Longest-Overdue Post to Date: Leggings as Pants. The Final Word.

Those of you who know me know I’ve been railing against this epidemic knowns as leggings-posing-as-pants for some time now; practically since I’ve moved to the DC area, this being the first place where I’ve observed this abomination. Somehow I feel its encroached upon other areas of our great, once self-respecting nation as well, but I can’t be sure.  I hate to step on anyone’s toes or fashion choices, thus my initial reluctance to even start a blog, then a reluctance to let anyone know it even existed, but I cannot suppress this rant any longer.  If you have ever sported leggings as pants, I apologize, but I must continue.

Let me clarify some matters of definition.  In using the phrase “leggings as pants” or its derivatives, I mean: the act of wearing a top that does not qualify as a dress in that it does not cover one’s rear (e.g. sweatshirts, tshirts, cardis, and so on) and is meant to be worn with a bottom (read: pants) with leggings and no other garment (e.g. a skirt) between one’s legging-clad rear and the rest of the world.  Many of us (myself included) enjoy sporting leggings underneath dresses and skirts, perhaps for warmth, aesthetic reasons, or both.  Yet for some reason, a huge contingent of women – and I won’t even call them 20-somethings, as most 20-somethings have reclaimed whatever self-respect they may have relinquished, if any, in college – seem to engage in the following conversation with their roommate while getting dressed in the morning:

Girl 1: ::peruses closet & drawers:: “argh nothing to wear today, and it’s cold out too!”

Girl 2:  “Yeah, but you’re lucky you can wear whatever you want, I have to wear pin attire today!”

Girl 1: “ha oh yeah sucks for you.  ooh there’s my leggings I can wear those because that makes total sense when it’s 40 degrees!”

Girl 2: “yeah and if you wear them w/your uggs you’ll be warm too even though your legs are totally exposed!”

Girl 1: ::gasps:: “yeah! i’m so wearing them even if they do hit right at mid-calf awkwardly obscuring the actual length of my legs”

Girl 2: “k that’s settled. what else are you wearing?”

Girl 1: “hmm…ah got it – this ill-fitting slim cut tshirt from (AA, UO, AX, etc) and my north face, neither of which cover my butt”

Girl 2: “that’s hot.  my fave part is that i can see your underwear lines”

Ladies, I ask this in total seriousness – what is that about??  Are you really that into your own butt that you’re ok w/it flailing around behind you in nothing but a cheap swatch of black fabric containing 5% spandex??  My intention here is not to affront anyone’s healthy body confidence.  Rather, it is to point out an extremely unfortunate, vulgar trend in fashion today.  I know college (where I see this trend most) is all about self-expression and realization and oh yeah, wearing whatever the f*** you want b/c you don’t live at home anymore and it’s your life and you’re busy and what are your profs gonna do about it? nothing and hey i actually enjoy being ogled by every male with functioning eyes and they’re so comfortable! and they do it on The Hills and hmph I’m my own person but seriously.  What happened to our self-respect and you know, interjecting at least a LITTLE mystery as to what’s underneath one’s clothes??

Some might say, look at the 80s!  Look at the 90s!  Fashion is about doing crazy things and even making what are clearly heinous mistakes when you look back a decade later (or in some cases, tomorrow)!!  This may be true, but why do I think the repeat offenders sporting leggings-as-pants aren’t so much going for the avante garde look as much as the “I don’t give a crap about what I wear b/c see, I’m wearing leggings as pants but you better believe I’m sporting my uggs, north face, and big Coach/Longchamp/Burberry bag while I do it!” look.

So tell me.  Leggings as pants. Yay or nay?