Editing Bodystocking (section)

== History ==

It is unclear when the first bodystocking was made or when it was first worn.

The first notable occasion was when American actress [[Adah Isaacs Menken]] wore one in 1861 in the play ''Mazeppa'', based on [[Lord Byron|Byron]]'s "[[Mazeppa (Byron)|Mazeppa]]", in which she played a [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] man who was tied nude to the back of a wild horse by his enemies. In the scene Menken wore a flesh coloured bodystocking to preserve her [[modesty]] while giving the illusion of [[nudity]]. The practice created controversy.<ref name="Brooks">Brooks, Daphne A. “Lady Menken’s Secret: Adah Isaacs Menken, Actress Biographies and the Race for Sensation.” ''Legacy'', Volume 15. Number 1. (1998): pages 68-77.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://miyalingerie.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-bodystockings |title=History of Bodystockings |publisher=Funky Bodystockings |accessdate=2013-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730211134/https://miyalingerie.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-bodystockings|archive-date=2013-07-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A body stocking was used in a [[tableau vivant]] style short film ''The Birth of the Pearl'' (1901),<ref>Produced by [[Frederick S. Armitage]] for the [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]]</ref> which featured an unnamed long-haired young model wearing a flesh-coloured body stocking in a direct frontal pose<ref name=sexinfilms1>{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmsite.org/sexinfilms1.html|title=Sex in Cinema: Pre-1920s Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes|website=www.filmsite.org}}</ref> and provided a provocative view of the female body.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmi10/d21.html American Women]</ref>

Other problematic roles which have sometimes been facilitated by wearing a flesh-coloured body-stocking are those of [[Eve]] in Biblical dramas and [[Lady Godiva]] in carnivals.