Today, I received the following email:

Hi Nicole,
I have a friend attending a wedding this weekend at 6:00 pm can you
confirm that she is not to wear pantyhose with strappy sandals.
Her dress is knee length.
Help her,

After doing a bit of research, I have found that it is not against any etiquette rule to wear stockings with sandals, it just looks a little well, dated.

My answer to the no stockings with sandals quandry came in the Winter of 1995.  I was into my internship at Bergdorf Goodman, and noticed that all of the buyers and creative directors would come to work with bare legs (or bare legs would appear once they were inside the building) I, without asking went ahead and took the plunge and went bare in the dead of winter.  Later, I got up enough courage to ask my buyer about this and she said that Anna Wintour (the Editor of American Vogue) had decided that she would stick to her style aesthetic and not change her footwear preferences with the seasons, hence the bare leg revolution.

So, according to the fashion clique, stocking with sandals go against all that they have known for the last 15 years.  However, we are into a phase right now where dark or patterned hose are being worn with towering heels, and of course this look is new and fresh at the moment.

So, to summarize:  If your friend chooses to wear skintone or lightly colored hose with sandals she will look very dated, indeed.  However, she could choose to wear dark or patterned hose and brandish a very up to date look at the wedding. My standing answer is always that you must dress according to your style voice and we would much rather her be comfortable and dated, than fashion forward and stiff.  When you are uncomfortable in your clothes-that is never a good image.

Anna Wintour with signature bare legs.

A dated  hose with sandals look

The fresh way to pair stockings and sandals