Kous van vleeskleurige zijde met ajour pijlen op de klink en ajour diamantvorm tegen de rand c. 1900 - 1915

Curator: This is a silk stocking dating from around 1900 to 1915. It’s part of the decorative arts collection here at the Rijksmuseum, and it really gives a glimpse into the fashionable underpinnings of the era. Editor: Mmm, interesting, isn't it? It's like looking at a captured moment, an intimate secret preserved behind glass. But that fleshy tone gives me the shivers—like a mannequin's limb, detached. Curator: Well, the color was definitely intentional, reflecting a trend toward mimicking natural skin tones in hosiery. These stockings became popular with looser fitting dresses, minimizing a stark visual contrast on the body, so you want to appear as smooth as possible, if that makes sense. Editor: Smooth, like butter, yet unsettling, too. I am curious about that little flourish along the top of the stocking, the lacy arrow design. It suggests delicacy, yet is strangely reminiscent of cupid's arrow, I feel... Curator: Ah, good eye! The ‘ajour’ work, that’s the needlepoint lacework, offered subtle ventilation and served an aesthetic purpose, too, by denoting quality. The designs we see here—the diamond shapes and stylized arrows—do invoke ideas of classic beauty, so it is not a big surprise about Cupid's arrows. This would have certainly spoken to aspirations for sophistication and luxury, and appealed to an affluent market keen on projecting their ideals about fashion and body image, even if, today, the piece makes us a bit uneasy. Editor: Uneasy is the word! Almost vampiric—as if this innocent stocking is sucking all the life from the wearer’s leg! But fascinating as a historical object: whispering stories of forgotten vanities. It makes me wonder, who wore this and where did their beautiful legs go? Curator: That sense of lost stories, and of how cultural ideals are expressed, materially and symbolically, is why such objects have great significance. The past can tell us so much if we pay close attention! Editor: Absolutely. Every thread tells a tale, doesn't it? And this one, despite its creepiness, reminds us that beauty and discomfort have always been intertwined, in their own odd way.