Leg Warmers

Description:

Leg Warmers originated as athletic wear. In the 1980s, they grew in popularity to keep the muscles of dancers’ lower legs warm; dancers wore them during warm-ups, scrunched around their ankles or pulled up all the way to their thighs, and took them off once performances began.

But dancer’s outfits looked unquestionably cool to the ladies of the ’80s, just as aerobic wear did, and soon enough, the leg warmer did a massive leap into mainstream fashion’s consciousness and just about every young girl and woman had the privilege of wearing them. They were produced in a wide range of colours and patterns.

Dancers wearing one leg warmer are usually coddling a niggling injury in that leg. Moon boots are used to protect ballet pointe shoes when the dancers are outside the studio. They also keep their feet warm and ready for the next rehearsal.

Along with Jane Fonda, popular films, such as Flashdance (1983) and Footloose (1984), helped to popularize leg warmers. Leg warmers went out of style by the late 1980s, but they returned in the early twenty-first century.