Leggings or Pants

As a child of the eighties, who fought my mother tooth and nail to give up my stretch pants for jeans in elementary school, I was thrilled to see leggings and neon colors come back the past few seasons with a vengeance. Paired with the long flowy tops and belted dresses of this year, leggings cannot be beat in comfort, style, and warmth. They let every girl accomplish her dream of taking summer dresses into fall and winter without suffering near frostbite of the knees on the way to the club. Comfort has finally meshed with style to create cozy-cute looks.

However, the opaque tights of this fall seem to be adding a dimension of confusion to the trend and I have been witnessing a disturbing tendency of women of my generation to wear leggings as pants.

Listen here! There was a reason the name was changed from stretch pants, to leggings. While there is an opacity to many leggings, especially in dark colors that allows them to be worn without exposing any private parts, the very fact that they are called leggings means that they are supposed to be layered, and ONLY worn under items that cover the buttocks.

You wouldn’t be caught dead wearing your opaque tights out without a skirt over them, so why are so many otherwise fashion forward ladies taking leggings out from underneath and flaunting them as pant-like fashion?

I have seen leggings paired with t-shirts that border on long enough, but fall just short. I’ve seen risky-business style collared shirts belted and worn with leggings poking out a little too much, and most recently—and most upsetting—leggings worn with a cropped sweatshirt that was in no way fashionable, just merely spandex with a hoodie. If I can see the definition between your cheeks, you are showing too much.

Now ladies, I loved the 80’s, and even the 90’s trends as much as the next gal, but let’s keep this trend in this generation! Stretch pants are not cute- leggings are.

Don’t even get me started on Express trying to revive the stirrup foot legging.