We’ve reached that point in the year when the thought of exposing even an inch of skin to the elements makes me shudder. So much so that I’m performing a pyjama-to-jeans manoeuvre under the covers each morning, lest my bare legs encounter so much as a draught. The same, it seems, cannot be said for our favourite A-listers, who are taking a legs-out approach to party-season dressing, with sheer skirts emerging as an unlikely cold-weather staple.

This week alone, we’ve had a trifecta of A-listers making the case for (almost) dispensing with below-the-waist layers. First up was Rooney Mara, who joined her husband, Joaquin Phoenix, at a Gentle Monster event in New York, pairing black boy shorts with a diaphanous Khaite skirt and Giuseppe Zanotti sandals. In hot pursuit was Bella Maclean, who opted for a floral-embroidered twinset, twinkling knickers and a sheer maxi skirt by Erdem (an A-list favourite this season) at a London screening of . Then along came Michelle Williams, who wore little more than briefs beneath a jewel-embellished, netted Chanel skirt suit at the Museum of Modern Art’s 2026 film benefit in New York.

With three iterations of the transparent-skirt trend to choose from, there’s a legs-out look for everyone: classic and pared-back à la Rooney, business up top and party down south like Bella, or full-throttle sparkle like Michelle. Perhaps it’s time that I, too, embraced a little chill in the nether regions and accepted that, sometimes, a good outfit is worth suffering for.