Stockings
Unknown Artist
1850–70
Medium
Cotton
Classification
Stockings
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Edwin A. Neugass, 1959
Accession Number
2009.300.7085a, b
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th American fashion with *Stockings*, a delicate pair crafted from cotton around 1850–70. These unassuming garments, created by an unknown artist, a glimpse into everyday life during a transformative era in the United States, marked by industrialization and the Civil War. Cotton, the medium here, was America's powerhouse fiber—abundantly produced in the South and symbolizing both economic vitality and social complexities of the time. As functional undergarments, these stockings would have been essential for women (and sometimes men) navigating the demands of ...