Leather leggings may yet become classic

I kept seeing women wearing leather leggings and looking good; time to change the mantra regarding exactly who should be wearing them.

BY Lisa Armstrong | 27 January 2012

If you’d suggested last year that I’d be seen conscious in a pair of leather leggings, I’d have asked what medication you were on. Leather leggings are the problem child of the parents from hell.

On the dad’s side you have leather trousers (butt – literally, in some cases – of decades of tired jokes about dodgy hairdressers).

On the mother’s, you have leggings, possibly the most contentious item of clothing in the fashion firmament, but one that everyone manages to concur shouldn’t be worn past a certain age. Leggings that are leather definitely shouldn’t be worn past a certain age.

The thing is, no one ever specifies what that certain age is. If you are 16, you probably think it’s 21. If you are 30, it’s going to be 35. It always is. But if 35 is now a fond blur in the wing mirror, then what?

Walk away from the rail is what. Or that is always been my mantra regarding leather clothing of any pedigree.

Mantras are marvellous. In a jungle of infinite options, they offer an orderly path to abstinence as well as making you feel just a tiny bit like Diana Vreeland, who was not only the most mantra-suffused woman in the world, but the closest fashion has ever come to Oscar Wilde.

I’m not about to denounce mantras.

But like Les Miserables, mantras need re-reviewing every so often. Fabrics evolve (yes, even leather), shapes change, contexts adapt and, to quote that other great spouter of mantras, Donald Rumsfeld, stuff happens.

The stuff that happened regarding leather leggings is that I kept seeing women wearing them and looking really good. I’m not speaking about models and actresses, whose style tips should never, under any circumstances, be taken into account when strategising your own appearance, but real women, with varying numbers of decades under their belts.

From the frequency of these visions, I gradually worked out a new set of mantras:

1. Leather leggings are a whole different proposition from leather trousers. Leather trousers, because of the kind of tailoring required, are doomed to be unsatisfactory. They’re also destined to be as edgy as a headmistress trying to get down with the year 12s.

2. Leather leggings, because they are slim and encase the leg, are surprisingly elegant. Or at least they are as elegant as your legs are. Mine aren’t very, especially around the thighs, but do not tell me this cannot be rectified with a long shirt or jacket. You could also wear leather leggings to toughen up a dress. Think of them as boots. Sort of.

3. Leather leggings may turn out to be a classic, like jeans. In which case it’s worth spending a bit. The ones I’m wearing are cheap as chips, and I love them, but cannot vouch for how long they will go without bagging at the knees. More costly ones – J Brand’s for instance – are backed with stretch cotton for a perfect, squidge-eliminating fit.

4. Leather leggings will not make you look like mutton dressed as cow provided you do not go near any Hells Angel’s stuff. You’re wearing leather leggings – you do not need any more black leather in this outfit, apart from an elegant pair of (non-platform) court shoes.

5. Not all leather leggings have to be leather: mine are synthetic. It’s kinder on cattle.

6. You need reasonable ankles. Not brilliant necessarily, but passable. This is more important than anything written on your birth certificate. If nature failed in this instance, sit these out. Something else hip and leathery is bound to come along soon.

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Submited at Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 9:00 am on Fashion by McField
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