Fishnet Nylons

M

mollybDam

Registered Guest
I do judging for old west reenactments, and a lot of reenactors (ladies) watch the 50's Hollywood movies and have seen saloon ladies in "Fishnet Nylons", so they think they are period correct. I would like to know when "Fishnet Nylons" were if at all used in the 19th century. I would also need documentation if in fact they were used. I think one of the points here would be "Nylons", which weren't invented yet, I know they had lace stockings, but I not seen anything on "Fishnet". Thank you. MollybDam/California
 
In the last 30 yrs I've seen a couple of pairs of cotton fishnets, seamed, without the welt top, that came with Victorian clothing, so I presumed they were that age. More commonly, silk hose with a cotton welt top extending just over the knee. I'm not sure if these were worn with roll garters? I've also had vertical stripe hose in silk, rayon, or cotton, as well as stockings with a lacy foot and lace insertions up the shin. On the old cigarette cards, real saloon girls are wearing silk tights....probably most equivalent to modern semi-sheer panty hose. They undoubtedly have a seam.
 
If you can suffer through the Paint Your Wagon movie, the French Whores are in authentic period garb. All of the costumes, even on the extras, are genuine period clothing. The French Whores are even authentic whores, imported from Paris. Silly...but true.
 
Half the hippies in Portland and Seattle were extras....they camped in the mountains around Baker for a full year of filming. A musician friend absconded with his wardrobe....8 shirts last worn by Rudolph Valentino in THE SHEIK. The fool wore them out. Everything in the movie was real...props as well. The town was built for the film and lived in while filming. The gamblers were really gambling...the poker game in the saloon ran 24/7. And the French Whores reportedly worked the Baker Hotel when they weren't on the set. The studio ran the first cut of the movie, a special screening for the people who worked on it, in a huge theatre in downtown Portland--all four hours of it--before it went to LA for the studio work. I would love to see that again; it was an awesome visual treat that really captured this tiny boomtown in the HUGE wilderness. The music was all by the principals and extras....no Norman Luboff choir. It was an altogether different, and much grander, movie.
 
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