(First link shows examples of “mom jeans.”)
OK, not picking on DianaG, because I’ve seen this sentiment elsewhere. But what is with all the hate on “mom jeans”? What the heck defines “mom jeans” anyway? Because they fit in the waist? Because they don’t have a bunch of holes or weird stitching or godawful “distressed” colors? Because they’re just plain denim jeans?
I don’t get it.
What tangential subjects? And how do you tell in 5 minutes at the grocery store whether the person is a sweatpants tourist or lifer?
Whether or not **welby **is out of touch is immaterial, because unless you suggest that he wander around naked he is going to outside wearing something. So, why can’t he have an opinion?
I’m not sure that I get it either but they usually have a high rise so that they close far above your natural waist, and for some reason they’re also often tapered, which is not a particularly flattering shape for anyone. Why this makes them ‘mom’ jeans, I don’t know. It could just be that shorter waisted women have a hard time finding jeans that don’t fit that way and tapered pants were popular for a while.
Okay, personal data point…
I was staining a door frame this evening, and had to run my daughter to get some school supplies.
I was wearing a pair of old sweats with some small paint dots and no holes, with a bright green t-shirt. My hair was all tied back in an extreme ponytail. Before I left, I changed into black chino pants, combed my hair, wiped the stain off my hands and face, and buttoned a nice wool sweater over my t-shirt.
Now, it was the typical “ran an errand” scenerio presented in this thread, and I changed because: what if I saw someone I knew? I would hate for them to think I was a bum.
That’s it - that’s my reasoning for not liking sweats in public.
I think it’s because when you’re a mom, you usually get a little pooch just below your waistline that would hang over the top of most low rise jeans. So you wear something that covers it.
I held out for a long time, but I switched to low rise last year, and now I hate mom jeans. They make your ass look gi-normous…:eek:
Because the high-rise, straight leg style accentuates the one ‘mom’ feature universally disliked - the pot belly. Couple this with ‘no-ass-at-all’ disease and you get the ‘mom jeans’ look.
Poochie-tummy or pot-belly is very unsexy. Some of y’all may be old enough to remember when maternity clothes were meant to hide as much of that as they could. Even now, people don’t like some of the new tunic fashions because they make one ‘look pregnant’.
I remember being pregnant during my senior semester of Uni. When I went into the bathrooms the coeds would shrink up against the walls and slither away from me. I wanted to shout “BOO!” at them, but I was too polite for that. 
SO, Scarlett, if you ever happen to come down with the dreaded poochie-tummy, you won’t be able to wear jeans or you run the risk of having ‘mom jeans’; and you won’t be able to wear sweats either. Guess you’ll have to wear granny slacks. 
I never would have thought of that but it makes perfect sense. That’s pretty unfair - it sounds like you get a choice between mom jeans and a muffin top unless you wear a loose shirt.
I just clicked on those links and my jaw about fell off. Let me make sure I’m not misunderstanding:
In your judgment, people are apathetic slobs when they wear sweatpants in public.
According to you, the “mom jeans” in photo #1 are “far worse” than sweats.
I’m not being disingenuous when I say I am stunned. Heck, the women in the first of your photographs clearly made an effort to look presentable. And that’s not enough, now? What is it you would like those women to do before they leave the house?
I’m the one on the right with the coffee molecule on my t-shirt, wearing mom jeans, and I’m pretty sure you would assume after one glance that I have many, many character flaws.
To me, wearing sweat pants in public is a signal that the wearer tends towards the lazy slacker side of life (at least for that day). Is it wrong? No – as long as they are not violating any decency laws, they can dress as they see fit. To paraphrase Churchill, I might not respect their attire, but I respect their right to choose their attire. 
Holy crap, what a clusterfuck!
Seriously, who gives a crap what “DianeG” thinks about people who wear sweatpants?
I’ve seen exceptionally hot women wear sweatpants in public, and fat ugly chicks wear sweatpants.
It has everything to do with the body in the sweatpants.
That’s exactly the choice and it is unfair. That’s why I love my yoga pants. No muffin top, no railroad tracks from seams left on my skin, no pinching or binding, and they breathe better. Yoga pants put bounce in my step. What more could I ask for? 
This started as a poll, so my response, no, I don’t wear sweatpants in public.
There was a disclaimer in the OP excusing those going to hospital, and further along, another if you’re too busy to change because you’re developing a cure for cancer.
To expand your frame of reference, be aware that many sufferers of cancer below the waist wear sweatpants to facilitate treatment via radiation or doctor’s examination, or perhaps to wear chemo injection. Many physicians will obviate the need to change into a gown if one wears sweats, which eases other difficulties that can’t be avoided. Many, maybe most of these people are not in wards, but in the public sphere.
There are also jeans called mid-rise. They are still below your belly button, but only JUST below. Basically, the waistband sits ON the pooch, so it holds it in. No mom jeans, no muffin top. They are the only kind of jeans I wear!
(The following rant is directed at the anti-mom-jeans attitude, not any particular poster here.)
Well fuck that. I do have a belly, and a fat ass, and yes I wear jeans, and I suppose they are “mom jeans,” even though I’m not a mom. The jeans don’t make my ass look fat, my fat ass does! I also wear loose, long tops because I don’t care to accentuate these figure flaws. So I’m not a runway model . . . big deal.
And as long as I’m ranting about jeans that fit, what really chaps my hide is how nobody seems to make plus-size jeans with a WAIST. Yes, I wear a 24 at my fattest, but I’ve also always had a definite waist. Please, manufacturers, don’t assume that from crotch to shoulders I’m shaped like a basketball (one of which, by the way, I could tuck into the waistline above my butt on most jeans I try on). It IS possible to be overweight and still have an hourglass figure.
As a gay male, I enjoy a man who wears sweatpants out in public. This being Hawaii, he invariably wears nothing else and swing to and fro.
If it’s someone you know, aren’t they already aware that you’re not a bum?
It depends…my family and close friends, no problem. They would love me even if I was a bum. But others I might see, like one of my kid’s teachers or a work associate - I would rather they not get the wrong impression of me.
For what it’s worth - I had no worries about what strangers thought of me.
Any strangers who don’t realize that non-bums occasionally stain doors and gasp get dirty are too dumb to worry about anyway.
Thankfully, I wasn’t this hung up on what people thought of me when I involuntarily shit the bed during labor. That was a little embarrassing, I must say.
<offtopic>Have you tried Lane Bryant’s Right Fit jeans? One of their three versions is designed for that. I use a different version, but that one fits me incredibly well.</offtopic>
I do not know how to adequately respond to people “not getting” being “out of touch.” It’s… Yeah, that.