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