絲襪的故事Ⅱ：戰爭年代的“絲襪妝”
With nylon or silk hose hard to come by, women had the look of stockings brushed on their legs.
So it’s Saturday night in 1941, and you want to wear stockings with your cocktail dress, but the new wonder material nylon has been rationed for the war effort and has disappeared from department store shelves. What do you do in such times of patriotic privation? You get resourceful, and cover your legs with a layer of nude-colored makeup, and line the back of each leg with a trompe l’oeil seam.
A successful application of liquid stockings and seams.
Last week, in the first post from the Stocking Series, we heard about the huge reception of nylon hosiery. On May 16, 1940, officially called “Nylon Day,” four million pairs of nylons landed in stores and sold out within two days! But only a year later, the revolutionary product became scarce when the World War II economy directed all nylon into manufacturing parachutes, rope and netting.
Liquid stockings were a noteworthy enough phenomenon that even the Smithsonian has a bottle in its collection. Leg Silque Liquid Stockings, National Museum of American History.
World War II poster, Amberley Museum, Britain.
As duty prevailed, a new fashion arose from the nylon ration. Liquid stockings, it was called. A foundation for your legs, applied carefully and evenly for the illusion of hose. Advanced users got even more realistic by using black eyeliner pencils to draw the “seam.”
Drawing in the seam-line on “Makeup” stockings with a device made from a screw driver handle, bicycle leg clip, and an eyebrow pencil, 1942. Bettman/Corbis
Having trouble with your seam? No problem! This contraption, made from a screwdriver handle, bicycle leg clip and an ordinary eyebrow pencil would do the trick!
Leg makeup bar, 1944, at a department store.
For those women overwhelmed by options— Ann Barton’s Leg Make-up, Harriet Hubbard Ayer’s Stocking Lotion, Patrick’s Leg Art, Leg Charm from Cosmetic House, Helena Rubinstein’s Leg Stick and Max Factor’s Pan-Cake Make-up, for starters—or unsure about application techniques, a leg makeup bar at their local department store could provide some guidance for beautifying their gams.
在尼龍襪和絲襪都十分稀缺的時代，婦女們想出了在腿上“畫絲襪”的法子。
假設我們回到了1941年。這是一個星期六的夜晚，你想穿上雞尾酒裙，搭配一雙尼龍襪，但是這種奇妙的新材料已經被專用于生產軍需物資了，商店柜臺上找不到它們的身影。在那樣一個理應為國奉獻的時刻，怎么才能兩全其美呢？于是你靈機一動，在腿上涂了一層裸色粉底，還在腿后補上一條幾可亂真的“線縫”。
完美的“絲襪妝”
在上周的《絲襪的故事I》中，我們已經感受到了當時尼龍襪的火爆。1940年5月16日史稱“尼龍日”，在這一天，四百萬雙尼龍長襪運抵全美各地的商店，并于兩天之內銷售一空。但不到一年后，美國宣布參加二戰，尼龍成了限額配給品，專用于生產降落傘、網和繩索，尼龍襪這一革命性的產品在市面上銷聲匿跡。
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液體絲襪的流行是一個非常值得注意的現象，美國的史密森尼博物館里也收藏了一瓶“液體絲襪粉底霜”。
二戰時期的海報，現收藏于英國的安伯莉博物館。
公民義務高于愛美之心，但這樣的局面也催生出了一種新時尚。那就是：液體絲襪。這是一種在腿上用的粉底霜，將它均勻地抹在腿上后，你看起來就會像穿著絲襪一樣。更有時髦女子，用黑色眼線筆在腿后描上了“線縫”。
不會畫線縫嗎？沒關系！上圖中的小工具會是你的好幫手。它的構造十分簡單，只需要一個螺絲刀手柄、一個自行車褲腿夾和一根普通的眼線筆。
百貨商店中的美腿吧攝于1944年
那時，很多化妝品牌都推出了美腿化妝品，其中不乏蜜絲佛陀等著名品牌，叫人眼花繚亂。此外，各地的百貨商店中往往開設有美腿吧，無法選定腿妝品牌或不太會畫腿妝的婦女都可以到此尋求建議。
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