December 06, 2012

I'm not wearing any pants.

Today I wanted to talk about leggings. I got halfway through a post and realized it was terrible. If you think that most of my posts are scattered and all over the place, then you could imagine this one as being way worse. Except I talked about Lululemon's impact on the world and how it is now socially acceptable to wear leggings as pants out in public when clearly they are just glorified tights/long underwear. No one wants to wear their long underwear in public.

Actually, one girl in my Religion and Politics class way back in third year did wear her matching long underwear top and bottoms to class one day. I was embarrassed for her. She was also rather, um, "curvy" and being "curvy" her long underwear was tight in some place and loose in others. It was also somewhat transparent in the the tight places. It was awful for everyone involved. She was also a rather fashion forward individual (for a poor university student) and I was kind of appalled that she'd worn her Christmas morning underwear to class. It was February or something. Get with, people.

Anyway, leggings. I think we can all agree that they aren't pants. If leggings were pants they would be called pants. I think we can also agree that they're kind of an interesting trend. I have about a million pairs of leggings, but most of them were purchased from the figurative bargain bin with the express purpose of going under things like dresses and skirts. Leggings are great for short dresses because they add a whole new level of modesty to an otherwise scandalous outfit. True story. The only thing you have to remember is that they're not pants but are actually a tights/long underwear hybrid that, if pulled too tightly in, for example, a forward bending motion, will show off your underwear through the material.

I'm glad we've covered that. Because that's what I want to talk about.

I too am "curvy." I am not, however, as curvy as the girl that forgot to get dressed in my Religion and Politics class. Not that you ever got a visual of that. Either way, I am also not a fan of showing off my underwear or my less favourite curves or, as sometimes the case may be, my lack of. Because I'm largely missing that lovely lady lump in the back. Running is helping. Minutely.

Anyway, it took me a really long time to stop making fun of people wearing leggings as pants and admit to myself that I really wanted to get on that train, too. Sometimes you don't want to wear jeans. Leggings, when done tastefully, are like the office equivalent of yoga pants. I mean they feel like them, they don't look like them. At least I hope they don't because I wear them all the time.

The trick for me with attempting to pull of the leggings in lieu of pants look was to make sure that my least curvaceous asset wasn't out there for the world to see. My leggings are from Costco, after all. They are not going to rescue me from the shame of stretched fabric as I bend to pick something up off the floor. Not that I bend to pick things up off the floor with my bum in the air, but you know what I'm getting at here. So I wear longer shirts with long tank tops under them. Surprisingly enough, I get them from Old Navy (the tall section on their website, and thanks to free shipping on orders over $50 and free returns I can buy three $5 tank tops and a couple pairs of shoes and return the shoes for totally free to the store).

I also really enjoy wearing leggings because they fit so nicely under my boots. No bunching, no nothing. Fun times.

The thing is, I'm a total hypocrite. I mock people who wear leggings with shirts that don't cover their bums. I'm talking leggings that aren't built to handle that much bum showing; I know there are tons of leggings out their know whose sole purpose is to masquerade as pants and look terrible on me. At least with me, my shirt baaaarely covers my bum. Okay, feel free to heap scorn on me.

The reason I wear leggings is mostly because they're comfortable. I can't play Twister in them without showing everyone my undies (I've tried) but for the office I like them. I also never delude my self into think I'm wearing pants when I've got leggings on. I know I made human decency take a hit when I opted for the office equivalent of yoga pants without the pants.

I guess the big question and reason I ranted about leggings is this: What do you think? Are leggings an abomination to the very idea of getting dressed in the morning, or do you think they're a legitimate excuse to wear long shirts that barely cover your backside and never spend too much time bending over?

Yep, this is as good as it gets on the blog today.

But tonight? There's a 50% chance I'll have time for a run (25 minutes after a week off... Oh dear.), a 100% chance I'll be eating nachos for dinner, followed by cookie making, and an 80% chance of watching White Christmas. In leggings.

Because tomorrow is my last. Day. Here. 

5 comments:

  1. It took me FOR.EVER. to get on the leggings train. I hated them so much. My only exposure to leggings in the past had been either with little children who DO wear them as pants or grown women who also wear them as pants. Or teenagers wearing them underneath denim miniskirts with Uggs (holy pancakes I hate that trend so much).

    However, my husband kept nonchalantly commenting that he thought I should wear leggings sometime, so one time I tried them. I wouldn't have, but my mother in law gave me a cheap pair as a gift, and I couldn't very well just NEVER try them on, because I knew she would ask how I liked them (though in her mind, they're meant to be worn underneath jeans in the wintertime when it's 5 degrees outside).

    So I tried them, and....well, now I love them. ONLY underneath VERY long tunic shirts (that completely cover my butt and then a little bit extra) or dresses/skirts. And never with anything but boots. I'm not a leggings + flats type of person, never will be. That's just taking it too far.

    Sitka, however - notorious for people wearing leggings as pants. I'm hoping that by wearing mine fairly often in an appropriate manner, the correct way to wear them will rub off and my eyes will quit hurting every time I go to the grocery store and am affronted with these people who would probably just fit in better in Walmart.

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  2. Haha now I can't get the image on that girl in your class wearing the long underwear class out of my head. Nightmares might happen tonight haha.

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  3. I only wear leggings under dresses. And the only dresses I have don't require them because of their length, but rather because I don't want to have to wax my thighs every time I wear a dress.

    I never got into the leggins as pants fad because where you are lacking a lady lump, I definitely have excess. fabric hugging my bum and legs just accentuate that and it's not flattering.

    I think we have to be careful with the tight clothing, regardless of our comfort in them, or if others can see our underwear. We have to remember that guys like girls in tight clothing for a reason, and it should not be encouraged.

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    1. You always are the voice of reason. I'm glad we're friends. I hope you have girls someday so you pass on your feminine wisdoms.

      I was thinking, too, today about another reason I like leggings so much. They don't have the awkward excess butt fabric bunches that happen with jeans sometimes. I know you don't understand what I'm talking about, but leggings smooth it all out on us no bums. You fill out jeans much more nicely than I do. I guess it's a trade off, me wearing my glorified long underwear to work and you filling out your clothes properly.

      True story about the tight clothes. I feel like my leggings aren't much tighter or more revealing than my jeans and I always make sure my backside is covered. I've also never really thought of my lower half as "encouraging." I might also be making excuses. It's funny how I haven't thought about that stuff as much as I used to when I was a teenager and our youth leaders hammered it into us. One more thing from the eternal wisdom of Larissa for me to keep in mind.

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  4. Oh Anna. "If leggings were pants, they would be called pants." I laughed SO hard. I discovered leggings in college and ONLY wore them under dresses. And it did that ALL the time. I still think leggings should never be pants, HOWEVER I love them with a LONNNG shirt that covers my butt plus a little, like Angi said. Also, I have way too much lady lump in the back. I'll share. Anyway, I think of leggings like a tights/pants hybrid. I can wear them under long shirts/short dresses that wouldn't work with tights. Does that make sense? Probably not. That's ok.

    I'm so glad you're done!! And I hope enjoy White Christmas! Report back.

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