# Rouging one's knees **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572 "2010-03-24T03:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/1 "2010-03-24T03:09:22Z")
In the musical _Chicago_, Velma sings: _I’m gonna rouge my knees And roll my stockings down And all that jazz_ What the heck does it mean to “rouge one’s knees”? Why would you do it? And for that matter, what is a “lavaliere”? Roxie sings: _And I’ll appear in a lavaliere That goes all the way down to my waist_ A low-cut dress? A necklace? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/2 "2010-03-24T03:13:27Z")
> **[Untitled Document](http://www.slangcity.com/songs/all_that_jazz.htm)** Explains some 1920’s slang. > [@](#): > > rouge my knees and roll my stockings down – put pink makeup on the knees, which are exposed by the rolled down stockings. Prior to the 1920s, women’s fashions covered the knees. Daring women called flappers began the fashion of showing them, which was considered super-sexy at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/3 "2010-03-24T03:19:08Z")
And [lavaliere](http://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/CLAS224/Handouts/Eponhand.htm). > [@](#): > > lavaliere: A piece of jewelry hung around the neck on a chain. > This kinds of jewelry is named after the Duchesse de La Valliere, the lover of King Louis XV. See the picture at that site. So the necklace would be extra long, showy, and extravagant, just as you’d expect of Velma. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/4 "2010-03-24T03:26:29Z")
trivia a microphone suspended from a cord around the neck is called a lavaliere microphone, popular before they became small enough to be clipped on. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/5 "2010-03-24T03:35:20Z")
Wow, that was quick! Gee, youse guys is swell! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/6 "2010-03-24T05:22:58Z")
In the Fifties and Sixties, sometimes a college girl got “lavaliered” which was a step between going steady (wearing his class ring as a sign that you weren’t dating anyone else) and getting pinned (wearing his fraternity pin as a sign that you were engaged to be engaged.) The lavaliere necklace that you wore may have had something to do with his fraternity also. I’ve forgotten. Gee I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/7 "2010-03-24T06:04:03Z")
Ha! In my day, you could get “dropped” (a symbol, usually the frat letters, on a chain; if no frat, then the guy’s initials). It was considered not quite as serious as getting pinned (his fraternity pin–or whatever pin he could scare up) which led directly to engagement, but about on a par with, if not exactly like, getting lavaliered. The lavalier people seemed to be from further south. As to the knees: they were rouged to stand out. My mother rolled her stockings from the 1920s until the 1970s, when she started wearing those knee-high things. She had a permanent crease just below her knee from doing it. However, she gave up putting blush on her knees (as we would say today) when she gave up short skirts–which was probably 1929. It was done to make the knees look more dimpled. Exposed knees were very new in those days. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rouging-ones-knees/533572/8 "2010-03-24T12:18:49Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > In the Fifties and Sixties, sometimes a college girl got “lavaliered” which was a step between going steady (wearing his class ring as a sign that you weren’t dating anyone else) and getting pinned (wearing his fraternity pin as a sign that you were engaged to be engaged.) The lavaliere necklace that you wore may have had something to do with his fraternity also. I’ve forgotten. Gee I’m old. We still do it in Ohio. It is the college equivalent of going steady.