Claire's thigh-highs

[HarriettEl]

Thank you so much for doing this forum. It’s fascinating how all of the costuming comes together, and you are absolutely fabulous! I’m looking forward to participating. I do have a quick question about Claire’s thigh-highs. I was just wondering if you could talk about them and if they are historical or just a nice addition. I was also wondering about the practicality for road trips. Thanks.

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[Terry Dresbach]

Those are period stockings. That is what they were. There were no pantyhose, and no elastic. They were tied on by a garter at the top of the stocking.

[HarriettEl]

Thank you. They’re great!

[jjharris]

it’s interesting that they’re fashion forward these days. I remember wearing garters…..not always very comfortable but Claire would be comfortable wearing them. that’s what they wore during the war and for many years after.

[Dorothy]

I, too, remember garters!

In the Table scene in episode 1, we briefly see Claire’s metal clasp garters, probably attached to a garter belt, as she raises her skirt. I recall those all too well.

In scenes in the eighteenth century, we see Claire’s tied garters that seem to be integral to the stockings. I wore knee-highs as part of my high school uniform, and we usually used rubber bands as garters, folding the tops of the socks over the rubber bands to hide them.

A couple comments from the books: in a couple scenes Claire mentions men’s garters, so men apparently work garters to hold up their stockings, too. And in one of the books Jamie and Young Ian are shocked that Claire doesn’t know how to knit stockings, a skill both of them have!

[Author]

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