
Ladies of the 1890s bought stockings of cotton, wool, silk, ballbriggin, Merino and cashmere. Some were fleece lined.
In the early 1900s, they wore fancier stockings. Stockings were lace, had stripes, polka dots, embroidery, ribbed lisle thread (used until the 1940’s) and were made of wool and cotton. They came in “Opera Length” which were extra long.
The 1920s brought stockings with patterns. Embroidery snaked around the ankles and up to the knees. Flesh and soft pastel colors were popular and they were made in either silk or artificial silk known as art silk, later called rayon.
These stockings were so shiny that girls would powder them on their legs. Lastex, a rubber based thread was used in knee highs in bright colors.
Nylons were made of necessity. Ladies needed something inexpensive for their legs when silk was too expensive to use. Dupont invented nylon and displayed it at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. The “NY” in nylon was taken from the words “New York”. In 1940, the first nylon stockings were sold. Four million in the first four days. This was the new miracle fiber. During WWII, nylon production came to a halt and ladies resorted to penciling in seams on the backs of their legs with eyebrow pencil. When the war ended, nylons were brought back into the stores. In New York, Macy’s sold out of it’s entire stock of 50,000 pairs of nylons in six hours. In Pittsburgh, a mob of 40,000 women stood all night in a heavy rainstorm to buy nylons from a tiny hosiery shop.
In the 1950’s, Seamless Stockings were what the well dressed woman wore, although seamed stockings were still being sold. In 1959 Spandex was developed which conforms to the body, stretching and then snapping back in place, making saggy, baggy hose a thing of the past.
{…}