If you thought that baring your nipples, donning a political protest T-shirt or wearing a white dress to someone else’s wedding were controversial clothing moves, then you haven’t done a risk assessment on leggings lately. Because leggings, according to some corners of the internet, are loaded.
In January, the founder and former CEO of posh gym gear brand Lululemon, Chip Wilson, chimed in with some un-spirational tosh to kick off the new year. Talking to Forbes he bemoaned the brand’s attempts to be ‘everything to everybody... You’ve got to be clear that you don’t want certain customers coming in.’ (Wilson stepped down as chairman in 2013 after saying, ‘Frankly, some women’s bodies just don’t actually work for it,’ after some leggings were recalled for thinning.)
Then, in proof that social media giants can act swiftly to remove troubling content when necessary, TikTok deleted the hashtag #legginglegs, which went viral after women began using it as a platform for sharing their thigh gaps. Searches now redirect to eating disorder charity information.
So, yes, leggings are a lightning rod for controversy. Why should we care? First – and I can’t believe we still have to say this – obviously, because there is no such thing as a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ body for anything. There are bodies and there are clothes and you can do with both what you want. Plus, diktats about who can wear what are boring and just one of the reasons why the word ‘flattering’ has fallen out of favour. Second, because we love leggings and, thigh gap or no thigh gap, we can’t quit them.
Thanks to their stretch and elasticated waists, leggings have all the comfort of their adjacent workout-to-slob-out cousins, the trackpant. That makes them, duh, a no-brainer for weekends and working from home days – but, but, but: if sweats are all slouch (with a whiff of lockdown), the legging’s power is in its second-skin tightness, which creates a sleek silhouette and gives them mileage way beyond the gym or the sofa.
Trust me, I know, I live in mine (peachy-texture Vuori, pannelled Vaara or a black pair from M&S’s GoodMove collection) – and, at 5ft 2in, nobody ever described me as ‘leggy’. They are the modern woman’s indispensable multitasker: excellent for tucking into knee-high boots and balancing out mannish shirts, with the added bonus of being able to say you wore gym gear this winter – without actually breaking a sweat.
Not convinced? OK, look at Kate Moss who – days after turning 50 – pitched up at the Dior menswear show in black leggings tucked into spiky boots. Sharp! Or see Claudia Winkleman, who wore leggings (she likes the brilliant Wardrobe. NYC) almost as much as she wore tweed in The Traitors season two – for missions and roundtables alike. Victoria Beckham has got the memo too, well, kind of. She was spotted wearing her ‘pantaboots’ – stiletto boot/legging hybrids – at JFK. One wouldn’t recommend working out in those, but Posh might.
That’s the thing about leggings, they can be whatever you want them to be.