Pure, 100% nylon stockings were the rule, as “stretchable” stockings were not mainstream. With 100% nylon stockings, there were two dominant types by this time (full fashioned stockings having slipped into the background) and they were: “Sheer” weave, and “mesh” weave.
Sheers were woven in a square (or rectangle) weave pattern, thus the “grain” of the nylon ran up and down the length of the stocking. Sheers of the time were almost always of the reinforced heel and toe variety. However the shape of the toe area, as well as the heel area, could differ significantly between brands.
Mesh stockings were woven in a “diamond” pattern. Mesh stockings were developed to add “stretch-ability” to a stocking made of 100% nylon, for nylon does not readily stretch. Mesh stockings were also widely available with reinforced heel and toe (RH&T), but also quite commonly available only as reinforced toe. (RT). Mesh stockings’ “stretch-ability” advantage over sheer weave stockings was very limited in actual use, for they still creased and rippled.
Sheers gave more “glisten” when the light reflected off them, and the square weave pattern was quite evident if close enough. Sheers felt very smooth to the touch. Also, sheer stockings gave a quiet “swishing” sound if the young miss happened to rub her legs together.
Mesh stockings didn’t have as much glisten, and if close enough to see, the diamond weave pattern was evident. Also, they did not feel as smooth to the touch as sheer. And when a pair of legs wearing mesh stockings were rubbed together, there was more of a “rasping” sound. For cost reasons, the majority of the Jr. Misses wore mesh type stockings. (Mesh stockings were cheaper than sheer.)
Goodness, I can remember how those Jr. Misses would drive me crazy just being around them! Simple things, like standing in a lunch line for example, and in front of me there could be two or three young ladies in line, talking, standing relaxed. As I would stand there, and discreetly glance downward…
One could be wearing a brown shade of mesh stockings, reinforced heel variety, with penny loafers. There would be several creases across the top of her instep… just below her calves would be a ripple or two of loose fitting nylon… same for her knee areas. The other could have on honey coloured sheer stockings… again with the ever-present creases at the ankle, ripples and sags… maybe a runner going up one stocking. And the last young lady could be wearing coffee coloured stockings… mesh type, but with a nude heel.
How do I know they are nude heels? Because the heel area has moved around to the inside of her foot on one stocking causing a large area of creases and folds! Oh yes, this one has a runner fully 1/4″ wide, that comes up from under one of her heels, and disappears out of sight. (We guys used to call runners “beaver trails”… because it traced a “trail” up to her “beaver”! Yes, I now agree that such was quite immature and denegrating to the opposite sex.)
And so it was for the next six years of my Junior and Senior high days. No one had to tell me that these were the good old days! School was a nylonic voyeurism delight for this young man! In fact, there are simply too many nylon vignettes in my mind to share within scope of this essay! Besides… if I were to try to sit down and recall each and every one at one sitting… I don’t know if I could, for logistic reasons, as well as having clear and accurate memories concerning.
However, I remember one vignette that is a bit different from the other “School Daze” memories…
Before I share it, you first need to understand that the city school I went to had grown to the point that it had assimilated a nearby former elementary school building. It was a couple blocks from the main building (which also had an “annex” built on to accommodate the growth.) Thus, one or more of your classes might be at the “McElroy Dagg” elementary school building turned High School. (Called “Dagg” because of the elementary school’s name.) This was fine and dandy as long as the weather was nice. But it could be miserable during inclement weather and you had to walk the two blocks to or from “Dagg”.
Well, in this particular stocking vignette in my mind, it was pouring rain outside. I’m not talking about just a rain, I’m talking about a deluge that soaks everything. Thankfully, I was in the main building in the hall by the main entrance, and groups of students were clamoring in through the doors, ending their wild, wet dash, from “Dagg”.
One group of Jr. Misses came running in… books held over their heads… and were squealing in protest at their misfortune. The impressionable thing in my mind is the way that my eyes were immediately drawn to their wet stockings. Their nylons glistened from the downpour and splashing water they had just run through for the two blocks. As they continued to lament their plight, one Miss reached down and pulled off a penny loafer, and emptied the water out.
To this day, I can still see the beautiful tan color of her nylons, can still see the rivulets of water running down her glistening stocking, over the soaked creases of nylon… and dripping profusely off her drenched toes! Needless to say, I paused incognito near a locker and watched the scene unfold as she also emptied the other shoe. Ah… what days!
