In terms of trends, leggings were starting to slide onto the back burner. Proportions in clothing were starting to change and, like with any trend, the leggings trend seemed to be petering out. I didn’t think leggings would ever completely go away, of course, and, believe me, I would know. Ever since I blogged about leggings and it went viral, people keep me apprised of any updates on the topic. Yet, here we are, over six months into the pandemic and many women can’t remember the last time they dared to wear anything without an elastic waistband. If 2020 had an official logo, the image would definitely include a pair of leggings.
FIVE WAYS TO WEAR LEGGINGS…IN A TOTALLY ELEGANT WAY
It doesn’t take a style genius to figure out how to wear a pair of leggings. Six months of slothy pandemic style has certainly proved that fact. But as we start to emerge a bit from our cocoons and perhaps have gotten downright tired of dressing as if we live in a fallout shelter, many women are looking to bridge that gap between looking good and being comfortable. Here are five ways to more elegantly wear leggings using this one pair by Everlane. And be sure to shop for more leggings at the end of this post.
Outfit #1
In this first look, I styled these leggings with a comfy and elegant blush-colored tunic sweater from ALLSAINTS. I finished the look with platform block heeled booties from CC Corso Como, a taupe bag from Tori Burch, and pink earrings from J.Jill.
Outfit #2
In this second of five ways to wear leggings, I styled created a dressy casual look using my favorite tunic from Eileen Fisher in a satiny fabric and layered it under an oatmeal-colored wool-blend cardigan from ATM Anthony Melillo. The look is finished with taupe flats from Rockport, a beige bag from Coach, and a statement pendant by Kendra Scott.
Outfit #3
This next look I styled using an oversized boyfriend blazer from Leith to ensure maximum butt coverage when wearing it with leggings. Under the jacket, I added a relaxed v-neck sweater from Theory and finished the look with brown boots from Frye, a paisley scarf, and a tan bag from Rag & Bone.
Outfit #4
Even when styled super casually, leggings outfits can still look elegant. I styled these leggings with a sweatshirt poncho from UGG (see more sweatshirt looks here), a pair of tan platform sneakers from Paul Green, and a beige tote from Everlane.
Outfit #5
I styled this early fall casual look with an oversized cotton button-up shirt from Madewell and a denim jacket from Kut from the Kloth. I finished the look with a slate blue bag from Longchamp, Rebecca Minkoff scarf, and comfortable loafers from Fit Flop.
Shop for Leggings
In addition to these five ways to wear leggings, check out these additional styles.
I like them all! And they’d work well with other styles of pants (dare I say that since leggings ARE NOT PANTS!)?
LOL! Yes. Switch out the leggings with any other pants and it would work. I did make it a point to cover the tuchas in all looks though.
Glad to see you did that, Bridgette! Leggings are (still) not pants, IMO.
No, in terms of being pants, leggings aren’t such when worn as traditional pants but they are still technically pants. What would you call them if not pants?
Bridgette while i llke brown bottoms it seems to me all these color combos seem made for redheads or woman of low contrast coloring . What combos would you suggest for women with black hair and brown leggings or pants? I would like marroon / berry / wine colored tops .
That makes sense. Brown tends to work better for warm based people. It’s sort of our version of black. The reason I used brown leggings was because the go-to is usually black and I wanted to change things up. If someone has high contrast then they would want to wear high contrast color combinations. Keep in mind contrast only happens when two colors are involved as the contrast is created in relationship to them. So simply, you would just need to pair lighter colored tops with the brown leggings to create the right amount of contrast. You could do that with white or ivory to create the maximum amount of contrast if that is what you are looking for. A maroon or berry colored top would work just fine, however, maroon and brown would be an extremely low contrast as the depth of those two colors are pretty close. It sounds to me you are looking more for colors that have the depth, not the contrast, that would work for someone with cooler coloring. If that is the case, berry shades would be great, colors like teal, eggplant, emerald green, would all work too. I hope that helps.
I loved seeing this done with brown leggings, since yes, black leggings are everywhere. But a really interesting resource you might like is the Kettlewell Colours website. They are a UK brand and their online catalog is organized so that you can search by season, and they show whole outfits in alternate color ranges, i.e. this model is wearing the outfit in summer colors, but here are those same pieces in autumn, spring and winter colors. It’s kinda brilliant. I can’t vouch for the clothes, but in terms of finding appealing color combinations, it’s a goldmine. Here’s the page with a leggings outfit… https://www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk/us/shop-the-look/early-autumn-2020-looks/early-autumn-2020-look-7
That’s great! Thanks for sharing!!
Elegant and Leggings. 2 words I bet you never thought you would ever use together. We live in crazy times!
I am so glad you’re back. I realized during your blog break that you really do The Best Job of hitting that style blogger sweet spot for me, which is no suprise since we are close to the same age. But a lot of the mom bloggers skew a little too young and trendy (I guess that’s what I get for not having kids until I was 40) and a lot of the 40+ bloggers out there are either too focused on luxury brands or veer borderline frumpy (they call it “classic” but there is only so much LL Bean one can justify…) I just super appreciate that you don’t cater to one demographic but manage to present modern, stylish outfits that work in real life on a variety of bodies in a variety of situations. But then, I guess this is the difference between a style blog written by an actual professional stylist as opposed to one written by someone who just likes to shop. And thank you for not going hog wild on the sales posts. I nearly drowned in all the Nordstrom Anniversary sale coverage this year.
Welcome back!!!!!
You’re right. 2020 has brought on some crazy changes. Elegant and Leggings are definitely not two words I thought I would use in the same sentence.
Thank you so much for such kind and encouraging words. I spend such little time reading other fashion blogs that I really don’t know what they write about. It does make sense though. Surprisingly, so many wildly popular blogs are run by people with little to no experience. Of course, there is room for everyone. I have always wanted to speak to the woman and needs that fashion tends to overlook. It’s why I never cared to be a red carpet or editorial stylist. I like getting in the trenches and solving problems.
As far as the sale posts. It’s a tricky balance but one thing I always try to do is not be so over the top that I am taking advantage of the loyalty of my readers by trying to get get money from them in a disingenuous way. Certainly, bloggers need to make a living if they are going to give away free content, and the reader expects that, but a blogger should never take advantage of that fact. At least how I see it.
Needless to say, your comment has been very meaningful to me. It is a good reminder that I am remaining true to my intention.