Knitting History Through Reconstruction: The Making and Meaning of Early Modern Stockings

Knitted stockings were one of the most important early modern textile innovations. Especially fine stockings made of silk were a popular fashion product and one of the key novelties among European elites. The popularity of knitted stockings is seen in the fact that by the end of the fifteenth century, there were thousands of professional knitters in Europe. Despite the prominence of knitted stockings in this period, there is little surviving documentation about actual knitted stockings and their early histories of making. What exactly made knitted stockings so luxurious and appealing for early modern men and women? This article combines visual and textual evidence, close reading of surviving objects, and scientific analysis with historical reconstruction, in order to find new ways of accessing the visual and material properties of early modern knitted stockings and their material and cultural meanings.