So who had the bright idea of sewing their pants to their trousers? Whoever it was - and it must have been a man - has blighted women’s lives. His scheme led ultimately to the tyranny of tights, a nylon bondage for skirt-wearers.
Back in the 12th century, men were doing the running in the hosiery stakes. After all, it was their legs that were on view. They wore hose - fitted cloth that covered the lower leg and had built-in feet. As their breeches became shorter, the hose, held up by laces at the waist, got longer.
Eventually, around 1550, someone joined the two garments together, creating a primitive pair of tights. They were made of silk, wool, or velvet, often with each leg a different colour and the seams covered with elaborate patterns or “clocks”. Germans liked slashed overgarments through which their bright hose could be seen.
Machine manufacture arrived 100 years later, by which time men had reverted to garters and silk stockings - several pairs on chilly days. When trousers began to appear in 1800, the hosiery industry’s focus shifted to women. One American company in particular had them in its sights. Du Pont realised there had to be an alternative to the cotton and silk stockings women had been wearing for centuries. In 1935, the corporation’s Wallace H Carothers invented nylon. In 1939, the first pair of nylon stockings was purchased and, in May 1940, four million pairs were sold in four days.
The Second World War stopped the run as the British and American governments needed nylon for parachutes and tyres. The production of silk stockings was also banned, although spivs such as Private Walker in Dad’s Army managed to get their hands on them.
Pre-war stockings were usually seamed and “fully fashioned”, which meant they were shaped to fit by decreasing the number of stitches towards the ankle. Seamless stockings did exist but were rather saggy, straight tubes. Nylon proved the answer. Its thermoplastic properties meant it could be heated and shaped into flattering curves.
Seamless was all the rage, but not for long. In the 1960s, as skirts got shorter, women at last caught up with 16th-century man. They began to wear tights. The fall of the stocking and the rise of pantyhose has continued. Both, however, are guaranteed to ladder when you’re getting dressed in a rush with a hangover. When they do, light a fire and watch them burn. Just for the sheer hell of it.
