Welcome to our fabulous guide to Stockings. Are you actually looking for ladies stockings? We hope you are because the you found our page on the topic. In this Women's clothing section of the Apparel Search directory, you will find all sorts of interesting information regarding stockings.
A stocking is a close-fitting, elastic garment covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparency.
In modern usage, stocking specifically refers to the form of hosiery configured as two pieces, one for each leg (except for American and Australian English, where the term can also be a synonym for pantyhose). The terms hold-ups and thigh highs refer to stockings that stay up through the use of built-in elastic, while the word stockings is the general term or refers to the kind of stockings that need a suspender belt (garter belt, in American English), and are quite distinct from tights or pantyhose (American English).
Stockings are primarily worn for fashion and aesthetics, usually in association with mid-length or short skirts.
Before the 1920s, stockings, if worn, were worn for warmth. In the 1920s, as hemlines of dresses rose and central heating was not widespread, women began to wear flesh-colored stockings to cover their exposed legs. Those stockings were sheer, first made of silk or rayon (then known as "artificial silk") and after 1940 of nylon.
The introduction of nylon in 1939 by chemical company DuPont began a high demand for stockings in the United States with up to 4 million pairs being purchased in one day. Nylon stockings were cheap, durable, and sheer compared to their cotton and silk counterparts.
Today ladies stockings are commonly made using knitted wool, silk, cotton or nylon.
Both nylon stockings and pantyhose in being sheer share the advantage of being quick-drying compared to pants. Spare pairs are also easy to carry if they are ruined.
Stockings can be held up in a few different ways:
A garter belt or suspenders or suspender belt, it is a piece of underwear worn around the waist like a belt but under clothing which has "suspenders" or "stays" that clip to the tops of the stockings.
"Stay-ups" The inside of the top of the stockings has a band (typically silicone) of elastic or highly tractive material that resists slipping down the thigh. However, there is no consistent sizing for differences in thigh circumference, resulting in some stockings either falling down or being too tight.
A garter it is slipped over the top of the stocking to hold the stocking by essentially clamping it to the leg. These are the garters typically worn by a bride at her wedding. They have similar disadvantages to "stay-ups".
Learn more about women's hosiery, leggings, tights and pantyhose.
What is the difference between leggings, tights, & hosiery?
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