Over the past year there has been a spike in the amount of students joining the new fashion craze known as leggings. Normally leggings have been worn under skirts and as extra protection against the winter weather. Now fashion icons, teen magazines, and popular clothing stores have further encouraged the trend of wearing only leggings. Girls of every shape, race, age and size have joined this speeding bandwagon. Leggings are appropriate for school. They don’t show excessive skin and don’t have any profanity on them so wearing them shouldn’t be a problem.

Critics of this new trend say that leggings are not pants. They don’t provide the proper coverage and are not appropriate for school. Yoga pants tend to fall into the category with leggings even though they are used to work out in. Schools around the country have considered banning leggings deeming them inappropriate for school. Critics also say that students should think about what they wear because it can affect the way others think about them. In the Klein ISD handbook, there is no regulation that prevents students from wearing leggings, or jeggings of any kind.

What we wear does affect how others perceive us, however leggings are not a problem. Leggings are not a bad fashion statement and not a type of trend to worry about. Leggings are becoming more and more popular among teens of this generation and have become a type of clothing that could be worn any day of the week.

“Jeggings,” which combines the appearance of jeans with the convenience and free movements of leggings, is where this current statement evolved from. This fashion piece gained traction in 2010 when the increase for tighter fitting skinny jeans was demanded. Some jeggings have zip-flies and pockets while some have just an elastic waistbands and a textile print made to look the part.

Now that jeggings have been stored in the back of the closet, we focus now on leggings. Having seen them worn by celebrities and are gossiped about by everyone and their mother, students have been seen walking the halls mimicking the popular trend for the past year and a half. As the scorching Texas summer heat has been doused out by the emerging winter weather, we see more and more female students trading in their shorts for the appropriate seasonal leggings.

From neon and high wasted jean in the 80s, to Vans and overalls in the 90s, over the years popular trends have evolved. Skinny jeans, jeggings, and leggings have unofficially defined the style of our generation from the middle 2000s to current day.  Other clothes that are worn with leggings in the current and modern style create a classy and appropriate look for almost any occasion.

Leggings can be worn at home, on the go, or at work. Leggings can be worn with a long shirt with or without a belt and can be paired with boots, sandals, and flats. Leggings can be worn under a dress or a baggy long sleeve and a scarf for the fall and winter months

Those who oppose the wearing of leggings say that leggings are not pants and they are inappropriate outside of being under a skirt. But people should be able to express themselves through what they wear. When a person puts on a pair of leggings, unlike wearing just tights, show little to no skin at all which doesn’t break the rules in the Klein ISD handbook. Leggings are fun to wear, light, and have become a type of style that makes wearing leggings instead of pants tolerable.

Lastly, those who fail to realize that times have changed and say that those who wear leggings are not appropriate as a whole are wrong. They are wrong in saying that, believing that by critiquing our clothes and by limiting a way of expressing ourselves will protect us. Being able to wear the clothes that we are comfortable wearing and feel that those clothes are what define us; is a part of discovering yourself and learning where you fit in. However those who criticize the way others dress may be at fault of their own fashion faux pas.