Young Brunette Girl Wearing Black Stockings

History
Most stockings are made and worn as fashion garments. Sheer stockings have been popular since the 1920s. They were formerly made of woven cloth but now they are commonly made using knitted wool, silk, cotton or nylon. In the 1920s, the fashionable hemline for women rose enough to show the legs, and sheer hosiery that covered the legs was only available as stockings. They were first made of silk or rayon (then known as "artificial silk"), and after 1940 with nylon. In the 1940s and 1950s, film and theater productions were having stockings sewn to the briefs of actresses and dancers. This has been stated by actress-dancer Ann Miller and seen in popular films such as Daddy Long Legs.
In 1953, Allen Gant Sr. of Glen Raven Knitting Mills developed a commercial equivalent named "Panti-Legs", but didn't bring it to market until 1959. The introduction of pantyhose in 1959 provided a convenient alternative to stockings, and the use of stockings declined dramatically. During the 1960s, improved manufacturing made pantyhose cheaper, spandex (or elastane) made them more comfortable, and the miniskirt made them a fashion necessity. In 1970, U.S. sales of pantyhose exceeded stockings for the first time, and has remained this way ever since.