Rare Historical Photos 

With nylon stockings scarce,

women would paint their
legs so it looked like
stockings, 1940s

A woman painting the appearance of silk stockings onto

another woman’s legs. Very little silk was available during
WWII in the U.S.

···

Until the end of the 1930s, the best women’s

stockings were made from silk. This changed
in the United States when DuPont began
manufacturing nylon in 1939. Nylon stockings
went on limited sale in October of that year
followed by a national launch at selected
stores in 1940.

Eager American shoppers bought up the new

nylons even though they were priced the
same as those made of silk. DuPont struggled
to keep up with demand and American
women were still complaining of shortages in
1942 when the United States joined the war.
Commercial quantities of nylon stockings
would not reach the rest of the world until
after 1945.

Although most nylon was used to make

stockings, some were bought by the
American military to replace silk in the
manufacture of parachutes.

···

···

When the United States entered the war,

DuPont shifted nylon production to a war
footing, and production was channeled into
national defense uses, including parachutes
and bomber tires, and supplies of nylon for
stockings dried up.

A new fashion arose from the nylon ration.

Liquid stockings, it was called. A foundation
for your legs is applied carefully and evenly
for the illusion of a hose.

Advanced users got even more realistic by

using black eyeliner pencils to draw the
“seam.” Drawing in the seam-line on
“Makeup” stockings with a device made from
a screwdriver handle, bicycle leg clip, and an
eyebrow pencil.

···
···

Drawing a straight even line down the back of the leg was
the most diAcult part.

···

···

In an attempt to drum up sales, some stores

ran promotions where you could have your
legs painted to see the eUect or had specialist
leg make-up bars where you could purchase
the cosmetics and get advice on how to apply
them for best eUect. Helena Rubinstein was
an early American advocate of the leg bar.

In 1942 she opened a Bare-Leg Bar in her 5th

Avenue salon. The bar featured leg make-up,
special lotions, creams and cosmetics for the
legs, a cooling masque for legs and feet, foot
talcs, and pedicure preparations. On opening
day, diUerent types of cosmetic stockings
were demonstrated – stick form, out of a
bottle, and sprayed on the legs.

···

The end of the war saw nylon stockings

return to the shelves and the decline of
substitutes. DuPont began producing nylon
for stockings less than two weeks after the
Japanese surrendered.

The resumption of limited sales of nylons in

the United States produced what reporters of
the time called the nylon riots of 1945 and
1946, as women scrambled to buy them.

In those parts of the world which were

economically depressed and/or clothes
continued to be rationed, cosmetic stockings
lingered longer and were still being sold in
the 1950s, well after the war was over.

The eventual disappearance of cosmetic

stockings was not the end of leg make-up, it
was still used by some to make the legs look
tanned.

···

···

A shoe store oBers a unique service by painting stockings

on women’s legs during the clothing rationing of World
War II.

···

Applying leg make-up.

A representative of Max Factor paints cream stockings

onto a woman’s leg as a solution to the unavailability of
stockings during the war.

···

A Max Factor beautician paints a seam on a woman’s leg

to help create the illusion of stockings.

···

Leg make-up bar.

···

During stocking rationing, a beautician at the newly

opened Bare Leg Beauty Bar at Kennard’s store in
Croydon, England, paints stockings onto a customer’s skin.

···

It became a business.

(Photo credit: Library of Congress).

Updated on: November 22, 2021

Any factual error or typo? Let us know.

Related

When women were Women being arrested

judged by the for wearing one piece
attractiveness of their bathing suits, 1920s
ankles, 1930-1953 October 28, 2016
November 3, 2020 In "Culture and People"
In "Culture and People"

British soldiers manning

anti-aircraft guns in
women’s clothes, 1940
July 7, 2021
In "Britain"

Leave a Reply
Comment *

Name *

Email *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

POST COMMENT

Search… 

CATEGORIES

› AFRICA

› ARAB WORLD

› AUSTRALIA

› BRITAIN

› CANADA

› CHINA

› COLD WAR

› CUBA

› CULTURE AND PEOPLE

› FINLAND

› FRANCE

› GERMAN EMPIRE

› GERMANY

› GULF WAR

› HOLOCAUST

› ISRAEL

› ITALY