Leggings - can you look expensive in them?

[TheOutside]

I love leggings and unless see through I don't tend to personally think everyone looks cheap in them however you will never see royalty in them unless working out/walking etc. I tend to think there is a snobbery towards them but is that a misconception on my part?

FYI I am wearing leggings today for a day at an upmarket small city!

I'd say so if you're very groomed and wearing/carrying other notably 'expensive' clothes and accessories.
It's all a bit footballers' wives for my taste but if that's your thing, leggings are fine.

Here's Kate in her lululemon ones.

Tbh I don't even think she looks expensive in them, and she's wearing about 3 grands worth of jacket and bag with them.

I have the White Company ones, and wear them with slightly oversized cashmere tunic and leather biker boots for casual, or heeled ankle boots if I want to look smarter.

I think there's a big difference between Kate's yoga leggings teamed with shearling jacket and bag (not a great combo), yoga leggings with other gym-wear (fine, but utilitarian not stylish), thin leggings worn with a cropped-top (generally not good unless 16), leggings with a dress (much derided, but worn with verve by some and a bit of a uniform for others who aren't really bothered with fashion but desire to look respectable whilst crawling round on the floor with small children), leather or heavy gabardine leggings, worn as a very slim trouser in order to achieve a certain silhouette (could be fashion-forward or Waggish depending on the wearer and the rest of the outfit).

As with any item of clothing, it's entirely dependent on how it's styled and the intentions and motivations of the wearer.

Leggings are a neutral piece of clothing around which an outfit may be built. I'm always a little surprised by the outright hatred on here.

Hmm maybe it's time to revisit leggings. I lived in leggings back in the 90s so I've avoided them this time round. Where should I start? I don't mind throwing a bit of money at them but not £200! ( and leggings for day wear. I've already got ones for exercise)

BrassicaBabe Mint Velvet leggings are the best I’ve found. Very think, nice deep waistband to suck you in and not at all expensive.

Thick not think

They can look expensive but never tasteful as trousers. The leather look ones in particular raise eyebrows - it doesn’t matter how thin you are, a get up like that would only fly at a riske costume party. But i have seen many elegant women wearing leggings under tunics/skirts/dresses. Leggings aren’t trousers. So long as you don’t try to pass them off as something they aren’t it’s not a problem.

No, I think they always look cheap, and a bit trashy

Kate looks like she's just got off at Lime Street tbf

Leggings CAN look expensive but as pps have said, you need to be lean.

I've got some leggings that have piping down the front - not sure of the technical term - and I find these do look more expensive than others

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Example of piping

I have the Wolford suede look leggings

www.wolfordshop.co.uk/clothing/trousers/velour-leggings/19171.html?dwvar_19171_color=7005

They are amazing and a million miles away from thin cheap ones.

I luckily found them in a charity shop, brand new!

You will if you have slim legs or good skin.

I don't see how they're not 'as tastseful as trousers', Boggles, they're merely a slim leg-covering, and can be as tasteful or as tasteless as the wearer confers. I've seen some terribly 'tasteless' trousers in my time (see the Cherie Blair 'pant suit' look for acceptably smart but utterly lacking in style), of course trousers can also be wonderfully stylish too. As can skirts or dresses.

I'll say again, leggings are merely an item of clothing, it's all in the styling.

I like Ilikeyourhairyhand's posts and concur.

PS Joseph leggings now 60 pounds in sale. I am considering coffee.

Why are people so obsessed with looking 'expensive' on here?

Woman as object.....is that it?

I would also like to add that leggings can look good on any size woman if she knows how to style them.

Generally to my mind they look best with tunic length dresses/jumpers rather than longer dresses and when they are cropped.

My Sweaty Betty leggings are some of the most expensive clothes I have. I wear them mainly to exercise but would occasionally wear them to a post yoga coffee with friends or to the shops.
I think less athletic ones could be nice with a little dress in the autumn.

Billieeilish, the Joseph leggings linked are still showing as 195? Will you chance bringing them in the washing machine or dry clean?

I understood the OP to mean stretch jersey leggings. There's a massive difference between those and leather leggings, which are more like super skinny trousers, or gaberdine type material, also more like skinny trousers. Gym leggings are different again, they generally have thicker and more obvious seams, stitching, and the sweat wicking technology makes them sheeny. More sporty overall. I have all these types (including those exact Joseph ones, and no, I haven't been brave enough to machine wash them for that price!) and I would wear each one for different occasions, and with different tops and shoes. They are not interchangeable.

In terms of whether they look expensive or not, then again, it depends on the whole outfit. Expensive leather leggings with a lovely piece of neutral knitwear at the right length to flatter your leg shape and size can look lovely. Cheap, badly fitting leather leggings with a crop top on the wrong body type, no. Sports leggings need sweatshirts, with knitwear, or normal daywear tops (like the Kate pic) look crap.

I only wear leggings to Pilates. My legs are slim so look fine but my middle doesn't, everything bulges. This week I wore my black leggings with a black T-shirt (have also worn them with broderie anglaise peasant tops sometimes), short black trench coat to disguise bulgy middle, black ballet flats and a large top-handle bag in millennial pink with black trim. None of it cost much, least of all the leggings which were about £2.50 from Primark (losing weight so don't want to spend loads on different sizes). I probably didn't look "expensive" but hope I managed to avoid "got dressed in a tumble dryer."

Holy shit have I just seen a pair of leggings for £195?!?!

They'd have to iron themselves at least!

Anois, my web page, if I click on SALE, it's deffo 60 pounds for size 38 coffee. Don't like the red.

a) I think I would need/be happier with 40, so not sure
b) absolutely did not see 'dry clean only'. As I wear them every day in winter, no way would that do!

So not getting them. If I remember correctly, Joseph are 'small' sizes anyway, so size 38 would possibly be too small.

PP who bought them, what is the size like please do you dry clean?

If you have good legs and a good sense of style you can pull them off, even cheap ones.

@ILikeyourHairyHands I said they weren’t tasteful as trousers. As it is not tasteful to wear them as if they were trousers. Absolutely the thing under a tunic though.