that with a famous British brand like Pretty Polly, this is worth noting.

For more Pretty Polly products, click here. For more reviews, click here.

When we first saw the name of these tights, we were a little perplexed. How could tights be both sheer and opaque? Then we realised that Pretty Polly had made tights that look one way from the front and another from the back.

When you first open the packet, there is no clue that these tights are unusual; they are soft, matt finish tights with straight legs that look and feel around 40 denier. Only when you stretch a leg over your hand do you notice that one side is sheerer than the other. There is no label to let you know which is the front and which is the back, but both the picture and description suggest sheer to the front.

Pretty Polly has used a two size system with just your hip size determining whether you wear the S/M size or the M/L size. The sizing is accurate and is if anything, just a little generous. The fit on the leg is very good with perfectly even colour both on the matt opaque back and the more shiny sheer front.

The detailing is perhaps just a little disappointing. The 40 denier material covers the whole sole of your foot and extends over the toes to look to a very heavily reinforced toe from the front. You would want to be sure your shoes cover this. The panty is not the same weight and finish. The back part of the legs is an ordinary opaque boxer style brief with a good quality seam and gusset.

The idea works, and the design on the leg is well-executed, stylish and eye-catching. It just goes a bit flat at the top of the thigh; maybe they worked to a price point. We have seen the best made of the Absolute Legs range but perhaps just a £1 from greatness.

For more Pretty Polly products, click here. For more reviews, click here.

This is the first style we have looked at from the “Absolute Legs” range launched by Pretty Polly at the end of the summer of 2009. As with all the recent new designs from Pretty Polly, they persist with the two size policy. S/M if you have hips up to 42” (107 cm) and M/L if you are bigger. Both sizes cater for heights 5’0” to 5’10” (152 to 178 cm).

When you first open the packet, there is no real hint that these are other than standard 40 denier tights. Except perhaps they feel a little lighter. It is only when you unfold your black opaque tights and see sheer “nude” material that you realise where the lost weight went.

We haven’t seen any tights like these before. The 40 denier opaque leg is completely straight and finished with a non-reinforced toe. A few inches below the gusset, there is a step change to the more sheer (20 denier) nude material. Close inspection reveals that the inside of the lower leg is a mix of black and nude, so clearly, there is a clever knitting pattern at work here where the nude and black are knitted together with only the black showing on the outside. The black stops to give the transition the nude top without any need for a seam. A similar process appears to have been used to create the lace panty design.

The panty has an outstanding quality flat seam, but much to our surprise, given the care put into the design elsewhere, there is no gusset. These are gorgeously soft tights that are a delight to handle, put on and wear. There is a definite sheen to the finish from top to bottom. Despite the limited range of sizing, you should have no problems getting a pair to fit. There is plenty of stretch.

The fit is good, too, although a small gusset maybe would have made it better; perhaps the gusset was omitted to maintain the impression that the panty design is a pair of panties. There is no doubt that the design does succeed in creating the look of hold-ups and panties in a pair of tights, some lace design at the top of the mock hold up part would have added to the illusion and perhaps made this design a classic.

Trasparenze use the same manufacturing technique to make their Trasparenze Mantegna Tights. These do have the design at the top of the leg but are a bit over the top in other areas. We do prefer the shaping of the panty detail on this design.

Our one gripe about what is otherwise a very clever idea well executed is that our test pair had two obvious manufacturing faults, one so bad that you didn’t even need to stretch the material to see it. These smart and sexy tights should be a must-have for this season and every other season. If only Pretty Polly can get the quality 100% right, 100% of the time.

For more Pretty Polly products, click here. For more reviews, click here.