Leggings are more than just a fashion trend
By: emily hietala
Introduction
Leggings play a significant role in a girl’s life, whether that role is fashion identity, social influence, self-confidence, etc. Leggings were worn by both men and women when they first came out in 1958 but as time went on the popular gender wearing leggings has become women/girls. Since 1958 the popularity around leggings has played into various gender trends for example athleisure and comfort. With these trends on an uprise, what are the outcomes? In this paper, I argue that leggings are more than just a fashion trend for women and girls. Leggings influence how women dress, their views on body image and personal self-esteem, and how leggings can even be used to promote feminism. In my writing I will be using various websites and articles to educate the reader on these topics.
History
Leggings were invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers. When leggings first came out, they were a simple pair of comfortable, spandex pants for both men and women to enjoy. Following this invention, in the 1960’s the women’s fashion industry took this fabric and produced/popularized a slim, comfortable pant more designed for women rather than men. Leggings then became a “true trend” in the 70’s and there were changes made to the production including but not limited to additional variation of colors and lengths. Overtime, the primary audience of leggings has become women and girls interested in activewear, fitness and athleisure styles, as well as women seeking comfort and versatile fashion. Women and girls of all ages enjoy and wear leggings constantly, starting in elementary school all the way into the elder years of womanhood.
Girlhood
Girlhood is a broad term which is defined by so many different things. There are many different stereotypical views of girls and girlhood made by our society as well as gendered expectations and standards. In an article written by Gonick explaining girls and girlhood, Gonick wrote, “To be girled in this context is to become subject to a narrow range of dominant embodiments, behaviors, attitudes, and experiences despite any individual girl’s socially located capacity to conform to these modes.” (Gonick, 2020, P. 852) This explains to us how girls are pressured to fit into a narrow narrative set by our society and to follow the gendered expectations set. There are so many different pressures towards girls and one of those pressures is to fit in based on their fashion choices/how they style themselves.
Girls feel pressured to wear leggings when they are growing up because they are so popularized in our society. They are seen everywhere, at school, worn by their friends, even their favorite influencers. To most girls it almost feels like a dress code in a way to fit in with everyone else. If a girl feels uncomfortable wearing leggings whether that be because she doesn’t like the way her body looks in them or maybe she prefers loose clothing, often she will still wear them to be accepted and look normal to everyone else. The pressure around wearing leggings doesn’t come from one person to another, but instead the idea to fit in with everyone surrounding them.
Why Do Girls Wear Leggings?
When trying to understand the impact leggings have on a girl’s life it is important to have an open mind and view it with an intersectional lens. Kustatscher wrote an article based on children and childhood studies and gave a clear definition of what intersectionality means. Kustatscher wrote, “…an important framework for understanding the complexity of gender and other systematic inequalities in children’s lives.” (Kustatscher, 2020, P. 5) Furthermore, having an intersectional lens means to understand everyone’s experiences are different due to everyone having their own personal identity. With this being said, not every girl who wears leggings wears them because they feel pressured to do so.
Some women and girls wear leggings simply because it’s a comfortable piece of clothing, others wear them to work out, but majority of women/girls wear leggings due to the versatile nature of them. Leggings have many different styles, for example, high waisted, flared, and even jeggings which have the appearance of regular jeans. With these different styles offers a variety of different events you can wear them to. In a journal written by Groppo based the performance of leggings, Groppo wrote, “…many consumers prefer versatile garments which are acceptable in multiple locations and settings including work…Casual dress codes allow workplaces to appear more relaxed and informal, appealing to the current workforce of Millennials. Clothing which is now considered appropriate in the workplace can include sports type fabrics such as spandex and polyester which permit versatility and comfort.” (Groppo, 2019, P. 7) This explains to us leggings are not just everyday wear for women and girls, but they can even be worn to work due to how versatile they are.
Social Media Trends and Their Impacts
Social media has a huge impact on a girl’s life growing up, both positive and negative. An example of a positive impact is providing community, social media gives a platform for girls to find support groups as well as connecting with others who are going through similar things they are going through. This makes a girl feel less alone and supported. Another positive impact is freedom to creativity, social media provides spaces for creative expression through art, fashion, or other forms of creativity which allows girls and women to feel safe to express themselves. Although the positives are impactful for young girls, the negative impacts are strong as well. One obvious negative impact social media has on girls is body image issues/comparing your body to the “perfect ideal body” presented by social media. Another negative impact is the sexualization of young girls, in some instances social media aims to pressure young girls to get attention or to gain a following in ways which sexualize themselves, this can include inappropriately dancing on Tik Tok or posting an inappropriate picture of themselves on Instagram.
Social media platforms such as Instagram and Tik Tok are very popular in our society especially amongst the younger generations. Young girls look up to the influencers on these platforms and try to live their lives the way these influencers do. In a journal written by Duvall on celebrity girls, Duvall wrote, “impossible ideal- a spectacular image produced for vivid consumption.” (Duvall, 2024, P.8) This quote is explaining to us social media can represent a perfect image, (for example the perfect body) which doesn’t look exactly like the girl viewing the post, which then makes the girl insecure about herself.
With exposure to social media comes exposure to social media trends as well. The trend of ‘legging legs’ became popular by social media platform Tik Tok in January of 2024 and quickly became a broader pattern of negative views on body image content. Simply put, ‘legging legs’ is a trend to show what legs should look like if you were to wear leggings. In an article written by Sherri Gordon based on the impact of the trend legging legs, Sherri wrote, “But eating disorder experts indicate this latest hashtag is anything but helpful. Instead, it’s just one more trend that encourages negative body image issues and promotes behaviors associated with eating disorders.” (Gordon, 2024) This quote explains to us, not only did the trend of legging legs effect many girls’ mental health and body image, it also was the start of many teen girls developing eating disorders to obtain the ideal ‘legging legs.’ This trend was not only a cause of eating disorders but many new fears and insecurities as well, “They may start to question their appearance and even their self-worth, which can spiral into body image issues, lower self-esteem, body hatred, anxiety, and depression.” (Gordon, 2024) It is important to understand the effects social media has on young girls. What may seem like a simple trend to you can be the start of deep self-hatred and issues to others.
Leggings Promoting Activism and Feminism
Leggings are a very popular clothing item in activewear for women, many women and girls wear leggings to the gym, yoga classes, practicing and performing dance, etc. With leggings being so popular in activewear, it links to multiple issues such as objectification, gender norms, and disciple. In a journal written by Meredith Nash exploring how different websites for brands target women by using visuals and specific texts to promote a postfeminist ideal of femininity, Nash wrote, “Much of this research argues that “fitness” is a means for women to achieve an idealized feminine body and that women’s bodies are objectified and valorized for upholding heterosexual feminine desirability in mainstream fitness texts…encourage women to discipline their bodies by offering a template on how to pursue normative ideals around weight and body shape in the name of ‘health’…promoting “fitness” and “health” as induvial responsibilities because they promote women’s interest.” (Nash, 2015, P.220) This quote relates to leggings, feminism, and leggings being used to promote feminism. First it relates to leggings because women use leggings when being active and exercising. In relation to feminism, feminist theorist argue that women’s bodies are “sites for control” and in this excerpt from the journal, Nash agues how a disciplined women’s values are deeply tied in with their physical appearance.
Almost every middle and high school has a dress code, and in that dress code it usually restricts females from wearing leggings. There have been some instances of girls going against that dress code in hopes for change. In an article written by Amanda Hess we are given one example of that. “Last month, middle-school girls in Evanstan-III., rebelled against their school dress code by showing up to class wearing leggings en mass. Administrators at Haven Middle School say that girls in leggings are “distracting to boys”; girls counter that by saying they simply want attend class in the comfort that leggings provide, and they don’t deserve to be penalized for how boys respond.” This is showing us girls at the age of 13 are aware of the societal issues our community endorses when it comes to dress codes, and how her and other girls in her school protested it to show girls don’t wear leggings for anyone but themselves, this was an act of feminism.
As a society we aren’t surprised by middle and high schools having a dress code restricting leggings, but what many people were surprised by was a mother having an issue with women in college wearing leggings. In an article written by Vanessa Friedman we were introduced to this. “Maryann White, the mother of four sons, wrote a letter to The Observer, the school newspaper for both the University of Notre Dame and the nearby women’s college St. Mary’s, asking female students to ignore fashion and stop wearing leggings. It was for their own good as well as the greater good, she suggested, in part because leggings made it hard for men to control themselves…For two days students wore leggings in a show of group defiance, there was a #leggingsdatND hashtag on Twitter, and assorted men and women posted pictures of themselves in solidarity with leggings wearers.” (Friedman, 2019) This quote shows us one example of a protest in relation to feminism. The protest and social media post were in relation to women and girls being allowed to express themselves freely through fashion choices without being perceived as distracting to men.
Conclusion
Leggings are much more than a fashion trend for girls and women to follow, they are a form of expression and identity. Some women and girls wear leggings for the comfortability and versatile nature which they provide, others wear them to fit in with everyone else around them. Leggings have also been proven to negatively affect the way a girl views her body, especially based on trends we’ve seen on social media such as ‘legging legs’. With all this being said, it is important to recognize the true meanings behind girls following fashion trends and not to overlook them.
Sources
Duvall, S. (2024). Celebrity girls’ studies. Interdisciplinary Scholarship on Fame, Girlhoods, and Identity , In Routledge Companion on Girl’ Studies, edited by Sharon Mazzarrela, 319–332. New York: Routledge, 2024.
Friedman, V. (2019c, April 4). Young women like to wear leggings. Deal with it. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/shop-northwest/young-women-like-to-wear-leggings-deal-with-it/
Gonick, M. (2020). Girls, Sage. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, edited by Daniel Thomas Cook, 852-855 https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n308
Gordon, S. (2024, February 12). What are “Legging Legs” and Why Is The Term Harmful , edited by Sarah Scott, Parents. https://www.parents.com/leggings-legs-why-this-term-is-harmful-8575052
Groppo, V. E. (2019). AN EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF LEGGINGS BASED AN EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF LEGGINGS BASED ON A CONSUMER SURVEY . Journal of Textile Science & Fashion Technology, 7(4), 1–9. https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2019.312
Hess, A. (2014, April 1). Talking with a 13-year-old leggings activist. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/04/middle-school-leggings-protest-13-year-old-activist-sophie-hasty-talks-about-restrictive-school-dress-codes.html
Kustatscher, M. (2020). Gender. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, edited by Daniel Thomas Cook, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n294
Nash, M. (2015). Selling health and fitness to sporty sisters: A critical feminist multi-modal discourse analysis of the lorna jane retail website.
Sociology of Sport Journal 33(3), 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2015-0105