Pink Leg Warmers
Pink leg warmers are a hot fashion trend today. However, there is nothing new about footless leggings being used to keep legs warm and safe throughout recorded history. Animal hides, various tanned leathers, all types of fabrics and knitted leg warming devices have wrapped around legs for centuries to create warmth and to protect the legs from bites, cuts, and scratches as men and women went about their daily lives.
During the 1800’s, it was a popular pastime for some young ladies to knit winter leg-wraps that could be worn hidden from sight under the long dresses of the day. These homemade knit leg-wraps helped to keep the cold snow off of the legs as it blew up the bottoms of the skirts. Pretty pink leg warmers were made by dying the wool with wild strawberries or dandelion roots before it was spun into yarn.
At the start of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800’s, knitting machines were invented and the homemade pink leg-wraps were slowly phased out of all underwear collections in favor of manufactured winter sox, hosiery, and tights. The world of dance was also evolving into a scene of manufactured materials that allowed for 16 layer floppy knee-length tutus and modernistic leg coverings made from machine knitted materials.
The leg warmers that we know and love today are an offshoot of the dancewear industry that started to wear leg warming devices near the time of the first Great Depression in America when heating the dancers practice room was a luxury. As economical problems caused a decrease in attendance at dance performances, all members of the dance troop were forced to suffer cutbacks on luxuries.
Starting in 1929, when lady dancers found that they had chilly legs during practice sessions, they did what came naturally and added homemade knit leggings to their dance practice wardrobes. During the 1950’s as dance costumes started to get shorter, manufactured leg warmers were available from dance supply stores. Today, leg sleeves for dance are popular with both sexes during rehearsals.
During the late 1960’s, leg warmers bounced out of the ballet dance studios along with the hippy movement. There is no imagination needed to understand why some female hippies chose to cut the sleeves off of their favorite colorful sweaters during snow season and to place them onto their legs while they were wearing hot-pants and mini-dresses. Leg warming devices have always been with us in the fashion world.
Today’s fashionable warmers are directly linked to the 1980’s leg warmer craze that soared into popularity with dance films like Fame and Flashdance, and with the 1980’s fascination for everything aerobics. During 2004, they warmers again soared to the top of the fashion charts after Vogue Magazine spotlighted these delightful fashion accessories in an article.
Unlike the past, current warmers can come in a wide variety of materials. It is not unusual to see a Goth sporting pink fur warmers, or to see pink leather leg warmers at a rave party. Leg warmers are also now unisex fashion items that are an acceptable way to personalize any designer fashion statement in all types of circumstances. Leg sleeves are available in long or short versions, in a wide variety of pink shades, and in price ranges that all people can afford. Pink leg warmers were with us then, and they are still with us now as one of the hottest new fashion crazes.
