Bodystocking

A bodystocking or body stocking is a one-piece skin-tight garment that covers the torso, legs and sometimes the arms of the wearer.

A body stocking may be worn for the smooth line it gives or because it cannot become untucked from trousers or a skirt.

The first notable occasion was when American actress Adah Isaacs Menken wore one in 1861 in the play Mazeppa, based on Byron's "Mazeppa", in which she played a 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.

[8] 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.