If you’re anything like me, you probably find yourself looking at a drawer of seven (plus) pairs of workout leggings wishing you could wear them to your work meeting. But leggings aren’t pants, right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.
Recently, we’ve been seeing leggings doubling as street style, office attire, and night-out ensembles. For some, it’s a comfortable change in their everyday style; for others, it’s a way of adapting their lifestyle to their look. Just take Rachel Cohen, who—as a senior master coach at [solidcore]—lives in her leggings: “I love finding ways to make them feel a little more elevated for when I need to transition them from the studio to the rest of my day.” This transition comes down to styling. “If I’m headed to lunch or dinner after class, I’ll throw on an oversized jacket and swap my sneakers for boots. Those simple changes make the leggings feel instantly more polished without having to change my entire outfit,” Cohen adds.
Of course, even if you’re not a workout instructor, the ability to go straight from a light Pilates class to a dinner with your friends without having to make a full wardrobe swap is a skill worth mastering. It’s equal parts styling and the type of legging itself. From dressing up the stirrup to making the faux leather functional, here are five ways to wear your leggings as pants.
The Sophisticated Stirrup
The stirrup legging is one of fashion’s best-kept secrets. Of course, now you’ll notice it everywhere, but style insiders often pair stirrup leggings with heels because the underfoot strap creates a sleek, elongated look, anchoring the pant leg smoothly underneath your foot. In this case, the stirrup is paired with a tweed overcoat and oversized scarf that elevates it.
The Neutral Capri
