One that eventually led to our current perception of stockings as something largely consigned to the realms of retro dress-up (as per Chris Steele-Perkins’ photos of Teddy Boy Weekenders) and the sexier end of the lingerie spectrum. One that, at the time, allowed women to go without the strictures of a girdle or garter belt. The former, their origins found in the rudimentary sewing of nylon legs to a pair of stretchy briefs for the first time in the late ’50s (just in time for the ’60s’ sudden obsession with the mini-est of mini skirts), still make for a much more comfortable option. The frenzy over something as simple as a pair of stockings might seem curious today, what with the abundance of five-packs of tights and the option of spending all winter wearing trousers available if one wishes. As one British newspaper article from 1943 declared, “A snooper, eavesdropping on any group of civilian women anywhere, might be puzzled that it could talk so emotionally and so incessantly about stockings.” When the war was over DuPont swiftly put nylons back on sale – the resultant queues of thousands of women across America all desperate to get their stockings leading to breathless newspaper headlines about ‘Nylon Riots’.
In George Rodger’s photos of female shoppers on Oxford Street in 1940, we see the context to this time period where consumers were suddenly consigned to Utility stockings: typically made from less comfortable fabrics like wool and rayon. Although other semi-synthetic fabrics existed – such as rayon – none as yet could offer sinuous proximity to silk – the stocking fabric of choice – whilst simultaneously offering better elasticity and durability. However, the company chose stockings as its figurehead item with which to launch nylon into the world.
Made of a long-chain polymer that the company claimed was “as strong as steel, as fine as a spider’s web,” its potential uses were myriad, from toothbrushes to surgical sutures. After years of research, they’d finally devised the first man-made fiber that could be created entirely in a laboratory. Why Wilmington? It was home to the headquarters of DuPont: the company responsible for inventing nylon. But for a brief window of time beginning in October 1939, the residents of Wilmington, Delaware could queue up to buy this miraculous new innovation for $1.15 a pair. Having caused consternation when first exhibited at the World’s Fair in New York in the late ’30s, they weren’t accessible to the general public until May 1940. years ago this month, nylon stockings went on sale for the first time.
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