Bad news, Millennials: much like the crying laughing emoji and your fave pair of skinny jeans, we have a new victim – leggings. Yip, apparently they’re dead. Sorry.
Walk into any gym or onto any popular running path and one thing is certain: you’ll be greeted by a sea of legs encased in skintight fabric.
For years, leggings have reigned as the go-to workout pant, embraced by gym bunnies, yoga lovers and ‘grabbing coffee in my activewear’ disciples alike.
But it seems their (literal) stranglehold on our lives and our legs is coming to an end.
Recent articles from Business of Fashion and The Wall Street Journal have declared the legging is dead, and the era of “big workout pants” is here.
Or, to put it bluntly like the WSJ‘s headline, “You’re a Boomer If You Wear Leggings.”
“Suddenly, those black Lululemon stretchy pants you’ve been wearing for years look passé, plebeian – even prehistoric,” the article states.
“All the with-it women (and men) in your workout class are dressed like 1990s dancers in tiny crop tops and loose, swishy parachute pants.”
Yes, it seems the ’90s and Y2K revival has come for our exercise clothes, too. Time to channel your inner TLC, Britney and Christina and reach for a baggy pant for your next workout.
The report states sales of tight-fitting stretchy workout pants have been falling “for years”, with Gen Z increasingly opting for oversized options. Think: tight top and big pants, not the inverse.
If you’ve just choked on your coffee reading all this, you aren’t alone.
This news has come as a rude shock to those who’ve accepted leggings as a lifelong staple of our wardrobes.
They’ve taken us from gym to ‘hot girl walk’ to cafe brunch to long-haul flight for so long, the thought of them as a ‘trend’ like any other seems inconceivable.
A quick poll of the 9honey office revealed very mixed feelings.
“You can take my leggings from my cold, dead millennial legs,” declared Amy, echoing the cries of an entire generation as their fashion staples have been assassinated one by one.
First they come for our skinny jeans, now our skinny workout pants? Where does it end?!
“But really, leggings are not going anywhere. I am not getting on board with ANOTHER trend for pants when there’s literally nothing wrong with leggings.”
Not all millennials are averse to the latest Gen Z-ification of fashion standards, though.
“Leggings are way too hot to do anything in, I’m all for the workout pant,” Nicole said.
“Though, as a millennial, I wear leggings and dad sneakers just to try and be cool when I go for a coffee. Completely impractical for anything else.”
For many in our office, the stance on leggings vs baggy workout pants was dictated less by emotion and generational pride and more by practicality.
Lauren, for one, is “very anti-legging.”
“They are suffocating, overheat me and I’m always branded with imprints of the seams and stitching. Baggy pants, shorts and loose fitting yoga pants all the way!”
For Serena, it all depends on context.
“I definitely still wear leggings and bike shorts for running and hiit, but for weights and Pilates I’ve got more into the flared yoga pants/loose yoga pants vibe because they don’t strangle you,” she said.
“To actually work out in, leggings all the way, long or short,” Kristine said.
“I can’t see myself wanting to or being able to work out wearing something so loose. For running errands, sure.
“Depending on what kind of workout you’re doing, it is also much easier to see correct form in tighter clothing.”
”Personally I couldn’t comfortably work out in loose baggy pants. I need tight, especially for pilates when anything loose, even a shirt, drives me mad,” Amy added.
Maddi is a fan of neither option: “I only ever work out in bike shorts … I overheat really quickly in long leggings or pants and the idea of having loose fabric on me when I’m training sounds like a nightmare.”
Maybe we should all simply… wear what’s most comfortable to us? Just a thought.
This article was reproduced with permission from 9Honey. To read the original article, click here.
