Stockings

Art Historical Context

Step into the elegant world of late 19th-century American fashion with *Stockings* (1897), a delicate pair crafted from luxurious silk. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, this artifact was generously donated by Mrs. I.A. Simon in 1939, preserving a glimpse of everyday opulence from the Gilded Age. Silk, prized for its shimmering luster and smooth drape, was a hallmark of high-quality hosiery during this era. In 1897 America, as women's silhouettes shifted toward the fuller skirts and defined waists of the Victorian fin-de-siècle, stockings like these provided both f...