I don’t wear leggings anymore-because they only look good with big tops and I don’t like big tops-too 80s for me.
VELVET ones are nice-soft and oh so warm!
I have been known to wear gym shorts over my leggings. Look for me in the “Don’t” section of Glamour Magazine.
Y’know, this morning as I stood in the cold waiting for the bus, the cold air went up into the legs of my baggy cargo pants, and it made me think of this thread.
I’m not sure if this is really a proper place for this but since I’ve never had an issue with being proper before: WHAT?!
You are saying “Moo” to yourself, putting yourself down and you expect me to… what? Back you up on that? You won’t wear them because you think you look like a cow? (shades of the Fat thread whirl in my mind) So what do you wear now? I don’t see how leggings hid your butt or not more than any other type of clothing… your butt is as big as it is no matter WHAT you wear.
I really don’t understand women sometimes. We are so damn worried about “looks” and “does this make my ass look huge” and we dismiss our own comfort in the bargain. A better question would be am I comfortable? Does this outfit enhance me?
I’m not going after you, Silly Rabbit, but this issue bothers me intensely and I’m using your words to spring off my own ideas. I wear leggings. I like the cotton ones that cling, but softly. Worn right they can accentuate your curves and look great as well as give you a stylish outfit. I don’t think they make anyone look fatter or whatever unless you are wearing the wrong size. I don’t care if you are 98 or 320 pounds; anyone wearing extremely tight clothing accentuates their size, looks bad and can’t be comfortable. And FTR any type of tight pants will make “camel toes”. Again, get the right size and you won’t have this problem!
Catrandom – I kiss you! Thank you! That’s just what I’m talking about; comfort and style. As a plus size woman I see no reason not to have both!
I’m a big fan of wearing knee length shorts with long johns, pajama bottoms, or the like underneath. Not quite the same leggings y’all are talking about, but definately a relative.
rubes {thinking if I only knew where to find those with the trap door in back}
I don’t don’t know Byz. I concur with silly rabbit on this one. I thought I looked thinner in leggings with a big baggy top. Ouch, I finally saw a picture of myself. I actually look better in a pair of jeans with my shirt tucked in and a nice belt. Am I still kinda big? You betcha. but I have a much better appearance now.If I’m slumming and don’t care how I look I’ve been known to put on a pair.That’s just me though. I know plenty of women who look good in them.
I concur with your post entirely, Byz. Wearing clothes to look “thinner” is an empty exercise; it simply doesn’t work. Wear what fits and what makes you comfortable, then (after a while) you’ll begin to feel right at whatever size you happen to be.
(Byzantine kissed me! :D)
Qwisp – that’s the difference. You said that you thought you looked better in something else. But you didn’t call yourself names or say moo (even though you DID seem to be slightly denigrating yourself, [ouch] which I don’t like but I don’t run the world even though I SHOULD!) 
I really didn’t mean to be “picking” on her or anyone. My point is that we are all as big as we are and clothing isn’t going to “hide” our size, nor should we expect it to. We should dress comfortably and fashionably. I just really cringed at her saying Moo to herself.
I really had my old “fat” thread floating in my mind and how hateful some of that was. When she said that (about HERSELF) I got very upset. Because I wonder WHERE she got that from. Was that really from her own mind or had someone put that there? I have never looked at myself and thought moo… and I would be tempted to twirl someone who dared to say it within ear shot of me…
I guess I’m just a bit sensitive. I’ll get over it.
Catrandom – you posted while I was composing! (What, you didn’t know and wait? Doesn’t the world revolve around me?!)
And again, we are on the same wavelength. I just want to promote more body acceptance to do my bit to counteract the MASSIVE amount of body hatred we are exposed to everyday… I’m glad to see you doing the same!
(I kiss you AGAIN!)
When you’re overweight to the point where your skin chafes, you don’t care what you look like, you just don’t want to hurt when you walk. those stretchy leggings are VERY comfortable.
They are undeniably comfortable for lounging around home for any weight or figure although I think that really overweight women were always supposed to wear them with large overtops for going out. I read a sad newspaper story a while back about a woman who was thrown out of Harrads Department store in London for wearing obscene clothing. What she had on, in her opinion, was a pair of leggings and a top. What Harrads staff said she was wearing was a pair of pantyhose and a blouse.
I use to not be able to wear leggings in public, but then I started going out after riding still dressed in my breeches. After a while I figured if I didn’t mind people seeing me in breeches, leggings shouldn’t be too bad. I do usually buy them larger than I would normally wear (Large instead of Medium) and wear a tunic over them. I’ve been told by people I trust not to lie to me that I look thinner in leggings than in jeans because my stomache is relatively flat and jeans tend to look baggy on me (another case of buying a size too large).
StG
The nerve of those snooty old farts trying to dictate fashion. Why do people make it their business to give women a hard time over dressing comfortably?
If they came to America I guess they’d have a heart attack. Serves 'em right. One summer day in Shoppers Food Warehouse I saw a heavy young black woman wearing a white lycra biketard (short sleeves, mid-thigh length). She wore nothing else at all. It was stretched semi-transparent and every one of her feminine attibutes was visible in glorious detail. It left nothing at all to the imagination.
Seems that in America these days you can get away with wearing anything as long as it’s “athletic.”
I have some velvet leggings too and I wear them usually with a longish sweater. I don’t think they make my butt look too big. I love them.
I wear the thicker ribbed kind around the house or running errands. The very thin skin tight ones look dated and truth be told the thicker ones probably do too. But either way they look better than baggy sweats and are more comfortable than jeans.
To paraphrase some wiser soul than myself. . . You can have my leggings when you pry them from my cold thick thighs.
I do remember leg warmers, a fad at the beginning of the '80s.
Shiny spandex pants – oh yeah . . . those never really caught on. (Not until they were reincarnated as shiny spandex leggings in the '90s). A friend of mine had a picture of a model from some fashion show circa 1982. She was wearing the shiny spandex pants. She was one of those skeletally, anorexically thin models, and she had no flesh between her hip bones and her mons veneris, giving her a concave shape in that area. The lighting came from an angle that reflected off her spandex pants in a way that made an optical illusion: the shiny part was where you’d expect shadow, and vice-versa. (This is because we expect the light source to come from upper left; if it shines from lower right, everything looks inside-out). The result is that she looked convex instead of concave: she appeared to have her buttocks in front! My friend captioned the picture: “ASS BACKWARDS.”
I hate leggings, even when I am exercising. I’m very curvy (size 12) and I need something that flares out bit to balance out my figure. Usually I wear boot-cut pants.
However, I found some black “Dance Pants” in a ballet catalog. They fit my thighs like leggings and are the same material, but they flare out a little at the hem (and they’re longer). They fit over my sneakers, they flatter my figure, and my ass looks fabulous. Hallalujah! I usually wear them with a long-sleeve t-shirt that fits snugly (men’s small) and my kick-ass cool gray New Balances. The pants are a godsend! I’ll wear them shopping if I’m not trying to be fancy.
Also, I tend to think that larger women look much better in sleeker, more fitted clothing. I hate seeing women with big beautiful bodies hiding under tents.
Now there’s a refreshing point of view! I’m tired of seeing busybodies always attacking women for wearing comfortable clothing. Most of the attacks are directed against heavy women in lycra. Although I’m not especially attracted to the plus size, I will defend to the death women’s right to wear whatever they want. It’s unreal how much crap women always have to take over what they wear or don’t wear.
I would not mind if everyone took to wearing lycra. What’s the problem, anyway? If people have more incentive to delight in their bodies instead of hiding them away in shame, they will be more inspired to take better care of themselves and have a more positive attitude about their bodies. The opposite of what the fashion industry indoctrinates the public with.
Oh well, I guess I’m inviting myself to get flamed, but here goes:
Leggings are so out! Especially when worn with an oversized shirt. There is nothing stylish about such an outfit! Here’s a hint: when you can only find a style of clothing at WalMart, K-Mart, Ames, etc., it’s no longer in style!!! I hate to see someone wearing leggings and a T-shirt 2 sizes to big. I always see them on older, plumper women with large, homely eyeglasses. I’m not saying that description fits the people here that find such an outfit comfortable, but that’s been my, admittedly, limited experience. I just want to grab the fashion victim, shake her and scream: That is SO not in!
Those dance pants that Nacho4Sara mentioned are very chic and do accentuate curvy legs while at the same time balancing them because of the slight flare at the bottom. In what catalog did you find them?
That’s just my opinion. I am now donning my flame-retardant coveralls.
I’m in pretty decent shape and work out quite a bit, but I could not imagine wearing those tight athletic shorts or leggings. Some wierd modesty kink on my part - wierd because I have no hesitation about taking off my shirt. But I just feel odd about advertising my package. Folks tell me they are comfortable, but I find my long baggy cut off sweats plenty comfy. I see a lot of runners and bikers wear them, but the guys I work out with, lifting and sparring, only wear them under other shorts, if at all.
Also, no Speedos for me in the pool. I don’t think they look good even on guys who are in really good shape. And if they goof up and put the potato in the back …
I’ll back you up here. I’m no fashion plate or anything, but the heyday of leggings + big shirt was, oh, 1987 or thereabouts. Leggings for little girls are okay, but for grown-up girls? Nuh-uh. Not this one, at least.