This image, said to be the most popular poster design of World War II, appeared as a billboard in
Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted: 11/10/2008
While leg makeup has been commercially available since the 1920s, it wasn't until rationing was introduced during the World War II that the product became an essential commodity for many American women. Unable to procure silk or nylon hose, many women resorted to painting their legs with products such as Leg Silque Liquid Stockings, made in Boston, Mass., by the Langlors Company. Some industrious users even drew black lines down the backs of their legs to simulate the seams.
United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)
2: How the New Deal addressed the Great Depression, transformed American federalism, and initiated the welfare state
3: The causes and course of World War II, the character of the war at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the U.S. role in world affairs