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Influence

Henie is credited with being the first figure skater to use dance choreography, to adopt the short skirt in figure skating, and to wear white boots, which deemphasized the heaviness of skates and produced a lighter and longer appearance of the skater's legs that was "a focal point for judges' and spectators' gaze". When white boots quickly became standard for female skaters, Henie began wearing beige boots because she wanted to remain unique.

Her innovative skating techniques and glamorous demeanor transformed the sport permanently and confirmed its acceptance as a legitimate sport in the Winter Olympics. Figure skating writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum credits Henie with transforming figure skating into what she calls "a spectacle of the skater's body" and for "shifting meanings firmly in the direction of femininity". Kestnbaum argues that Henie influenced female skaters' costumes that emphasized their wealth, especially her fur-trimmed outfits, which were emulated at the 1930 World Championships, held for the first time in North America, in New York City. Henie incorporated dance elements into her figure skating, through the placement of spins, jumps, and choreography to reflect the mood of the music she used.

Kestnbaum argues that although Henie's skating was "athletic and powerful for her day", she purposively added elements,such as using the toepicks of her skates to run or pose on the ice, in movements similar to the use of pointe technique in ballet. Kestnbaum argues that although toe steps are used as "occasional couterpoints to the legato flow of skating movement", Henie might have overused them, calling them "mincing and ineffective".

Also according to Kestnbaum, "Henie's largest contribution to public images of skating" was in her professional ice shows and in her Hollywood films, which were often the first time audiences were exposed to figure skating through the mass media. As a result, the image of the figure skater was linked to "the image of the glamorous movie star", within the conventions of film and stage musicals of the 1930s. Kestnbaum argues that the costumes Henie wore in her shows and films, which were short, revealing, full of sequins and feathers, and more reminiscent of the costumes of female entertainers than of the clothes worn in the more conservative world of competitive figure skating of the time, most likely contributed to the "showiness" that influenced the costume choices of later generations of female competitive figure skaters.