Alli Lorraine is a Philadelphia native, her love of style truly began at age 7 when she crafted a tank top out of a terry cloth towel, which she was not allowed to wear outside of the house. Through visits to the Met and the Museum at FIT, many hours spent researching and reading Vogue in the library, and a keen eye for street style, her fashion sense has dramatically evolved since then. Alli enjoys singing along (poorly) at concerts, sketching and drawing in Central Park, and dreaming of owning a Saint Laurent leather jacket.
A prime example of the ways in which fashion trends change is evidenced through the fishnet stocking.
If you think about it, the âfishnet,â which first appeared in circulation in the 1880s, is a word to describe the seamanâs fish-catching tool: a literal net for squirmy invertebrates. It seems a bit peculiar, then, that the fishnet stocking has become a symbol of subculture.
In fashion, it first appeared as a feature of burlesque wear in the 20th century, where it earned the descriptions of âprovocative,â âseductive,â and ânot made for Godly Christian ladies,â according to AdvancedMinisteries.org. Scholars such as Roland Barthes and Valerie Steele have determined the fishnet stockingâs allure lies in its irony, in the way it simultaneously conceals and reveals. The fishnet then seeped into a new coterie approximately every decade. From the burlesque, 1950s pinup models like Bettie Page regularly donned fishnets as well as matte black stockings. Then 1960s female revolutionaries wore them with their miniskirts and “paper dresses,” as my own mom attests. As she told me, she particularly wearing the stockings that were sold in various colors. Then in the â70s, the fishnet went from âungodlyâ to grungy as Punks reclaimed it as their own. It took a brief detour into 1980s pop (think Madonna and Material Girls), then back to grunge in the â90s.
I predict fishnet stockings will make an appearance in mainstream cultureâthey already have done so informally, most notably on Kendall Jenner. I myself was actually inspired by XYLO frontwoman Paige Duddy, whose consistently killer looks strike me as particularly on point: not just good, but really good. This Instagram post really inspired me into action.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMYClJYhv7Y/
I’m a big fan of a loose, graphic t-shirt over a bodycon skirt with fishnets and chunky boots, but I also recommend fishnets under ripped jeans for some extra (and perhaps more conservative) flair.
Illustrations by Alli Lorraine.
