Something Shocking

Hosiery of the 1920s

Here is a cute 1925 song about a man who has lost his flapper girlfriend:

"Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqYJjA4aYXM

I feel I should make a note before I continue with my '20s posts: Not all women of the 1920s were flappers. The flapper style is what we think of most readily when speaking of women's fashion of the decade, but flapper fashion was a "sub-style," if you will, and not all women chose to wear as short skirts, or as flashy, flamboyant clothing, as the flapper.

As the song by Cole Porter says, "In olden days a glimpse of stocking / Was looked on as something shocking." But with the shorter hemlines of the 1920s, women began to show off their hosiery in ways never before. Different colors became available, some were patterned or embroidered.

Society girl Miss Kitty Lee, of Baltimore, Maryland, with her boyfriend's portrait on her stockings.


An advertisement from the Saturday Evening Post, 1928. The colors include "Tea-time," (gray-beige), "RoseMorn" (deep nude, "for both day and evening"), "Honey Beige" (golden), "Boulevard" (brown with a hint of gray-- "a favorite for wear with winter's furs"), "Spanish Brown" (golden-bronze). There is a glimpse of a few different skirt styles of the period.

A postcard by Donald McGill. The caption read, "That frock's so short you can see your garters!" I love the appalled look of the male, and the amused expression on the woman's face. The object of many flapper women of the era was, of course, to shock! In the mid-twenties, skirts became shorter (they still covered the knee!), so it was a bit difficult to hide stocking tops.

Sources:

Fashions of a Decade: The 1920s by Jacqueline Herald

Decades of Beauty: The Changing Image of Women 1890s-1990s by Kate Mulvey & Melissa Richards