More Scandalous Talk about Regency Undewear–the stockings

After all my scandalous talk of Regency underwear, here, here, here, and here, I am finishing off with a tamer post about the last layer of undergarments–the stockings. See? Not scary at all

Regency ladies wore stockings held up with garters either at the thigh or just above the knee. These stockings pictured at the left are knitted in blue and white silk. Stripes on any and all garments were popular in the 1790s but had faded by the Regency Era. These stockings pictured date from around 1800 so they are nearing the end of their heyday for stripes before giving way to the plainer styles—and almost always white–either plain or knitted in a lacy pattern stitched with white or colored embroidery.

The picture to the right is of a Georgian lady putting on her stockings. Her stockings are white, almost certainly silk, and she is tying them on with ribbon garters.

Our Regency lady would have worn knit stockings of cotton or silk (or wool during cold weather), held up with garters that tied, buckled, or hooked. Below is a fun engraving showing ladies getting dressed, inclding putting on stockings.

Ladies (and gentlemen, too, for that matter) often wore thicker stockings under their fine silk stockings for additional warmth if it was a formal setting where silk would be more fashionable. As an added beenfit to wearing white cotton underneath their silk, the thicker fabric help hide their leg hair. Shaving leg hair is a fairly modern–and largely American–custom; certainly Regency ladies didn’t think to shave their legs.

Now that our Regency lady has on all her undergarments, she can now don her gown, although, of course, she may certainly have put on her stockings after dressing in her gown rather than before.

Related Posts:

• The Great Regency Underwear Debate
• Regency Underwear, the Petticoat
• Gloves, a crucial Regency fashion accessory
• More scandalous talk about Regency underwear
• 5 Fun Facts About Regency England

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