Detour

Leggings: A Horror Story

     A new plague has swept our nation, a parasite of exponential numbers. The main target in this day and age is women, especially our high school youth. It disgraces their bodies, robbing them of modesty and leaving nothing to the men of our society’s imagination. What should only be found in gym bags or under many layers of clothing is now thought of as every day attire. This disease isn’t in the body, but on it. Even the brain is poisoned by it, believing it to be high fashion and beautiful. The new trend of wearing underwear as pants is appalling. Underwear that is disguised under the name “leggings,” which somehow makes it okay to prance around in only one’s skivvies.

    Back in the fourth grade was the first time I heard of leggings. Only the most popular girls bought the “new” fashion item and skipped across the playground, miniskirt twirling and leggings giving them nothing to fear because their panties wouldn’t show. They gloated over being so modern and high end. I decided to loath leggings then out of jealousy, even before they became the disgusting trend they are now.

    All those girls thought they were beginning a new style, but were simply bringing back what men from the renaissance age wore. Of course back then leggings were not made of nylon, cotton, and polyester. They were a two piece set, the legs being separate. Over the years many cultures used leggings, especially the colder climate areas such as Russia and Korea. Soldiers from multiple countries would use heavier leggings as protection and to keep mud out of their shoes. Even America’s own Native Americans used a form of leggings made from buckskin. In essence, before the nineteen sixties, leggings were long johns, long underwear used for extra warmth. So what changed?

    Maybe it was the conjoining of the separate hose that led to the contagious rage over wearing nothing over your underwear in public. Patricia Field, a designer in the seventies and eighties bragged that the leggings we have today were her creation, but doubt fogs the claim because conjoined leggings made their debut a little earlier. Back then they were solely exercise gear and soon to trend as dance apparel worn under a skirt. In the early nineties they met a peak, outselling jeans and being used as everyday fashion worn under skirts, long sweaters, shorts, and other clothing items. The popularity crashed in the late nineties though, and leggings wouldn’t have a hold on the fashion world again until two thousand and five. The comeback had them once again being worn under skirts, but that wouldn’t last. They evolved, coming in different patterns, fabrics, and translucencies, soon to be worn with nothing over them.

    There are only two reasons I can see why people, usually women, would wear leggings with nothing over them. The first is laziness. Wearing leggings is like wearing tight sweatpants. Just because they are made of different elasticity does not mean wearing them makes you any more classy. No one should be so lazy that that can’t zip up some decent jeans and fasten a button. Though a reason, laziness is a weak excuse. The second reason is lust. It’s the younger generations, often single women, who prance around in leggings. Sure, leggings show the curve of the buttocks and even one’s panty line. Is this attractive? Maybe, but what guy is going to get down on one knee for a girl that’s showing the world her butt? He should want that to be his pleasure, not everyone else’s. Wearing underwear with nothing over it can’t seriously be excused by female desperation for love either. Logically, it really shouldn’t help their case. There’s no good excuse, whether laziness or lust, to wear leggings without something over them. Leggings are underwear; you wouldn’t walk around in only your low rise briefs or hipster cut undies would you?

    The world of fashion has always been an upside down business, pushing it’s limits and craving the more eccentric, outgoing tastes most average people could laugh at. Designers try for more and more outlandish looks so their name can become known. When average people push towards striking fashion is where the real problems are born. What’s good on the runway is not okay for the everyday business and education settings.

       Leggings didn’t have to become a disease to our society, but people chose them to be. We’ve tried to change the definition of leggings, mutating their use and increasing their contagious capabilities. They’ve made hypocrites of our society. Girls claim they wear only leggings because they’re so warm and then complain about how cold they are. That’s the equivalent of wearing long john’s without pants over them: they don’t keep you warm unless you wear them properly. Leggings are like a cheap horror movie. The actors make bad decisions and it’s less scary, more so just gross. What drives someone to wear only underwear in public should be fleeing from a serial killer who showed up before they got their pants on, not simply choosing to let it all hang out.