Fashion Pet Peeves #2

Okay, it’s been more than three months since my first Fashion Pet Peeve post. I meant for this to be a weekly thing, however obviously that isn’t going to happen. This time, I’m going to propose that I will post one of these a month, and we’ll see how that goes. Anyways, this month’s topic is:

Leggings as Pants:

I know that a lot of people love wearing leggings because they are stretchy and comfy. And I’m not going to say to never wear leggings, because they definitely have their place, however, you need to know how and when to wear them, and not allow yourself to get lazy. Let’s get one thing straight first, however:

Leggings ARE NOT pants!!

Leggings are tight, they can be very unforgiving, and hug every little bump you should probably be trying to hide. They also show crazy panty lines, if you don’t cover up your butt and choose to wear a non-thong underwear. Want an example? Here’s a pretty convincing one:

Image from fitsmi.com

Perhaps you could make a convincing argument that a skinny girl can pull this look off, but honestly, you just can’t. Maybe with yoga pants, since they flatter curves, however leggings just make chubby or fat girls look like balls walking around on sticks (I don’t exclude myself from this category), while skinny girls just look long, lanky, and awkward. They don’t flatter anyone!

Another bad thing that people do with leggings is to wear them too loose. Usually its stick-thin girls who fall into this, and I almost sympathise, since I have a hard time sometimes finding clothes big enough, and I’m sure they have the opposite problem sometimes of finding clothes to fit their teeny tiny frames. However, if you can’t find clothes to fit you, then this isn’t the trend for you. Learn to move on.

The last thing (that I can currently think of) that really bugs me about leggings as pants, is when girls wear leggings that are not opaque! I really hate when some girl pretends everyone can’t see straight through the tights she thinks can be pants. Here’s an example:

REMOVED

It just looks so trashy, and like you actually forgot your pants. Please, please never do this, even if you choose to disregard my hate of leggings as pants.

As for acceptable ways to wear leggings, there are a couple. Pairing leggings with a skirt or dress when it’s too cold for bare legs can be great, either with simple black leggings, or a very cool patterned pair like these under a black or denim mini:

Image taken from galaxyleggings.net

I actually really love those galaxy ones, and I have seen them on posts on Reddit, on blogs, and on a girl at the mall the other day! You can also pair leggings with shorts in a similar way, but this can end up looking very childish if you do it wrong, and is usually best done with translucent or semi-opaque tights.

Another mostly acceptable way to wear leggings is under very long shirts or sweaters. An example is tunic shirts like this one:

Image taken from chictopia.com

Also, finally, please please always pair your tights with boots. The way the tightness hits the ankle is generally really unflattering, and this is a great reason to add boots to your outfit, since there are so many great styles of boots! For reference, here’s a picture of Lindsay Lohan doing leggings as pants correctly (it sounds wrong to say that Lohan did something right, but she looks good here!):

Image taken from x17online.com

Past FPPs:

1. Ugg Boots

Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions for these posts, in the comments!