Benedetta Porcaroli's sheer grey tights and feather-cuff blazer at the Rome Film Festival

A man's black blazer, cuffs covered in feathers, a white shirt buttoned to the neck. With a look like that, black tights would have been the obvious choice. On the red carpet for 7 Anniversari at the Rome Film Festival, Benedetta Porcaroli wore sheer grey tights instead, and the black and white turned into something else.

Here is what the sources say, what they leave out, and how to wear grey instead of black.

The night: 7 Anniversari, in her home town

On Tuesday 20 October 2026, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, the 21st Rome Film Festival (13 to 25 October) screened 7 Anniversari, the first feature by director Sabrina Iannucci, in the Freestyle section. Benedetta Porcaroli plays Emma and Lorenzo Zurzolo plays Teo: two people in their thirties who fall in love and make a pact to stay together for seven years and then split up, whatever happens. The film reaches Italian cinemas in 2027, according to RomaToday, which calls the actress, the actor and the director an "all-Roman trio".

The look: feathered blazer, white shirt, mini skirt

According to the Italian site Stylosophy, it is a "total look firmato Prada", a Prada look from head to toe: a structured, oversized black blazer with voluminous cuffs entirely covered in black feathers, a classic white shirt buttoned to the neck with a black satin band, and a black satin mini skirt. It is the only source we read that names the label.

RomaToday, in its marks for the night's looks, describes the same outfit as a black mini skirt, a white shirt broken by a matching band and a black jacket with marabou cuffs. Then comes the line that matters to us: "Collant fumo e un paio di decolletè a punta nere completano l'outfit", smoke tights and a pair of pointed black pumps complete the outfit. It gave her 9 out of 10. CelebMafia also mentions "sheer grey tights and black pointed-toe pumps", along with the blazer's broad shoulders and peaked lapels.

In the photos the blazer is long enough to almost hide the skirt: from a distance it reads as a blazer dress, and the legs start right under the hem.

The tights: what we know and what we don't

All three sources agree on the colour: grey, "smoke" for RomaToday. None gives a style or a denier. Stylosophy includes them in the Prada total look ("a completare il total look Prada un paio di collant grigi", a pair of grey tights to complete the Prada look) but does not say which pair; RomaToday and CelebMafia name no brand. So, for us, the tights remain uncredited. On the exact shade the sources differ slightly: DiLei describes a light grey with a cool undertone, RomaToday says smoke. Neither calls them opaque.

In the full-length photos the grey is a mid, even tone, with no seam or pattern, and the skin shows through a little at the knees and shins: sheer, not opaque. We would put it at around 20 denier. That is our reading of the pictures, not information from the production.

That is why the two pairs in the box at the bottom are marked "similar": Calzedonia's Essential 20 denier sheer tights in Smokey Grey, the same "smoke" RomaToday wrote, and the 40 denier version in the same colour, for less skin and more warmth.

Why grey works with black and white

An all-black-and-white outfit with solid black on the legs becomes one dark block from shoulders to feet, and the white shirt is left on its own. Grey is the bridge: a half tone between the black of the jacket and the white of the shirt. Stylosophy writes that it lightens the sharp contrast between the black and the white. CelebMafia says much the same: "The translucent hosiery introduces a softer shade between the predominantly black outfit and the shoes."

There is a second effect. With black pumps, grey makes the shoe stand out: you see the point, and the leg looks longer, not shorter.

Grey is also one of the colours next spring's runways are pushing hardest. At Jil Sander for spring/summer 2027, Simone Bellotti put opaque tights in 17 of 63 looks, and the colour that came back most was grey, in 9: a light, opaque grey, almost always with pointed pumps. Porcaroli takes the same idea into the evening: darker, sheer and with a black shoe. The house had already put the leg at the centre in February, with white stockings and stirrups.

How to wear it

• Pick the right grey. A mid smoke grey, like the one in Rome, is the easiest: dark enough to sit with black, light enough to be seen. Pearl grey leans towards white and wants pale clothes; graphite is almost black and loses the effect.
• Stay sheer. Between 15 and 30 denier, grey stays light and the skin shows through; above 40 it becomes a solid grey, more of a daytime tight. Our denier guide explains the scale.
• Add a touch of white near the face. Porcaroli's shirt is the counterweight: without something pale up top, grey tights under an all-black look can read as faded black.
• Fine, pointed black shoes. A slim pump keeps it elegant. With sheer grey, a heavy sole weighs the ankle down.
• One statement piece only. In Rome it was the feathers at the wrists. Grey tights work when they support the look, not when they compete with a print or a second strong colour.

Mistakes to avoid

• Shiny grey. Tights with a strong satin sheen under a wool blazer add a reflection the look doesn't have. A matte or barely silky grey is better.
• Grey with brown. With brown or tan shoes, smoke grey turns cold and flat. For a brown autumn there are brown tights.
• Grey as a fallback. If the outfit calls for sheer black, say a black shift dress with nothing white, black is still the cleaner choice: our guide to what colour tights to wear with a black dress explains when.

A blazer, a few feathers and grey instead of black: a red-carpet idea that, without the feathers, works for a winter dinner too.

The photos

The photos on this page are embedded from Getty Images (Daniele Venturelli/WireImage) and stay on Getty's servers with their credit. The description of the look comes from RomaToday, Stylosophy and CelebMafia; none of them names the exact tights, and only Stylosophy credits them to Prada along with the rest of the look. The photo in the cover circle is by LucaFazPhoto (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) and was taken at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, not in Rome.