Fashion Friday

Saw this article in the Daily News when I was surfing for some Fashion Friday fodder. It's a well-done slideshow of figure skating fashion through the years, starting with the 1920s.

However the accompanying text of the first slide gives me a little pause:

We can only imagine how hard it is to perform a triple axel in a full-length wool skirt and sweater.

Now, not that I take much of what the Daily News ever does seriously (I spent years in New York being assaulted by their sensationalist headlines on every street corner), but this struck me as egregiously uninformed. There are a few very good reasons that skaters dressed the way they did in the 1920s (and before).

Where do I start? Well, for one thing, no one did triple axels back then. It wasn't until 1978 that a guy did one in competition (Canadian Vern Taylor), and 1988 when a lady finally did (Midori Ito). Skaters in the 1920s were barely doing single axels anyway.

Secondly, there was no such thing as an indoor ice rink. There were no space heaters. Skaters skated outside. In the COLD. Wool and layers were lifesavers.

Which brings me to an auxiliary point, which is that in the 20s, (now-defunct) figures were still the dominating discipline in the sport, not it's flashier sister discipline, freeskating. Not exactly a cardiovascular system-stimulating endeavor. And since fashion tends to fit function first in skating, big wool sweaters and long skirts/pants were ideal for keeping warm while skating. So to avoid shivering that would ruin the precision of figures, heavy outwear was key.

And thirdly, it was a more modest era. Sonja Henie was the first skater to dare to raise her skirts on ice in the 30s.

There have been many times during cold, Northeast winters when I've worn some major, mismatched and bulky layers on the ice, fashion be darned!