In textiles, fishnet is hosiery with an open, diamond-shaped knit—most often used for stockings, tights, gloves, or bodystockings. It comes in many colors but is most often worn in traditional matte black. Goth and punk fashion made fishnet a subcultural uniform on legs and arms; mainstream fashion also uses it as a statement layer. Like lingerie, fishnet is widely read as sexually charged clothing and is tightly associated with adult entertainment, strip and stage work, and fetish display. For BDSM and fetish readers, fishnets are classic body-accent gear: a grid that hugs the skin, frames muscle and curve, and signals kink-adjacent glamour without a single cuff.
How fishnet works on the body
Fishnets are used mostly as undergarments or visible “second skin.” By applying a grid close to the body, they define curves and generally accentuate the wearer’s muscular definition. That close mesh is why the look reads as erotic even when the rest of an outfit is otherwise covered: the net both conceals and reveals, drawing the eye along the pattern rather than presenting bare skin alone. Full fishnet bodystockings, gloves, and arm sleeves extend the same logic to the whole figure—popular in clubwear, burlesque, and BDSM wardrobe kits where texture matters as much as color.
Outdoor performance fishnet (non-fetish use)
A more practical use of fishnet textiles appears in high-performance next-to-skin apparel for cold-weather outdoor sports—hiking, hunting, fishing, skiing, and mountaineering. In that context fishnet is usually knitted from polypropylene, merino wool, or nylon and offers benefits over traditional densely knitted base layers. Large void spaces in the fabric structure trap insulating air for warmth in cool conditions and allow rapid transport of moisture from the skin surface to outer layers, minimizing conductive heat loss. Same diamond geometry, completely different intent: survival layering rather than strip-club spotlight.
History: showgirls, pin-ups, punk
During the 1920s, fishnets emerged as an alternative trend in the United States, favored by showgirls because they were more revealing than typical stockings of the day. They later became an eminent fashion staple in the postwar pin-up and print-porn world; models such as Bettie Page, Jane Russell, and Marilyn Monroe frequently appeared in fishnets. In the 1970s and 1980s, punk counterculture’s fashion aesthetic included fishnets—often worn extra torn with huge holes or shredded—as a deliberate reference to BDSM subculture. That punk-to-fetish crossover is why ripped black nets still read as both street style and dungeon-adjacent costume.
Pop culture: from papyrus jokes to Rocky Horror
An early written reference to fishnet as an erotic device is sometimes traced to the Westcar Papyrus, specifically the tale of Baufra expanded in the “Wonder of Djadjaemankh.” In modern sports culture, fishnet stockings are commonplace roller-derby regalia. DC Comics has featured superheroines who build fishnet stockings into crime-fighting costume, including Black Canary and Zatanna. Margaret Walker’s book Cucumber Sandwiches & Fishnet Tights (2006) plays the garment for literary contrast. The Stray Cats recorded “Fishnet Stockings” on their European debut album in 1981. Characters in the game Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja wear fishnet undershirts. Nearly every major character in The Rocky Horror Picture Show appears in fishnets; live cast groups such as “Fishnet Inc” at the Naro Theater in Norfolk, Virginia, take their name from that wardrobe. In One Piece, Thriller Bark surgeon Dr. Hogback wears a fishnet shirt (the arc itself draws on horror-movie pastiche, possibly including Rocky Horror); Nico Robin wears fishnet stockings in that arc; CP9’s Kalifa and Franky Family’s Zambai also use fishnets. Morris Day recorded “Fishnet” for the album Daydreaming (1987); the song reached No. 23 on the Billboard charts in 1988, with limited airplay in some cities because of its title and content, later remixed for a 1994 club album and revisited live on It’s About Time (2004).
Fetish reading and related gear
Beside fashion history, fishnet sits next to underwear fetishism, latex and sheer layering, and classic “stripper chic” silhouettes that BDSM clubs and photo shoots still recycle. It is inexpensive, washable, size-flexible, and photogenic under stage light—which is why it remains one of the most common entry garments for people building a kink wardrobe. Tear it for punk edge, layer it under a pencil skirt for office-to-afterparty contrast, or wear a full body net as the only “clothing” in a private scene: the diamond grid does the same job every time—display, texture, and a clear sexual signal.
