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An high adrenaline sport where teams of 5 fierce female competitors fight for victory tightly clad in stunning legwear. From garishly coloured leopard patterned leggings to opaque pantyhose overlaid with fishnets, anything goes!
If you’re under the opinion that all female sports lack interesting legwear that’s what we’ve been thinking right up to the moment when discovered the Roller Derby phenomenon.
Unlike what might seem at first glance, this is actually a sport with nearly one century of history which underwent quite a few twists and turns during its practice from fully fledged competitive sport to choreographed matches and back to its original self.
What we really want to focus here is the aesthetic and fashion surrounding the sport and, particularly, the legwear trends depicted overall by the competitors. Despite the fact that all teams are required to wear their particular team’s jersey the rest of the uniforms are completely up to the fiercely competitive girls that wear them and, let me tell you, they sure know how to rock their pantyhose.
This photo features the South Side Derby Dames (green jersey) vs. Animas Roller Girls (black jersey). You can see some of the different styles of legwear used, from bright colored opaque pantyhose to black lace styles. They’re normally overlaid with over the knee socks for extra protection due to the constant risk of contact and falling.
You see it all on the track, from garishly colored leopard patterned leggings to opaque pantyhose overlaid with fishnets, black lace tights, thigh high socks and, of course, lots and lots of ripped black pantyhose due to the violent bumpy contact nature of the sport. We’ve been scouting the web for some of the best styles seen out there and we’ve come up with a lot of awesome looks who draw their influence from the punk and camp movement while having sort of an electroclash DIY feel.
We’re really thrilled about having found out about this sport which integrates such an unique aesthetic feel and we hope that you enjoy it as well and start cheering for these 8-wheeled warriors with as much enthusiasm as ourselves.
On these photos you can see two other interesting styles of pantyhose being used by the athletes including lace pantyhose, black and white leggings with dog tooth pattern, striped black and pink tights, pink fishnets over black opaque pantyhose, multicolored socks, etc.
If you’re looking for more style suggestions directly from the skating ring you can find over 1 million photos of roller derby matches at Flickr. If you’d like to know if there’s a roller derby league near you you can check the worldwide roster of teams. There’s also a really cool movie about Roller Derby called “Whip It!” featuring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore, you can watch the trailer below.
