Recent finds: Stockings, rayon versus nylon

 

So at first I wanted to do a post on recent wardrobe additions but it turned out to be so much about hosiery that I decided to make it a stocking themed post.

 

Stockings are a common 'problem' for the fulltime vintage wearing girl. I do not mean the supposed hassle with suspenderbelts, straps etc. because to me that is similar to always wearing a skirt. Most people think it is a nuisance but I love the feeling of wearing them.

I'm talking about the problem of finding them, without spending an absolute fortune.

I cannot give any guidance towards finding them, usually SHEER luck.

Well I've been rather lucky and come by quite a lot of pairs recently.

The best find is 4 pairs of rayon stockings. Found them yesterday at an antiques fair in Nieuwegein. They still had the label on together with a bit of darning silk in the right color.

The Dutch brand Palo started at Kalverstraat 200 (one of the main shopping Streets of Amsterdam) in 1934. According to old adds they sold underwear and stockings. 

Newspaper ad of September 1934 inviting people to the opening of the shop.

 

Newspaper ad of October 1934

This ad (posing as a news report) September 1935 boasts the success of the shop, with 55.000 ladies that have become customers in a year.

Palo did not close until 1970 but these stockings a very probably late 30's early 40's because of the old-fashioned spelling used on the washing instructions on the back of the label.

 

The instructions also contain a bit of hidden advertising for the Dutch soap brand LUX. The instructions tell us more or less: 'to dissolve the right amount of LUX in luke-warm water. To wash the stockings by pulling them up and down; whilst avoiding to stress the material. Rinse thouroughly in water of the same temperature. And press water out carefully, preferably in a piece of cloth. Let stockings dry from their toes down, but not in the sun or near a fire. Iron with medium warmth.'

 

 

Next to stockings of natural materials as cotton, wool and silk, rayon stockings are the most authentic for a pre-1945 look but are much harder to find than nylon stockings.

 

So I recently bought a lot of about 15 pairs of seamed fully fashioned nylon stockings on Marktplaats (kind of Dutch Ebay). I shared them with my friend Martine (who is more into the 50's stylewise, so they were perfect for her) so only half of it features here.

Several pairs, though made of nylon, still look quite a bit like rayon, and look the same when worn. Just look at the knitting detail in the foot.

 

 

 

You really have to touch them to tell them apart from their rayon predecessors.

 

Early nylons are beautifully made, not comparable at all to most stockings you can buy nowadays.

Some repro brands sell fully fashioned nylons, but the price is more than 10 times higher than what I normally pay for a vintage pair. The ones with a fake seam are cheaper (still more expensive than what I pay for vintage) but fully fashioned is what you should really want.

A fully fashioned stocking is knitted in the shape of a leg, with ankle and calf. It is joined at the back with the much beloved seam, this is still done by hand I believe.

 

 

These pairs also came with the same lot.

 

I love color contrast in the heel and seam. This proves that seams in a different color were around already and are not just a feature of modern repro's. Though I do not think it was common.

 

And at the antiques fair yesterday I bought yet another lot of nylons, consisting 7 pairs. These must be the cheapest ones ever, they came at 1 euro a pair. They are from the the American brand DuPont (though in another box) that first was the first to produce them in 1939/40.

 

Women testing the strength of nylon stockings at the world fair of 1939.

 

Because of the war, when nylon was used for parachutes, they did not really catch on until after '45.

 

 

In total that makes 18 pairs of new stockings! Must be enough to see me through winter.

 

So to end  this post: the pro's and cons of rayon versus nylon for me personally:

 

-Rayon, is usually thicker, more sturdy, can be darned easily, not sweaty as rayon breathes somewhat, more authentic for a pre-war look but can be hard to find and there are the creases at the ankle (could be seen as authentic detail too), 'repairing' with clear nailpolish causes a stain

 

-Nylon, more sheer, so more sexy, easier to find, snags can be remedied with clear nailpolish before becoming a ladder, but ladders much more, almost impossible to darn, sweaty in summer

 

There's no clear winner for me, maybe it should be silk but talking about impossible to find and costing a fortune.....

 

 So what material & brand of stockings do you prefer?

 

Birthe

 

 

 

 

Autumn in Rotterdam

 On the staircase of Huis Sonneveld (photo by Myrtle Beauregard)

 

Last Saturday I visited Rotterdam with my friends from Club Interbellum. Marinka, who organised the trip, invited us to her cosy home for coffee and cake first. Then we set out for a lovely autumn walk. We crossed the river Maas underground via the Maastunnel, that featured some old escalators.

 

 

Photo's above by Frank de Koning

We had lunch at a resteaurant that served excellent meatballs and continued our walk.

 

Eventhough Rotterdam was bombed during WWII and the city centre is almost entirely modern, there are some beautiful buildings left.

The pictures below were taken ond the shores of a pond in a little park. My friend Myrtle already had my blog in mind whilst taking pictures of me :)

 

Photo's above by Myrtle Beauregard

Photo by Frank de Koning

 

I was wearing an autumnal color combo: copperbrown blouse and dark green skirt.
The blouse is actually a dress and I've worn it a such.

The fabric is cut on the bias so it is very flowy. Love the art deco influence in the pattern. The darker pieces are actually the back of the same fabric!

 

Then we visited the 'temporary fashion museum' which is a bit too conceptual for my taste but we did have a lot of fun trying on extremely high heels. Some historical garments were for sale, so you could touch them and even try them on. Unfortunately prices were to high for us as we are so used to snap up bargains ;).

Poor Myrtle fell in love with this terribly expensive dress.

Afterwards we went to Huis Sonneveld. As it was built in 1932-33 in a modernistic/minimalistic style, the family that came to live there had to leave almost everything behind in their old home in order not to disturb the design with clutter.

This was the study room of the two daughters of the house. As it was allowed tot touch most things and sit on things here I'm with Martine and Myrtle on the couch in the girls' room.

 

Some pictures of the girls who lived in the house.

Mirrors make for great selfie moments ;)

 

I was wearing a tweed coat from the early to mid 1930's. It hase some amazing details like the stitching in the collar and the wooden buttons. It was hardly worn, the was even a spare button sewn into the hem. A good thing as buttons like these are almost impossible to replace.

 

 

When I got the coat I got the hat for free, because they both have Scandinvian labels, were found together and might have belonged together.

 

With hats like these it is always difficult to give a date because these styles were populare in the 30's but also in the early 50's.

 

 

 

 

Adjoined to the master bedroom is a dressing room with lots of space for clothes! The mirrors give an alround view of my outfit.

 

 

Such an amazingly birght color for the master bathroom, with bath AND shower an a seperate toilet behind a door. Eventhough this house may look minimalistic it had many luxurious, and for the time modern, comforts.

Myrtle's dress matched the bathroom :)

 

A guest bedroom that looks a bit too much like a hospital for my taste.

 

We had some drinks and bitterballen to end the day. But I'll not end this post without a little P.S.:

 

 

On tis picture I'm holding a bathing suit. Though the pond looked perfect for a stylish dive it was way tot cold to go swimming. Hennie had found a lot of bathingsuits at a flea market a while ago and sold several of them. I was so happy to get two blue woolen numbers! Tnak you Hennie for letting go of them!

The one I'm holding is hard to date could be anything from the late 30's to early 50's I guess. Love the color and the little embroidery on the hip.

 

 

 

The label reads Tribosa, fabricated in The Netherlands. Tribosa was a factory producing knitwear located in Den Bosch. The fact that 'Nederlands' is spelled with an -s instead of -sch may mean it is from after the war when the spelling was officially changed. Other brands did use this spelling already in the 30's, so can't be sure.

 

The second bathing suit is most probably from the second half of the 30's. Love the nautical style.

 

 

Swimming in wool can be tricky, so I tried these out in the bathtub the next day. They worked, did not sag that is!

 

Almost sad it is autumn instead of summer as I'm so looking forward to wearing them!