On the subject of pants

[alexandral]

LJ is having PROBLEMS! Oh, I am getting a bit tired of this. I was ready to feel for them during the first (and even second) wave of DDoS attacks, but this is getting old pretty fast. LJ folks! T'is the time to do something, you had plenty of time already.

Forgive my old-school sensibilities , my younger friends, but this season seems to be the time for some of the ugliest fashions I have ever seen. Namely - girls wearing tights without wearing anything else (please see the illustration below). This look belongs (may be) in a gym or in a ballet performance, but NOT in a café, unless the aim is to cause gastrointestinal disturbances.



You might say that these are not tights but leggings, but how the casual onlooker is supposed to know? For the record, thin-ish leggings worn without a long top over them look as ugly as any tights. And matched with UGG boots (the ugliest foot wear invented) the look is terrible, even on the gorgeous ladies like Olivia Wilde:



I have shamelessly stolen the pictures from the Internet, but I see 5-10 examples of this "fashion" every morning I am walking to work, especially around the University area.

This is a hilarious chart I have stolen from lage_nom_ai: Am I wearing pants?. This chart needs to be spread all over the world, and I am going to help the good work. Young ladies and gentlemen! Please consult the chart before stepping outside!

Comments

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Totally agree with you. Leggings are NOT trousers. No one wants to see your crotch! Particularly when leggings often cause camel toe... Ugh.

[themirrorofsin.livejournal.com]

LJ problems make me so mad! Hate seeing stupid Frank's goat face!

LOLL oh dear - if I ever wear leggings it's at home with a long t-shrit. Can't stand the idea of my bum being so exposed! XD

[corlee1289.livejournal.com]

YES!

I'm probably classified as one of your younger friends...

But I honestly hate people wearing leggings as they are. It's fine if they're wearing shorts or a skirt or something...

I also hate Ugg boots, I don't understand why they wear it in the summer wither...

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

LOL!
Yeah, the lack of pants is definitely at an alltime high around here. AUGH MY EYES.

[sternflammenden.livejournal.com]

I agree. I hate this look. I admit that when I was a little girl in the 80s, I wore them, but now? Never. :)

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

ITA about the whole leggings thing. Also, the bandaid-sized stretchy skirts that reveal everything with every move. Otoh, I love UGG boots. Yes, they're ugly and why people wear them in summer I'll never know. But in winter they're comfy and warm, and I'd be miserable without mine.

[saxify.livejournal.com]

Yes! A lot of girls on my school dress like this (Ugg boots included ugh), and I just side-eye them thinking "Why would you?"

[kem-viva.livejournal.com]

Totally agree about the leggings, they are so ugly when worn like that. I get they are comfortable but people who want to wear ONLY leggings/tights should just wear them around the house if they want, not out in public.

I don't own UGG boots (too expensive) but I have my own fake pair and tbh I don't know how my feet would survive the winter without them. So comfy and warm.

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

A major trend and my undergrad uni was to wear short skirts with UGGs. Which... I get that UGGs are warm, but if it is warm enough outside to wear a mini skirt, you probably don't need UGGs to keep your feet warm. (Especially because winter around here is usually 50F/10C at its coldest.)

[kem-viva.livejournal.com]

Yeah I don't understand wearing them in warm weather, they must make your feet sweat :p

[tsukihane.livejournal.com]

I'm 22 and I find this.. horrific. I don't know how people are comfortable exposing their behinds like that.

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

LOL. This was a disturbingly common trend at my undergrad university. The worst was one time I saw a girl wearing semi-opaque tights instead of opaque leggings as trousers. :|

[ancarett]

Ah, LJ and their lovely DDoS. I am all for supporting the democratic voice around the world, but this is a tech issue that LJ's owners need to confront.

I love, love, love your trouser essay. I would also propose a corollary that the tighter a woman's leggings (or tights) become as outerwear, the baggier and droopier men's pants seem to trend. I saw a couple at the mall earlier this week: she was in skin-tight jeggings (ugh!) and he was in droopy jeans that, in the back, hung almost as far down as his butt descended. DO NOT WANT!

[timescout.livejournal.com]

LOL! Kids here have been wearing that getup for a while now. I think the trend started some 2 years ago or so. I often wonder how they don't get totally frostbitten when it's -10C or less. Youth 'fashions' have a tendency to be hideous. It's not one or two times I've thanked my stars for not being a young person anymore so I don't have to look like everyone else no matter what's 'in' at any given time. I still shudder at some of the stuff that was deemed fashionable when I was at that age myself. Butt ugly.... ;P

That 'Am I wearing pants' chart was hilarious btw.

[guety.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I hate when people wear leggings as trousers. It looks terrible. At least use a long shirt!

[marinshellstone.livejournal.com]

hahaha I love this post.

I am all for leggings, but only if I'm wearing a big chunky sweater/shirt that falls below my ass. Having everyone be able to see the clear definition of my buttocks is not something I'm into, nor is camel toe.

I have been known to wear jeggings.

[caffeinatedlife.livejournal.com]

lmao, I totally agree with you about leggings. It drives me absolutely nuts that this trend is in; I mean, I wore something like tights when I was like, 6, but they were still a lot looser than the stuff people are wearing now. And especially coupled with those ugg boots (I had a coworker years ago who told us, in dead seriousness, that if ever one of us entered the store wearing the ugg boots with the little pom-pom things hanging that she'd chop off our legs. It was funny coming out of her mouth, but I think she was also serious)...O_O

The chart btw is made of win xD

[att123.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'm guilty of this :/
But in my defence I wear yoga pant legging things so its not as bad..
To be honest, I think people are just too lazy to wear real pants. Thanks for the chart, it made my day!

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

I'm so with you: this style is just horrible. It needs to die asap really :/.

[endlessdeep.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I am totally with you one this. Leggings like that should be worn with a tunic top or a sweater dress or something long. I don't care how hot the person's body is.

[your-insomnia.livejournal.com]

Wah, that chart insists that jeggins are not pants. I disagree!
These are my favorite jeans in the world
http://www.ae.com/web/browse/product.jsp?productId=0431_7127_852&catId=cat90120&bundleCatId=cat4860004

And I don't necessarily wear them with long shirts/dresses/skirts. To me, they are just skinny jeans. They define my legs but don't expose my underwear or show the crack or anything like that so I see nothing wrong with that.

But I do agree about the leggins...One time I saw a girl wearing super thin leggings that were totally see through....I saw her butt and underwear in great detail and it horrified me. Doesn't she know?

[village.livejournal.com]

The horror. THE ABSOLUTE HORROR.

For the record, thin-ish leggings worn without a long top over them look as ugly as any tights.

Couldn't agree with you more.

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, I can't see her eyes so I'm unable to confirm that that's Olivia Wilde. ;)

[charlie-bz.livejournal.com]

Love this! Thanks so much for the link - I'm posting this on my facebook because women need to know what pants are and what they're for!