Understocking

On the 1st of February of 1715 I received the dues of La Cañada, three bushels of wheat; eight sacks and a half of maize; some cotton-thread understockings worth 3 pesos, and two pairs of gloves;

As white understockings, which may easily have been completely hidden, also occur, it is possible that the well-dressed man often wore three pairs of stockings. Roelof de Man — always a standard of elegance in Cape terms — had twelve pairs of white understockings and fourteen pairs of overstockings, including examples in green Naples silk, pearl-coloured English silk, ash-grey wool (sajet), black English silk, red serge, and white linen. While Ensign [Pieter] Evriard runs him a close second with five pairs of white understockings and thirteen pairs of overstockings in a rather similar range of colours and materials.

He [Jeremias van Rensselaer] may have worn understockings to protect the outer pair from sweat and foot odors; in the 1650s, overstockings or ‘canons,’ which were widened and decorated at the top, better fitted the wider boots worn by men at this time.