"A Pair of Silk Stockings" is a short story that operates in the genre of Realism. Its removed third-person narration, careful attention to psychological detail, and portrayal of everyday activities all create the feeling that the story is very true to life.
In fact, the realistic descriptions of the setting create a wonderful juxtaposition with the great emotion that Mrs. Sommers feels as she does things that people do every day. Little things like a pair of stockings can profoundly affect her. And yet, the story stays in the world as readers know it. Chopin doesn't use many embellishments or over-the-top descriptions beyond the fanciful magnifications that play out in Mrs. Sommers's own mind.
More specifically, the story also belongs to the early feminist tradition. It tells the story of a woman's desire for fulfillment, which is a hallmark of feminist literature. It also dramatizes the possible effects of consumer culture on women, as well as what might happen when a woman escapes (or even rejects) the confines of wifehood and motherhood in the late 1800s—a rather radical thing to do at the time. At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Sommers embodies the ideals of working-class domesticity, but the contrast between her exciting day and her mundane life ultimately suggests that she has a whole store of repressed desire and independence just waiting to come to the forefront of her daily life.
