Count your blessings ladies

[AgnesNitt]

What skating was like in the 40's. This picture shows the typical underpinnings.

[4711]

not just for skating!

with a summer average of WELL over 80....yes, I am counting....although, I am sure it made for a nice, shapely figure!

[fsk8r]

I wonder when the boots started being white?

[AgnesNitt]

I wonder when the boots started being white?

Sonja Henie started the fashion, but they seem to have come in black for ladies for years afterwards. I don't know when it became traditional for girls to skate in white.

I just wanted to add, I had to wear a back corset for a sprain for a couple of weeks, I think a girdle like that might have helped.

[Kitten23]

I wear something similar to a truss when I skate thanks to back issues.  So pretty under fancy skating clothes.

[rosereedy]

Reminds me of the girdle/compression garment I had to wear after my tummy tuck and lipo surgery.  Looked just like that minus the stocking holder things.

[Doubletoe]

Hmm. . . Sonja Henie was already wearing panty hose and a skirted leotard in the 1930's . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCvz0r_dKpA

[Kitten23]

But that's Sonia while in a (I think) Warner Brothers movie.  They had access to costumes and underpinnings that the average woman didn't, even if she was an Olympic Skater.

[Doubletoe]

But that's Sonia while in a (I think) Warner Brothers movie.  They had access to costumes and underpinnings that the average woman didn't, even if she was an Olympic Skater.

But you'll see that Cecilia Colledge in the 1936 Olympics wore something very similar (see video below).  It's quite possible that they wore garters and stockings for figures, but I find it hard to imagine women ever wearing them when skating in freestyle competitions where they had to do spirals and spins!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOq6pFqMY1Q

[AgnesNitt]

But you'll see that Cecilia Colledge in the 1936 Olympics wore something very similar (see video below).  It's quite possible that they wore garters and stockings for figures, but I find it hard to imagine women ever wearing them when skating in freestyle competitions where they had to do spirals and spins!

I happened to read a few days ago about Sonja wearing tights for her first movie. I think it was $35 a day for 3 pairs of hose a day. That's $400-600 in today's money.

I think Cecilia may be bare legged.

[techskater]

More than likely she was.  My coach went bare legged outside in the winter in the 60s

[blue111moon]

Carol Heiss has talked about skating bare-legged outdoors in Lake Placid.  I'm guessing that was the norm for the time. 
ETA:  Also it wasn't until 1959 that Dupont created the stretch nylon fiber that made pantyhose and tights possible.  It was the mini-skirts of the '60 that popularized tights and pantyhose.

[Doubletoe]

I happened to read a few days ago about Sonja wearing tights for her first movie. I think it was $35 a day for 3 pairs of hose a day. That's $400-600 in today's money.

I think Cecilia may be bare legged.

Yikes, I can't even imagine how cold they must have been, especially when you factor in the wind chill outdoors!  Shivering legs make it awfully hard to skate (Can you imagine doing figures with knees knocking together?).  Those women were incredible!

[Neverdull44]

No tights?  What about when they fell?  Ice burn.