Figure 1.--

I am not yet positive about this, but I do not believe that stocking supporters were worn during the 18th Century. They would seem to be very cumbersome to use with knee breeches as the breeches extended below the knee. At this time, we simply do not know how men and boys kept up long stockings under the universally worn knee breeches. Hose supporters, as far as we are aware, had not been invented yet. And elastic was still an unknown product for round garters. I wonder if men and boys just used tied on garters worn above the knee. This is just a guess. In modern theatre productions and movies where knee breeches are worn, the standard thing is to wear tights under the breeches, but I don't think this was done in the 18th century. This is a subject that needs some investigation. A reader writes, "Socks in the 18th century were held up by garters. They were simple garters, fashioned from plain ribbons and tied either above or below the knee. They could also be leather with a buckle. Knee breeches, when properly fitted, have the band below the knee snug enough to hold up the stockings." Another reader writes, "An interesting bit of information here. I'm just a bit dubious about the comment from one of the HBC readers that the band of the knee breeches with the buckle for fastening them just below the knee could be tight enough to hold long stockings up on its own. One often sees drawings of men in knee breeches with the band riding up to the knee itself and even sometimes just slightly above the knee. This would mean that in some cases at least the band of the knee breeches had to be loose enough to move up and down on the knee and therefore too loose to hold long stockings up. In this case the men and boys would have needed tie-on garters worn above the knee, which is what I think was usual."

Knee Breeches

Modern pans developed in he 17th centuty, By the 18th century nen an boys wore knee breeches, the predominate style during the 18th cenury. Knee breeches evolved from the bloomer like pants men wore in the 16th Century. Boys for most of the century began wearing knee breeches after breeching. At the time, little boys and girls both wore dresses with little or no difference. The process of buying a boy his first pair of breeches was thus called breeching. This term continued to be used in the 19th century, even after breeches were no longer being worn.

Stockings

Men and boys after they graduated from dress dresses wore knee breeches with stockings. Affluent men wore white stockings, perhaps made of silk. Men in the backswoods would wear homespun wool stockings which might be natural colors like light brown. By the late 18th century cotton had become an important fabric. I'm not sure how long the stockings were , but I assume were a little longer than knee length.

Stocking Supporters No Worn

I am not yet positive about this, but I do not believe that stocking supporters were worn during the 18th Century. They would seem to be very cumbersome to use with knee breeches as the breeches extended below the knee. At this time, we simply do not know how men and boys kept up long stockings under the universally worn knee breeches.

Hose Supporters Not Yet Invented

Hose supporters, as far as we are aware, had not been invented yet. And elastic was still an unknown product for round garters.

Approach

I wonder if men and boys just used tied on garters worn above the knee. This is just a guess. In modern theatre productions and movies where knee breeches are worn, the standard thing is to wear tights under the breeches, but I don't think this was done in the 18th century. This is a subject that needs some investigation. A reader writes, "Socks in the 18th century were held up by garters. They were simple garters, fashioned from plain ribbons and tied either above or below the knee. They could also be leather with a buckle. Knee breeches, when properly fitted, have the band below the knee snug enough to hold up the stockings."

Knee Breeches Buckle

Another reader writes, "An interesting bit of information here. I'm just a bit dubious about the comment from one of the HBC readers that the band of the knee breeches with the buckle for fastening them just below the knee could be tight enough to hold long stockings up on its own. One often sees drawings of men in knee breeches with the band riding up to the knee itself and even sometimes just slightly above the knee. This would mean that in some cases at least the band of the knee breeches had to be loose enough to move up and down on the knee and therefore too loose to hold long stockings up. In this case the men and boys would have needed tie-on garters worn above the knee, which is what I think was usual." A reader writes, "I think you are entirely correct about the support of long stockings to be worn with knee breeches in the 18th century. If you notice many of the paintings and illustrations of men and boys wearing knee breeches, you will see that the breeches often ride up almost over the knee and wouldn't be tight enough to hold up long stockings. In the modern theatre when knee breeches are worn, the actors always wear tights underneath the breeches and certainly do not depend on the tightness of the breeches themselves to hold up stockings. Modern court dress in England even today requires men to wear knee breeches with silk stockings for such ceremonies as installation in the Knights of the Garter. Knee breeches are still worn by footmen and other servants who are required to wear full livery in certain nobles houses or on diplomatic occasions. Churchill had to wear knee breeches as an old man when he was made a Knight of the Garter. For such purposes tights are always worn with knee breeches so that there is complete smoothness at the knee and no wrinkling of the hosiery."

Sources of Information

Notice that stockings are never wrinkled in portraits showing figures such as Washington and Jefferson or Napoleon. There is a famous portrait of Oscar Wilde at the end of the 19th century wearing velvet knee breeches with black silk stockings, and the same principle obtains. Wilde may have actually worn tights under his breeches, but 18th-century gentlemen and boys, who mostly wore white stockings with knee breeches, wore over-the-knee stockings (often silk or finely woven) secured above the knee with tape garters that either buckled or tied. Elastic had not yet been invented. In some cases (perhaps for military uniforms) leather garters with buckles were used. Most of this information, however, is deduced from paintings and writings of the period, since I can't recall ever seeing an actual period illustration of 18th-century above-the-knee garters, which of course would never show when men were fully dressed. In the famous illustrations of Hogarth (18th century) we often see disheveled male figures, drunken or in sexually compromising situations, with their stockings fallen down around their calves or ankles. Here, presumably, the garters have come undone or have not been properly secured.

Created: 1:47 AM 3/25/2007
Last updated: 1:48 AM 3/25/2007