Transvestia

Usually my commissions were to find certain books, or blank paper pads, or carbon paper which was very hard indeed to locate. Then on one part- icular evening one of my best customers said to me, "Please get me some stocks and stays!" I did not understand what he was talking about, and told him so. Then, very patiently, he explained to me that the present rage all over England was to wear "stocks and stays" - which meant stockings. The fact is that stockings are warmer than sox and it was a very cold winter and that stockings need garters to hold them up, and that garters are always attached to stays (corsets). It was just as simple as that, and I arranged to handle them for him and for anyone else who should want them. And soon everybody did. It was a profitable line. It was the rage in all the colleges and universities of England. I wore

them too.

Some learned psychologists tried to explain this fad by saying that all the best men had died in France in the War and that only sissies were left, so they dressed that way. An American poet eulogized in a poem:

"When Cambridge 'comes curvacious

And Oxford struts in stays."

Well, we did strut and we did become curve-conscious, but the real basic reason was the desire for warmth and comfort - stockings are warmer than sox and stays are exceedingly comfortable. I sold hundreds of pairs, in all sizes and colors.

In regard to size, all students are alike and tend to over-emphasize everything. Most wore a com- fortable size which, as the weeks passed became too large and I would sell a smaller size. And of course there were a few who followed and enjoyed the cult of tight lacing which is not as uncomfortable as it sounds. I could tell many stories about this practice.

I remember one particular scene which I thought