Socks

In the 1930s and 1940s most women didnt wear socks, elastics didnt work very well so socks wouldnt stay up by themself and wearing sock suspenders would be silly if youre wearing a skirt or dress.
However when the war started the production of silk and synthetic stockings stopped and stockings became something rare. The government then propagated short socks, like bobbysocks and anklets, usually made of cotton or wool.
Ofcourse at the end of the war women would wear anything they would get their hands on, long woollen socks, mens socks, anything.

Stockings

In the 1930s the best thing a woman could wear would be a pair of pure silk stockings, those are extremely nice, they are shiny and very smooth.
In the beginning skirts where long so the stockings stopped at the knee where they where kept with a ribbon. But when skirts and dresses got shorter the stockings had to become longer and the Suspender belt was introduced, more about this in the Skirt section.
Ofcourse not everybody could afford the fancy silk stockings, thankfully the synthetic silk stockings where invented in England in 1912 and slowly came to Europe during the 1920s.
Stockings in the 1930s and 1940s where thus made of silk, synthetic silk, cotton or even wool. Nylon was invented in the late thirties but wasnt introduced to Europe till 1945.
They were long, most of them came halfway up the thigh, they had to reach the clasps of the suspender belt!
ALL stockings had seams apart from hand-knitted woollen ones, the seam ran down the back and it could be a pain to keep the seam in the middle of your leg. They were also pre-shaped, if your stockings didnt fit perfectly you would have folds all over your legs.
During the war stockings production and import stopped and they became rather rare, worth a fortune at the black market! Some women took very good care of their stockings and could use one pair for many months!
Most women started wearing socks as propagated by the government, others painted their legs brown and drew the seam on with an eyepencil!
A important detail is that most women would wear stockings with a subtle seam, one that wouldnt stand out too much, only women who were not too respectable would dare wearing stockings with extremely visible seams of a different colour then the stocking itself.
Today most nylon stockings have a very visible black seam, this is terribly rude and you should avoid those or people will frown upon you!

Shoes

There were many different styles of shoes but there are some guidelines.
All womens shoes (except those ment for sports) had heels, most of them not too high. The heels were also not to thin...again these guidelines are ment for ladies and 'good and proper' women, young women who wanted to dance and flirt would sometimes wear shoes with high and thin heels although their mothers would not approve!
Finding retro shoes these days can be very difficult, although some stores sell them for Swing dancing and you can also buy Tap-dance shoes, they are usually old fashioned as well.