1980s skating fashions roll into stores, wardrobes

NEW YORK - Dust off that satin bomber jacket and pull on those tube socks — right to the knee, please — then delve into the attic on a mission to find your roller skates: “Xanadu” is opening on Broadway this month.

Could this be the start of a roller disco redux?

Before you shake your head in disbelief, consider that leggings already have become ubiquitous, and gold lamé had a presence on the red carpet at the Oscars this year.

Sure, the 1980s might very well be the most maligned fashion decade, but many of its key looks are being worn today — maybe those wearing sorbet-colored tube tops and white-trimmed jogging shorts simply don’t know that those pieces had their first heyday as accessories to four-wheel skates.

At a recent preview of “Xanadu,” a musical based on the 1980 movie starring Olivia Newton-John about a muse who encourages a starving artist to pursue his dreams of building a roller rink, the cast wore metallic leggings, graphic T-shirts and barrettes made of woven satin ribbon.

That was all to be expected.

But particularly noticeable were the mint green dance dress, yellow track jacket and hot pink metallic shoes on a woman in the audience — she could have jumped onstage and blended in seamlessly.

“We’re definitely seeing ’80s as the latest retro influence, from high-waisted jeans to super-bright neon colors to big hair and the return of perms — spotted on both males and females,” says Carla Avruch, director of consumer insights and trends at market research firm The Zandl Group.

The entire skating industry is in the midst of a generational shift, reports Nick Skally, marketing manager for Rollerblade USA, which introduced its first inline boot skate 27 years ago. “The first skaters now have families and are skating with their kids, so there is this weird retro thing going on. It’s retro in a cool way, feeling nostalgic for the bold color patterns that remind them of past days.”

Anoma Whittaker, fashion director at skater magazine Complex, says the style of the late ’70s and early ’80s is now appealing to a younger crowd because it comes from a time that is perceived as exuding confidence and expression.

At American Apparel, designers didn’t overanalyze the how and the why of bringing back roller-inspired fashion. They simply saw “Roller Boogie,” a 1979 movie in which Linda Blair tries to save her favorite on-wheels disco, one too many times.

“We become obsessed with that movie. We made a lot of pieces that were inspired by it. It was a whim and obsession with that film — and the items have sold,” says Matthew Swenson, the company’s fashion media director.

But he warns against being too literal in one’s interpretation of the ’80s roller skating culture.

“It’s been modernized to a degree. We’re not talking about oversized sweatshirts and side ponytails with the leggings. You’re mixing them with high fashion,” Swenson says.