Fashion retailers, as battered as they’ve been recently, have been pretty upbeat about the fall collections. One reason is the popular layering trend, in which designers have shown jackets over vests over sweaters over dresses, and putting together those looks in their stores will logically require customers to make multiple purchases.

One of those layers in particular has excited retailers, as it represents a potential revival of a category that was long ago ceded to dance-wear specialists and juniors chains at the mall. That would be leg warmers. Variations were shown at Rag & Bone, for men and women; at Michael Kors; in the first look of the Thakoon collection; at Derek Lam; and, with extra-long ones all over the runway, at Alexander Wang.

“Those Alexander Wang ones will be on the top of every cool girl’s hot list for sure,” said Beth Buccini, an owner of the store Kirna Zabete in Manhattan. Her partner, Sarah Easley, said the look would complement all the short skirts and dresses that designers are showing for fall. “I love the dance roots of them,” she said.

It has been so long since leg warmers were last in fashion - the film “Flashdance” was released in 1983 - that a new generation of young women might appreciate them with a fresh eye . “It’s probably the last bit of territory of the ‘80s we haven’t yet touched,” Ms. Buccini said.


ERIC WILSON