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The Weekend Read Blog * Leggings: Wardrobe Staple or Fashion Fashion Faux Par?

January 30, 2026

The Weekend Read Blog * Leggings: Wardrobe Staple or Fashion Fashion Faux Par?

Judi Prue | Read in 7 minutes

Hello,

If there’s one item of clothing guaranteed to divide opinion, it’s the humble leggings. For some women, leggings are a wardrobe hero: comfortable, practical, easy to pull on, no zips, no buttons and no thinking required. For others, leggings feel like a fashion shortcut that too often leads to disappointment, frustration and outfits that don’t quite reflect how capable, stylish and confident the wearer actually is.

So which is it? Are leggings a modern wardrobe essential or a fashion faux pas hiding in plain sight? As House of Colour consultants, we’re far more interested in why women reach for leggings, how they’re being worn, and whether they truly serve the woman wearing them and as ever, the answer isn’t black and white.

A Brief History of Leggings

Leggings as we know them today didn’t start life as casual daywear. Historically, close-fitting leg garments date back centuries, worn by men as hose or tights. In the 20th century, leggings re-emerged through dance, aerobics and performance wear. You might remember a Jane Fonda workout videos and the Lycra revolution of the 1980s.

For decades, leggings had a clear purpose: movement, flexibility and exercise. They were functional garments designed to stretch, sweat and recover. The big shift came in the late 2000s and 2010s with the rise of athleisure and the blurring of gym wear and everyday clothing. Suddenly, leggings weren’t just for workouts, they were marketed as trousers, paired with long tops, trainers and hoodies. They ended up becoming a uniform for busy women juggling work, family and life and on paper, it made sense.

The Weekend Read Blog * Leggings: Wardrobe Staple or Fashion Fashion Faux Par?

Why Women Lean Into Leggings

Let’s be clear women don’t wear leggings because they’ve given up, they wear them because leggings promise: comfort, ease, forgiveness during weight fluctuations and speed when life feels busy. They offer a sense of being appropriately dressed without effort. Leggings feel kind as they stretch when our bodies change and they don’t dig in or judge. So, for women who feel disconnected from their bodies or are short on time or confidence, leggings can feel like a safe option.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth, safe doesn’t always mean flattering and comfortable doesn’t always mean confidence-boosting.

Why Leggings Often Disappoint

Leggings are very revealing garments, even when they don’t look it, because

they cling to the body with no structure. They often highlight ours curves, dips and contours, the full outline of our thighs, hips and tummy areas and our bottoms, often more than intended.

Unlike trousers, leggings offer no tailoring, no drape and no visual engineering. They don’t skim, they cling, which means they rarely do any of the things women hope they’ll do such as smooth, streamline or balance and this is often where the disconnect happens.

As woman, we reach for leggings because we wants to feel relaxed, comfortable and pulled together, but we can often end up feeling self-conscious, tugging at our tops, checking mirrors and wondering why we don’t quite feel right. That’s not a failure of our bodies, that’s a mismatch between garment and our goal.

Athleisure: When Function Spills Into Fashion

Athleisure has a lot to answer for. What began as stylish, technical sportswear for active lifestyles has now slowly crept into everyday wardrobes even when there’s no gym, yoga class or dog walks involved. And while some women genuinely live active lives where athleisure makes sense, many others are wearing gym wear as default clothing because it’s been marketed as modern, stylish and acceptable everywhere.

But here’s the House of Colour question we always ask: does this outfit reflect who you are and how you want to show up? If you’re heading to Pilates, brilliant, leggings are doing their job. If you’re running errands and popping for coffee, they might still work. But If you’re meeting friends, going to lunch, or want to feel stylish and confident, they often fall short.

Easy isn’t always the best look, most women want to look effortless, which is a very different thing.

Leggings and Clothing Personalities: Why They Don’t Work for Everyone

One of the biggest issues with leggings is that they’re often worn without any reference to clothing personality.

Classic women usually feel underdressed and slightly scruffy in leggings. They crave polish, structure and timelessness.

Dramatic women can feel oddly flattened by leggings there’s not enough edge, shape or authority.

Romantic women may find leggings too stark and body-focused, highlighting areas they’d prefer to soften.

Natural women are often the most drawn to leggings, but even they benefit from better fabrics, proportions and alternatives.

Gamine women can sometimes make leggings work, but only when the outfit is playful, sharp and intentional—not lazy.

Ingenue women often feel exposed and over-revealed in leggings, especially as they age.

Leggings don’t adapt to you, you have to adapt to them and that’s rarely the sign of a great wardrobe staple.

Seasonal Colour and Leggings

From a colour perspective, leggings are most commonly worn in black. And as we know, black isn’t everyone’s best neutral. For Summers, Autumns and Springs especially, black drains colour from the face, create harsh contrast and make outfits feel heavier than intended. Even Winters who can wear black often benefit from more interesting, intentional choices.

If leggings are being worn as a neutral base, they need to harmonise with your seasonal palette. Navy, charcoal, grey, chocolate, olive or burgunday will often work better than default black. But again this requires thought and leggings are usually chosen to avoid thinking.

So Are Leggings Ever OK?

Here’s our balanced, honest answer. Leggings are not a universal wardrobe staple, they are a situational garment.

They work best when:

Used for their intended purpose (exercise, movement, travel)
Worn with proportionally considered tops or layers
Made from quality fabric with opacity and structure
Styled intentionally not automatically

They fail when:

Used as a replacement for trousers
Chosen out of habit rather than intention
Relied on to hide or fix body confidence issues
Worn because nothing else feels comfortable

And this is where we gently challenge you.

What to Wear Instead

There are so many stylish alternatives to leggings that deliver comfort without compromise. Depending on your clothing personality and season, you can consider these options instead:

Softly tailored trousers with stretch waistbands, M&S excel here.

Ponte pants with structure and drape, try Boden

Relaxed-fit jeans in your best denim wash, look at Nobody's Child

Culottes or wide-leg trousers in fluid fabrics, try Baukjen & Reiss

Pull-on trousers designed to skim, not check out Kettlewell & Mint Velvet

These pieces still feel easy but they work harder for your body and your confidence. They create shape without exposure, they move with you and they look intentional, not apologetic.

Next time you reach for leggings, pause and ask yourself this; what do I want from my outfit today? Is it comfort? Confidence? Polish? Ease? Then ask yourself if they are actually delivering this.

Why not try an alternative from the list above. You might be surprised how much more comfortable you feel when it also looks intentional.

Final Thoughts: What Leggings Represent

Leggings aren’t really about fashion, they’re about how women feel in their bodies and lives right now. When life feels busy, overwhelming or out of control, it’s natural to reach for clothes that feel safe and comfortable. But over time, these easy choices become daily outfits which can quietly erode confidence rather than restore it.

At House of Colour, we don’t believe in rules or judgement but we do believe in helping women understand what truly serves them physically, emotionally and visually. Sometimes that means questioning the garments we’ve been told are essential.

Next week in The Weekend Read we are talking about the coolest trainers everyone will be wearing in 2026!

Best wishes,

Judi & Jenny xx

Click Here For Our Alternatives to Leggings