• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

Put A Sock In it! Hosiery in Fiction

Status
Not open for further replies.

Katie-Ellen

Full Member
Blogger
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Location
UK
LitBits
0
England
I don't think I've mentioned hosiery anywhere in my current novel MS ...but I definitely shall in my new one, and wellies.

Article here about hosiery as a significator of background and character in fiction. http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/oct/18/stockings-literature-fiction-nylons-tights

It reminded me of the time I went to Pebble Mill, and was interviewed on BBC Radio Three, a programme called Gynn On The Wireless, about...hosiery. I went there to publicise a new exhibition at Leicester's costume museum. I was the curator's assistant and went along to keep her company, as she hated publicity stuff. We got lost, ahh, days before sat-nav, I had to jump out and ask some dustbin men where Pebble Mill was. We arrived late, were met by some agitated person who ran us through what seemed like a mile of corridor and shoved us into the studio. Then the curator turned to me and said she didn't want to do the interview, so in I went.

The exhibition (I had kindly been allowed to name it, and I had very cheesily named it 'Showing A Leg' but it could have been worse I suppose; it could have been 'Sox Appeal' ) featured one of the oldest socks known in existence. Dated, if I remember correctly, about 300 AD. Worn in Egypt it had stripes with bifurcation to allow for a sandal thong. It was knitted, but not knitted as we know it...more like, knotted. This sock has a claim to fame. It was this object, which inspired a designer from famous Leicester hosiers, Corah's, to spark or revive a trend for striped socks with separate digits back in the 80's. Very like this one....





c71e0edcb94e981f850eae2dce940dff.jpg
 
I love articles like this that trace something through history, and the ways it was used to portray characterization in literature. Thank you for sharing this. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Further Articles from the Author Platform

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • After 65 Decembers
    . In August, he smiled at the memories of 65 Decembers, and put away his razor. . Throughout Septemb ...
  • Sunnyside: A Man Without a Country
    I had good reason to believe Poland was “my” country; cashiers in Polish grocery stores would sp ...
  • Hooks
    It’s the word I keep encountering again and again when listening to interviews with agents and pub ...
  • Not an Ode to Howl
    I am privileged to belong to the Thursday Ladies of Letters, a writers’ group in Kota Kinabalu. It ...
  • Still Singing Those Songs
    I caught a sad news item concerning one of my music icons: Jimmy Cliff, who died at the age of 81… ...
  • Livers, and Maybe Gizzards Too
    American street food keeps getting re-invented: oysters, tripe soup, and chicken gizzards get replac ...
  • If Genres Were Dating
    Sci-fi’s office, its walls lined with the concept art of unbuilt cities. The Director watches Sci- ...
What Goes Around
Comes Around!
Back
Top