I used to work two blocks away from a Gap store, and every day I walked by it to and from the train station. I remember a moment last year when I was shuffling to the office, head down, intent on my Starbucks latte, when I noticed that the window had changed. The new window featured leggings underneath short denim skirts, and at that moment I began a months-long debate with myself about whether or not I’d follow this trend.
Oh, I wanted to. I wanted to so bad, because while some people might think it’s a cute look, I remember how comfortable leggings were. I mean, when you wear them under a skirt, it’s like wearing pants, so you can totally sit in unladylike ways!
And yet, the debate raged on within my head. Was I too old? Am I too curvy? Could I pull the look off without buying an uncomfortable denim mini-skirt? At the end of the day, I decided against the pull of the leggings.
Then one day I was in Anthropologie and I saw that they had COOL leggings, ones that were thick and wooly like a cableknit fisherman’s sweater. They were pricey – about $40 each – but I snapped up three pair. Well, one pair of great cableknit tights, and a pair of wooly brown leggings with gold flecks and a pair of cream wooly leggings with a fun knit pattern striped throughout. I couldn’t wait to wear them!
But here’s the truth: My ass was not meant to fit in those leggings. The tights fit great. They’re even long enough! But the leggings were some strange variation on “low rise,” and I swear I could not even pull them halfway up my ass before running out of fabric. How humiliating!
I almost gave up. I took the Anthropologie leggings back. I moved on.
Until I found a black/grey/olive striped pair at Target. They were $4. I had to have them. And so I did.
Except I wasn’t meant to have those, either. Sure, they fit. But I wore them out the first time with a little jersey dress, and the dress stuck to the tights all day long in a most unattractive way. My mother would have been horrified that I didn’t wear a slip to combat the problem. But what’s comfortable about that? And if I have to wear some heavy fabric – like the dreaded denim skirt – in order for the leggings to behave admirably, then I don’t want them at all.
*sigh*
I should have gone with my SECOND instinct and avoided this mess altogether. The sad(der) part is that I didn’t even get on the trend until it had pretty much passed me by.
-Amanda