Figure 1.-- Here two Dutch girls are both wearing tan stockings in 1942. We are not sure to what extent there were gender difference for tan stockings. They were worn equally by younger boys and girls. We think there may have been some difference for older childre, but here there was a general trend for girls to wear long stockings to an older age than boys.

Long stockings were commonly worn fron the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. They went through different phases when certain colors dominated. We see children in the mid-19th century wearing white stockings. Boys rarely wore anything but dark colored long stockings in the late 19th century. We are not entirely sure to what extent these neutral shades were available in the 19th century, but the photographic record suggests that they were not very commonly worn. We do note a variety of colors offered in the 19th century, but not tan and beige. We believe they would have been seen as inmodest. We see some boys wearing long stockings that seem to be tan or beige in the early-20th century, but they do not seem very common. It was not until after the mid-1920s that lighter colored long stockings became common. Notably this was about the sane time that boys began wearing short pants and girls shorter skirts. There appears to have been some difference in popularity from country to country, but not in the general time line. White and black colored stockings were also available in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, but it was the neutral, tan, and light brown shades that were the most popular. When long stockings died out in the 1940s anhd 50s, it was these neutral shades that were being worn.

The 19th Century

Long stockings were commonly worn fron the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. They went through different phases when certain colors dominated. We see children in the mid-19th century wearing white stockings. Boys rarely wore anything but dark colored long stockings in the late 19th century. We are not entirely sure to what extent these neutral shades were available in the 19th century, but the photographic record suggests that they were not very commonly worn. We do note a variety of colors offered in the 19th century, but not neutral shades like tan and beige. We believe they would have been seen as inmodest.

The 20th Century

We see some boys wearing long stockings that seem to be tan or beige in the early-20th century, although with black abd white photography, it is difficult to be sure. They do not seem very common. White or dark stockings seem nuch more common. It was not until after World War I in the 1920s that we begin to see neutral colored long stockings in large numbers. This seems most prevalent by the mid-1920s that lighter colored briwn long stockings became common. We hope to develop more precise chrological data. While it is obvius from the photographic record, we have not yet found any mention of this trend in the ladies columns and fashion magazines. We do see these colors advertized in mail order caralogs and advertising. Notably this was about the sane time that boys began wearing short pants and girls shorter skirts. There appears to have been some difference in popularity from country to country, but not in the general time line. White and black colored stockings were also available in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, but it was the neutral, tan, and light brown shades that were the most popular. When long stockiLong stockings went out of style in America during the 1940s. They were still worn in Western Europe and Canada during the 1950s. And they were worn in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the 1960s. It was primarily the neutral shades that were being worn after World War II in the countries where long stockings ciontinued to be worn.