The difference between a corset and a girdle is a corset was usually made with stays made from whalebone sewn between pieces of the fabric and laced up at the back to hold everything in place where a girdle was made from an elasticised fabric to surround and 'hold in' a woman's stomach and bottom. The girdle was more comfortable to wear but still had and has certain discomforts. Girdles are still worn today by many mature women simply because they feel very uncomfortable and undressed without it. As the saying goes "old habits die hard".
Many mature women wearing stockings today do so because they feel very undressed without them if they are wearing a skirt or dress. No doubt they had probably been severely chastised at some point in their lives for wearing 'bare legs'.
The stockings worn by mature women in years gone by had other uses too apart from the social acceptability derived from being 'properly' dressed.
The shoes of the day were usually made from leather and the leather was not as soft and pliable as it is today. The process of leather tanning back then was more for longevity rather than comfort to the wearer. It would have been most uncomfortable to have worn a pair of those shoes without socks or stockings to protect against the rough rubbing of the shoe on the foot. The blisters caused by this friction burning would have hurt and would certainly be well remembered by our mature women wearing stockings today.
The other thing to note is today we all shower or bath every day but back then a bath once a week was what most of them had available to them. Water was not so readily available in most of the homes and often had to be carried in from a water tank outside. Keeping feet clean was and still is today, another reason our mature women wear stockings.
