According to today’s fashion standards, women tend to discard stockings during summer months in preference to peep-toed summer sandals. This wasn’t always the case. This image, from the summer of 1941, demonstrated the great lengths women went to maintain their sense of style.
When the conflict with Japan during WWII limited the amount of imported silk and most of the available nylon was required for producing parachutes, stockings quickly became a luxury item few could afford. Women attempted to recreate the image of wearing stockings by going to great lengths. Leg make-up, gravy browning, and eyebrow pencils were all used to transfer bare legs into fashionably appropriate attire.
After years of rationing and fashion restrictions, women became more imaginative in the ways they used clothing to express their sense of style. This photo, found in the Dispatch’s archives, highlights just such an occurrence. The only question that remains is how long this fashion creation remained in the heat and humidity of the summer months.