What is a leg-warmer?
A leg-warmer is a piece of clothing mainly used to keep warm a part of the body, usually legs.
During Middle-Age and also Renaissance, leg-warmers were obviously used to cover parts of the body that were usually uncovered. We can assume that someone wearing a tunic would need to keep warm their ankles and arms.
Leg-warmer's History
Leg-warmers were used in coldest days during Middle-Age, so they warm the undressed parties of body. It was a clothing mainly used by civilians but sometimes soldiers wore them when they fought in North European wars. They were shown as a group of stripes which could be coiled in the low part of the leg, ankle,tibia or arms extremities leaving hands uncovered.
Depending on the temperature, leg-warmers could be made of cotton, wool... or some animal's skin. Nowadays, leg-warmers can be worn as a complement for a medieval costume although dancers used them during their shows for keeping their legs warm.
Types of leg-warmers
There are two kinds of leg-warmers:
- Those who are rolled up, typical clothing during Middle Age.
- Those who warm arms and/or legs.
They can be worn by men as underpants and by women under their tunics.
If you are very fond of Medieval fairs and you want a costume as complete as possible, you should wear leg-warmers, above all in autumn and winter. This a sort of clothing which gives an smart touch to medieval costumes. All of our leg-warmers are made or wool and cotton and, the most important, in Europe.
