Kayser boys

The marketing of women’s stockings has taken interesting turns and twists (or runs and ladders) over the years. The sexual connotation angle is the most utilised. Women sat almost demurely but flashing a length of leg in silk and satin underwear in the 1920s. Burlesque-esque women posed and pouted in the 1940s and 1950s. Close-ups of legs in stockings ran from the 1960s and 70s right through to today, really. Perhaps only the gratuity of the reveal on body parts has increased.

But some stockings have had more unusual mascots holding them up. These two angelic characters were used to sell Kayser Bondor stockings as early as the 1940s. Sometimes they interacted with the lady – flitting and flying around ankles with a tape measure in magazine adverts. Sometimes they held their own as the small die-cut point of sale sign here shows.

The two characters are, I suppose, some sort of angelic bellboy or tailor or waiter. I can’t think of what else they might represent in those outfits. Kayser seems to be an American company, made and sold under license in England and other countries. So these two might have originated under an American pen. The distinctive deco Kayser logo is almost A. M. Cassandre’s 1929 Bifur font but not quite.

This card was a present from a friend who found it in Norfolk – along with a nice Patons & Baldwins sign, that which I was also given. I like to think these two cards were old stock from a small local lingerie and dress shop. This one might have sat on a worn oak counter letting the customers know fully-fashioned fripperies were back in stock at last.