The wings in and of themselves were nothing but ornamentation paying homage to the legendary speedster Hermes/Mercury, fastest of the Greek/Roman Gods.
Like many costumes of the era, the alternating colors were designed partially as registration aidsregistration aids and as a visual element helping to enhance the appearance of the character and his special effects. The Flash family are defined by their appearance in the comics and their contrasting colors added a visual panache making them easily identifiable. Note the lightning slashes showing in their speed streams, this was a common visual element in most flash books (and they came from the earpieces, belts and gloves lines).
Barry Allen (the Flash of Earth 1) did house a radio transmitter/receiver in his earpieces that connected him to the public police bands and later to the Justice League communication network.
Kid Flash (apprentice speedster to Barry Allen) also had a similar hardware setup when he was part of the Teen Titans.
Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, wore his communications equipment in his belt when he was a member of the Justice Society.
Also shown in this image (these characters are from the previous DC Universe, so their fates may have changed in the DCnU, or they may no longer even exist.)
- Jesse Chambers
- Max Mercury
- Bart Allen
- Iris West
