Hello all. I wonder if anyone can help me with a rather strange and obscure question. I was wondering when 'nude' coloured clothing, in particular stockings, first appeared. I was also wondering if they were originally referred to as 'nude' in fashion literature or catalogues. There's pretty much no information on this subject that I can find online, but I kind of understand that they've been around since the 30s at least. Wouldn't the word nude have seemed a bit unsavoury at that time? Grateful for any thoughts or info anyone can give on this.
I think you’re right: ‘nude’ was only used fairly recently. I’ve got peach colored stockings from the ‘20s and ‘30s new in packets and they weren’t called ‘nude’ they have other names, and as you can tell I call them peach. New hosiery in packets from the ‘60s and ‘70s is likewise called other colours, for example ‘mink’. I can only recall ‘nude’ coming in as a colour in the ‘80s. It’s not a good name for a colour because it suggests there is a universal shade for skin which is incorrect.
This reminds me of how Crayola had a crayon called "flesh" that was changed to "peach" (in 1962), thank goodness.
Thank you very much Nicole, I was sure I was right on this one. And of course you are quite right re the name 'nude'. I'm quite surprised it was deemed acceptable even in the 80s. It really is racist, strictly speaking. If you can think of any, I would love to know some other alternative period names for this colour/concept. I say concept since 'nude' doesn't seem to be one exact shade. I myself am totally blind, and am forever trying to get my head around colour. Robin, I love your username.
'Nude' as an attractive concept is fairly recent, because for most of the twentieth century, the desirable colour was tan - so hosiery is often in darker shades. I have '60s stockings with tan colours called 'Hello Dolly', 'Rio', 'Tally Ho', 'Mini Beige', 'Fizz' and 'Dove', revealing their aspirational nature. I love hosiery but have pale skin so wore white stockings in the early '80s until the paler shades became available. (Tanning has never been my thing although it used to be universal in Australia, my country). And then (perhaps ironically) I switched to black, which I still wear in copious quantities. 'Nude' is used I think, because it's an accepted shade in the fashion industry but it shouldn't be: the fashion industry is slow to catch up with political sensitivities. Before 'nude' it was sometimes called 'skintone' or 'flesh'. Equally inaccurate and offensive.
Yes I sort of had an inkling of that. Oh... white stockings! That's ironic because white stockings are what started off my researching. I had given a character white stockings, just thought they sounded plain and simple, in a bit of fun writing. My friend said I should change it to nude because white ones weren't fashionable. I felt strongly that nude wouldn't be right because the story is set in the past. (late 50s mid 60s.) Thank you again for all your help.
Interesting thread. I was thinking your best bet for finding how these were referred to in the past was to look at old adverts. Then I found a 1920s ad that refers to 'nude' as a colour for stockings, so it's older than we thought. I was surprised too. This one, from 1930, refers to 'french nude' (bottom left and centre), and 'flesh' colour (bottom right). French nude sounds very racy, which I think was probably the point! Several of these come in 'flesh'
Well, that's taking it from the horse's mouth and no mistake. Thank you ever so much Ruth. I thought of ads/catalogs, but I couldn't find anything in text format that I could read. My screen reader cannot read graphics, so any text in pictures of things is inaccessible to me. It is indeed a surprise. I saw a bit of a drama once, set in the 30s, where a woman is actually sacked from her job for not wearing stockings. By that I imagined the idea of 'nude' would be quite scandalous. However it is amazing just how old many ideas are when you look back. I'm glad you found the thread interesting Ruth. I reckon having a collection of vintage ads would be a great idea Mary. One thing I was toying with was looking in newsreel archives for any references to lingerie. Of course as those would be black and white, so there usefulness would be limited. Thank you all again for being so helpful.
Damn I wrote a post about how I thought 'nude' was used to allude to being naked, but still being covered and therefore decent in the 1920s - and deleted it after I couldn't find any adverts to support the theory! Credit due to Ruth for her sleuthing skills! I do think from the images 'nude' was not flesh coloured as we have today but closer to transparent? as you see they still have colours alongside the nude option.
