Stockings - Underwear Online

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Today, stockings are for a special occasion. For designers like Chantal Thomas, they are an aesthetic tool which can add an element of theatre to a lingerie ensemble. For the rest of us, they are a bit of a challenge – something that most of us are not used to putting on and taking off (tip: use hosiery gloves to avoid damaging them). It was not ever thus. Stockings in the loosest sense, i.e. some kind of leg protection, have been around for a very long time. There’s evidence that Roman women and older men wore cloth wrapped round their legs – fascia – something which they may have copied from the conquered Gauls.

Fascia may have been considered somewhat effeminate but stockings were outerwear for European men for many centuries while women’s legs were still considered something which should be kept under wraps. The Duke de Malakoff’s rueful assessment of the experience of watching the Duchess of Manchester go flying head over heels as she tried to climb over a stile – ‘C’etait diabolique’ – testifies to the traumatic effects of viewing women’s pins in the 19th century.

But gradually, stockings became revealed on feminine legs as they disappeared from masculine ones. It was in the 20th century that they would really come into their own as a fashion feature. This, in turn, was largely due to one invention – nylon. Nylon stockings came along at the end of the 1930s and when, after the Second World War, they became freely available, they caused a revolution. Everyone wore them. It was only with the advent of the miniskirt in the 1960s that stockings lost their popularity and panty hose took over. They had already changed from the traditional fully-fashioned models to the seamless items we are familiar with today. But they have never disappeared completely.

If you’re looking for good stockings today, Wolford are one of the best known high class stocking and panty hose manufacturers and offer ranges from the generally affordable to pretty darn expensive. But when you’re wearing the latter, you really will feel special. You can also still buy fully-fashioned stockings from specialist shops. The ultimate in luxury are pure silk stockings. They’re stronger than artificial materials but incredibly soft and sleek.

 

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