   right|thumb|a pair of dark grey nylon stockings. a stocking (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) is a close-fitting, variously elastic garment covering the foot and some part of the thigh. stockings vary in color, design and transparency. by analogy, the term is also used to describe a type of horse marking in which the white coloring extends from the horse's hoof to just above the knee. today, stockings are primarily worn by women for fashion and aesthetics, usually in association with mid-length skirts. ==history==  historically, even though the word sock is at least as ancient in origin, what men normally wore were often referred to as stockings, probably especially when referring to longer hose at times when they were the fashion for men.oxford english dictionary, quotations the word stock used to refer to the bottom "stump" part of the body, and by analogy the word was used to refer to the one-piece covering of the lower trunk and limbs of the 15th centuryâessentially tights consisting of the upper-stocks (later to be worn separately as knee breeches) and nether-stocks (later to be worn separately as stockings). (see hose.) before the 1590s, stockings were made of woven cloth. the first knitting machines were for making stockings.elizabethan england by kathy elgin  isbn 978-0-8160-5946-1 the stockings themselves were made of cotton, linen, wool or silk. a polished cotton called lisle was common, as were those made in the town of balbriggan. before the 1920s, women's stockings, if worn, were worn for warmth. in the 1920s, as hemlines of women's dresses rose, women began to wear stockings to cover the exposed legs. these stockings were sheer, first made of silk or rayon (then known as "artificial silk"), and after 1940 of nylon. the introduction of nylon in 1939 by chemical company dupont began a high demand for stockings in the united states with up to 4 million pairs being purchased in one day. nylon stockings were cheap, durable, and shee
History_of_clothing Hosiery Lingerie