Leg warmers
Leg warmers are a type of clothing that is worn over the calves of the legs. Leg warmers are similar to socks except they only cover the legs and leave the feet exposed. Leg warmers clothe the legs from a point below the knee down to the ankles, sometimes extending to the heels of the feet. If you have no idea what leg warmers look like, just think of knee high socks but with the covering for the feet cut off.
Just as its name suggests, leg warmers are for keeping the legs warm. They were initially used by dancers who needed them to protect their legs and ankles from injuries. Leg warmers have always been a staple in a dancer’s wardrobe but it wasn’t until the early 1980s that leg warmers gained massive popularity. The leg warmers fad at that point in time was mainly due to movies such as Fame, Footloose and Flashdance. These movies featured dancers and became such a hit in the dancing-crazed and aerobic-fanatic 80s. Soon after these movies were released, people wanted to emulate the fashion and style of dancers. Leg warmers were one of the hot fashion items that were flying off the shelves and were all the rage back then.
At the height of its popularity, leg warmers were being sold in all sorts of styles, colors, and designs. Leg warmers weren’t the plain and basic-colored dancer’s clothing anymore. Just as how everything in the 80s was big, loud, and crazy, leg warmers were not an exception. There were bright neon colored leg warmers, fuzzy leg warmers, fluorescent leg warmers, loudly printed leg warmers, and etc. Leg warmers were being worn with anything from jeans to high-heeled pumps. Leg warmers were made loose and bunched up at the ankles, were worn one on top of the other, and were even worn so low that people started calling them as ankle warmers. People were sporting leg warmers anywhere and at anytime including in the summer and in raves in hot, stuffy nightclubs.
The leg warmers trend in the 80s didn’t last very long and were soon gone from the stores by the latter part of the decade. Leg warmers faded into obscurity and were forgotten. For some time after that, leg warmers were looked upon as just one of those crazy fashions of the 80s.
Leg warmers didn’t reappear until more than 10 years later, near the end of the 90s. The cool and fashionable Japanese schoolgirls and Harajuku girls who were always photographed wearing leg warmers were probably one of the major reasons why leg warmers were tuned into the fashion radar again. By the time the 00s rolled in, leg warmers were back and being sold in boutiques.
Leg warmers today are not as loud and as crazy as they were in the 80s, but you can still shop from a variety of leg warmers styles and designs. There are rib cuff leg warmers, striped leg warmers, wooly leg warmers, ribbed leg warmers, slouchy leg warmers, cotton leg warmers, angora leg warmers, Lycra leg warmers, and many more to choose from.