In the summer of 1919, a young woman caused a minor sensation in London simply by walking through the financial district without stockings.
At a time when women were generally expected to keep their legs covered in public, the sight was unusual enough to attract the attention of passersby and eventually make its way into newspapers across the Atlantic.
According to one report, the unidentified woman calmly strolled through the streets bare-legged while businessmen in top hats struggled with the summer heat and stared after her in a mixture of surprise and admiration.
Her choice of clothing was presented as something more than an attempt to stay cool. The newspaper suggested it might represent the beginning of a revolt against the high price of silk stockings, an expensive but fashionable part of a woman’s wardrobe.
Women elsewhere had apparently found other ways around the problem. Reports from Paris and New York claimed that some had experimented with stenciling or other forms of cosmetic camouflage designed to make bare legs appear as though they were covered. London’s unidentified pedestrian, however, made no such effort. She simply went without stockings altogether.
London Startled By Bare-Legged Beauty
LONDON. — The first sign of a revolt of women against the high price of silk stockings was seen today when a bare-legged beauty strolled along the streets of the financial district, looking comfortably cool in contrast to the top-hatted and sweltering men who gazed after her with mingled surprise and admiration.
The young woman did not resort to stenciling or other camouflage such as is reported to have been adopted by some of the fair sex in Paris and New York.
Source: The Washington Herald. Washington, D.C. August 10, 1919.
