Figure Skating Costumes Through the Years: The 60s, Part 2

We last left off with the very emotional tribute to the 1961 US Figure Skating Team. I did not feel it appropriate to comment on outfits in light of such tragedy. In this post, I'll get into the events later in the decade. You will start to see a change in the costuming, where skaters develop more of their own personal style. This somewhat mimics the great changes later in the decade, except that, as we all know, figure skating is quite slow to change, and the change is much more subdued.

During the 60s, ice shows were still touring the country. As opposed to the large production numbers in the past, there is starting to become more of an emphasis on individual and pairs skating.

Seems as though the short skirts, fringe, and bling were here to stay. They have certainly been a staple in the ice shows starting in the late 40s. Ice Capades and Ice Follies also brought us a beloved character, Mr. Debonair.

Mr. Debonair was portrayed by Richard Dwyer. He wore a tuxedo with top hat and tails, and skated with six ladies in glamorous gowns. He also gave roses to ladies in the audience. Richard Dwyer still makes appearances at skating events. "Mr. Debonair" was at the US Nationals this year.

On to the Olympics:

For the 1964 Games, the US had a somewhat limited showing, due to the 1961 crash. USFS was building a new team almost from scratch. For the ladies event, long time favorite Sjoukje Dijkstra of the Netherlands won the gold.

 In Dijkstra's dress, there are a few more style elements, to include the collar.

In the 1968 Games, the Americans were back in the game! For the men, Tim Wood brought home the silver.

The turtleneck trend kicked off big in the 60s. It became a common theme among men and women. Gary Visconti was also a top-5 finisher and is seen here wearing a snazzy sequined jacket:

In the ladies event, an American woman left a mark on the sport that would change it for decades. From her graceful skating to her beautiful dresses, Peggy Fleming brought a sense of beauty to the ice. Her style was one of refined elegance, as opposed to the more showy and flashy champions of the past.

She showed up for the games in Grenoble, France with two memorable dresses, in unusual colors with memorable details. But her skating was the real treat. She also has this fabulous exhibition costume:

Fringe mania! She looks great, as always. She has hardly aged at all after all this time.

 For pairs skating, the 60s marked the beginning of Russian dominance in the discipline. The pair to kick this off was Ludmilla Belousova and Oleg Protopopov.

Oleg is looking very stylish in his tuxedo-like ensemble, and Ludmilla is serving up some fierce 60s fashion realness. The beehive hairstyle and makeup complement both dresses beautifully. As you can see, long sleeves were still the name of the game then. The silhouette fits slightly different, with a shorter skirt. The first picture shows a mock turtleneck style, which became quite popular in the 60s. Another notable change is that there is slightly more embellishment in the competition dresses. The gap is beginning to bridge between the "flashy" show costumes and "conservative" competition costumes.

Oleg and Ludmilla later married.

I met the Protopopovs in 2012 at Lake Placid during Adult Skating Week.

This was my thought at this social:

That being said, it was an amazing experience. They talked a bit about how skating has changed over the years and shows they were doing. They were so nice and down to earth.

Before I close this post out, I had a little surprise and bit of skating trivia for you. I am featuring one more skater, who designed her own costumes. She designs costumes for many figure skaters today, some of which helped them win the gold. Our figure skater of the 60s is fashion designer Vera Wang!

Alright y'all, it's been fun! Next time we will get even more groovy in the 70s!

Figure Skating in the 60s, Part 1: The 1960 Games and Team 1961

The 60s were an unforgettable time for the sport, for many reasons. We start the decade with another successful Olympics for the Americans, and then the greatest tragedy this sport has ever known. It took the sport, particularly the US team, several years to recover, and then ended with polish and elegance.

The 1960 Olympics
During the 1960 Olympics, Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul of Canada took the title for pairs.

The men's costumes are starting become a little more form-fitting than what we have seen in the past few decades, and Barbara Wagner's dress is similar to other 50s style skating dresses. David Jenkins brought home the Gold for the men.

I love seeing these action shots!
After taking the silver medal to Tenley Albright's gold in 1956, Carol Heiss had a big comeback and won the gold medal in the 1960 Games.

In the 60s, the ladies' costumes start to experiment more with different skirts, necklines, and embellishments. Carol's dress here shows a growing trend throughout the decade, a mock-turtleneck type look. The skirt design is really unique and I have not seen any others like it. And here she is wearing her victory crown.

Sadly, these feelings of joy did not last for Team USA as long as they would have hoped.

The 1961 US Figure Skating Team

Following the 1960 Olympics, the United States started to see a new group of up-and-coming skaters, favored to win at the 1964 Olympics. One of the most notable skaters was Laurence "Laurie" Owen, daughter of renowned coach Maribel Vinson Owen.

Laurie Owen also had a sister who competed in pairs. Her name was Maribel, after her mother. Here are all the Owen ladies together.

The Owens, along with the remainder of the US Figure Skating Team, were very excited to head to the World Championships. They all boarded Sabena Flight 548 headed to the Championships in Prague.

What happened next is the greatest tragedy our sport has ever known. The plane had a crash landing in Belgium. There were no survivors. This event rocked the entire international skating community so greatly that the World Championships were cancelled that year.

If you have not made the trip to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame Museum in Colorado Springs, I strongly encourage it. The 1961 exhibit impacted me tremendously. This happened 21 years before I was born, but I felt like I had seen it happen. As I did, you will most likely cry.

A book was written by Patricia Shelley Bushman to commemorate this event titled Indelible Tracings. From what I have read so far, it is an inspiring and great read. I do need to finish it. You can find out more about the book and the 1961 Team here:

http://www.1961team.com/index.html

Out of this great tragedy, US Figure Skating created the Memorial Fund. It was originally created to honor all the lives lost in the crash, and is now used to help many talented skaters reach their athletic and academic goals. You can learn more about the Memorial Fund here.

http://www.usfsa.org/story?id=84022&menu=memorialfund

I will conclude this portion of the 60s post here to allow for reflection of the 1961 victims.

This post is dedicated to the 1961 US Figure Skating Team.

In Memory, from Icy Trails

Skating Costumes Through the Years: The Fabulous 50s!

In the 50s, things get really interesting. American figure skaters are coming more to the forefront, and ice shows are reaching continents and countries previously unreachable, due to the invention of the portable ice rink. All of these shows had beautiful programs. Here are some examples:

There's also this one, in which the extreme close-up is quite terrifying:

She appears to be hating life or about to go psycho. Either way, I'd leave this one alone...

As you can see from these programs, the ladies show costumes are getting more revealing. Take Gloria Nord and Aja Zanova as examples...

Aja's skating fascinator is on point!!! Seriously, I have no idea how that thing is staying on. They both appear to love a stag jump. In addition to the change in ladies show costumes, the men's show costumes got more flamboyant.

The sleeves and embellishment embody what figure skating is all about! He looks awesome! There were still some that preferred an ensemble with a bit less bolness. Here is Robert Blakey in one of the Ice Capades shows:

This was a tailored tuxedo type of look which was prevalent for men's competition wear at this time too. This show costume still has a little more embellishment than what you would see in a competition costume.

In 1959, Holiday on Ice made a really bold and courageous move, one that had been unprecedented by any of the other shows. The show wanted to go to Moscow. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, there was not much to see other than Soviet-sanctioned entertainment. The government subsidized competitive Olympic and World athletes but did not appear to be fond of shows. Many notable skaters signed up for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring the ice show to an oppressed audience who had not gotten to see it. There was a lot of risk, but also reward. This picture below shows the Holiday on Ice cast meeting with Nikita Kruschev.

I put this up not necessarily to comment on the outfits, but to commemorate this important moment in skating history.

The 50s had its share of interesting competitive times as well. In 1952, we saw Dick Button take home his second gold medal. Here is another photo of him wearing his signature sweater look.

Later in the decade we saw the Jenkins brothers come on the scene: Hayes and David Jenkins both like the dapper tuxedo look.

Hayes Jenkins would later marry another figure skater: Carol Heiss.

The Ladies competition in 1956 marked the beginning of the great rivalries between American ladies figure skaters. Her competitor was Tenley Albright.

The two ladies were different in many ways. It's almost an old tale at this point that you see over and over. Carol Heiss came from a blue collar family in the New York area that worked very hard to get her into the figure skating club there. Tenley Albright was the daughter of a doctor and was well known in the Boston skating community. Their differences even extended to their wardrobe, with Heiss having a younger, bright-eyed, school girl look, and Albright donning ladylike dresses.

This duo was competitive from the mid-50s and into the next decade. Heiss had captured the World Championship in 1955, but Albright was the victor of the 1956 Olympic Games.

Looking at all these photos, there is still a stark contrast between the competition costumes, and the show costumes, will it remain this way, or with their paths ever cross! We still have a lot to cover so stay tuned to find out!

Figure Skating Costumes Through the Years: The 1940s

Skating fasinators! Airborne Dick Button! Ladies looking fabulous! There's a lot of ground to cover in the 40s, so let's get started!

The 40s were quite the exciting time in the evolution of figure skating. Like the rest of the world in the earlier part of the decade, figure skating was greatly impacted by World War II. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were cancelled due to the war. But this didn't mean that no skating happened in that time frame. Building on the success of the beginning ice shows of the 30s, the show circuit took off with a bang! Shipstad's and Johnson's Ice Follies was probably the most famous show.

The costumes on the programs represent what was worn by the ladies in the ice shows. They were a lot of over-the-top, theatrical costumes. One of the biggest acts of Ice Follies featured two brothers known as Frick and Frack.

Frick and Frack were a comedy duo that drew in huge crowds at their shows. The Blades of Glory dynamic duo of Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy McElroy could not exist if it were not for the influence of Frick and Frack.

My focus of this series is to discuss the costumes and not necessarily get into the nitty-gritty of the shows, although the history is fascinating. If you want to learn more about these shows, I strongly recommend the documentary "The Fabulous Ice Age". I'm going to write a review for it in another post, so I don't want to spoil it for you.

Anyway, back to the outfits...looks like the tight legging pants are out on the men for the time being. The focus of the 40s was on looking dapper. Trousers were worn by the men now, often with a jacket or sweater.

There was another ice show that took place in the south, primarily in the Dallas area, around this time as well. This show was put on by Dorothy "Dot" Franey. Let's take a look at the costumes:

Looks like a couple of Southern Belles and a lot of either ballerinas or swimmers with parasols. It is a bit of a contrast from the Ice Follies Costumes.

I bet you're all ready to see some classic 40s styles. Well, you're in luck. Here's one of pin-up girl, roller and ice figure skater, Gloria Nord.

"The Fabulous Ice Age" features a lot of Miss Gloria here. You should see this documentary, for realsies!!

There was another famous pin-up of the 40's who was a skater. Here she is:

That's Miss Betty Grable!

To wrap up the Ice Show portion of the post, we will close with skating Uber-star Sonja Henie. She continued to dominate the ice show circuit for the decade as well.

This has become a signature look for Sonja, with the very elaborate costumes and skating fascinators. I want a skating fascinator! We need to make this a thing again.

Now, switching gears.....

The Olympic Games returned in 1948 after the war was over. These games took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland, which makes sense since they were not torn up by the war. Here is a banner from the Games:

Twelve years had passed since the last Winter Games, and there was a whole new group of skaters on the scene:

We have pairs:

The gentleman is wearing a dapper suit and the lady is wearing a 40s silhouette dress. Notice there is still a stark contrast between elaborate show costumes and conservative competition costumes.

On to the ladies event, we have the USA's fabulous Gretchen Merrill, with very chic looks on the ice:

She is wearing sunglasses during the competition, which seems a little rebellious to me for some reason. Here's another look at the dress:

It has a flared skirt and buttoned bodice. The belt gives it another splash of style, and the hat and belt complement each other (at least from the black and white picture). The look mimics something you would see a woman wearing anywhere in this time period, but with a shorter skirt to enable more movement. She also wore this gorgeous hooded dress:

Love this. Maybe the hood helped hold in a little warmth too, since they were still skating outside. I love how she interpreted street fashion into her skating dresses for this Olympics.

The 1948 Olympics also brought us one of skating's brightest stars: the legendary Dick Button. His competitive look for this games appeared to be a casual and relaxed look with trousers and a sweater. Everyone must see these action shots now! He is airborne in all of them!

We have the split jump,

And the flying sit spin!

These are super cool, no? How is "Airborne Dick Button" not a thing already! This needs to happen!

To wrap this post up, I have two recommendations for you:
1) Watch The Fabulous Ice Age
2) Read Dick Button's autobiography, Push Dick's Button.

I will review both of these in later posts. See ya in the 50s!


Autumn at Icy Trails