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I, for several obvious reasons which include me being a man, will never fully have a grasp on women’s fashion. While I do believe I know more than your run-of-the-mill guy has no idea what the difference between a clutch and a tote is, I’ll still never understand why women insist on tying top-knots that rest atop their hair and look unfinished, nor will I ever grasp why they’d choose to wear a lipstick that takes five minutes to scrub off a wine glass. But alas, I’m a generic white guy who should neither attempt to tell a woman how to dress or question the validity of her fashion choices.
But this has gone too far. Much too far. So far that The Washington Post’s Kerry Folan has published a column claiming that yoga pants are “an assault on manners and a nihilistic threat.” And I, generic white dude, am here to stand up for all those who wish to wear yoga pants and athleisure in their everyday lives.
Having recently left New York City for Washington DC, our author admits that she never saw women in New York casually wearing the black, stretchy pants that adorn the streets of DC. “A suburban thing,” she calls them, insulting anyone who leaves the house “gym clothes.” While claiming that this is fine if you’re actually going to the gym, she insults those who insist on wearing them more casually – “Moms with strollers, undergrads on campus, girlfriends meeting up for coffee dates or errands.” If I’ve learned anything about writing on the internet, it’s that you do not go after moms with strollers or girls who wear yoga pants.
She further compares the vibes of New York City and Washington DC, expressing that New Yorkers “put in a little extra effort, never taking the easy way out.” I don’t know what part of New York she lived in, but there’s really no shortage of people in joggers or men and women who use a large jacket to cover their otherwise bland outfits. I, for one, did just this last month and received all of zero weird looks. She claims that when getting dressed in New York, “10 million” people are always watching. Up until this point in my life, I was under the impression that you were to dress for yourself – not others.
As a former fashion editor, Folan uses this to establish credibility when skewering the pants we’ve all come to know and love. And as a someone who has looked at his fair share of yoga pants out in the wild, I’d venture to guess that my credibility stacks up pretty well. She considers herself to be “someone who cares about fashion” and would “vote for jeans over yoga pants,” pointing to the reason being “manners.” But whether you’re wearing stretched, dirty jeans or discreet well-fitting yoga pants, I’d guess that the black and barely-there yoga pants are probably more discreet (and easier to pair things with) than the same pair of jeans that rarely go washed.
But she continues:
What we wear sends a message to the world. An Hermes handbag makes a statement about wealth and luxury. A pair of four-inch Louboutin heels makes a statement about sex and power. Yoga pants make a statement about comfort and modernity. When we board a flight or run to the grocery store swaddled in cotton-lycra, we are saying to the people around us that our own comfort is our first priority. We are expressing a new kind of modern vanity where dressing down, rather than dressing up, is the power move.
Not that I’d want one because again, I’m a generic white guy, say that I did want an Hermes bag or a pair of Louboutin heels. I’ll freely admit it – couldn’t afford either. So what would I do? Oh, I don’t know. Buy something more practical, re-wearable, and durable? Like, ohhhhh, I don’t know… fucking yoga pants? It comes to a point where “dressing up” isn’t necessarily about actually dressing for the occasion, but dressing in the way that you think is appropriate for whatever you’re attacking that day. Call me a modernist, but grocery shopping in the same clothes you wore to barre class seems more reasonable to me than tossing on some designer heels and stumbling through the snow.
She compares the notion of wearing yoga pants to how pretty much everyone that doesn’t live in New York dresses like they don’t care. But as someone who desires to not live in New York and not dress as if I’m going to run into 10 million people on a daily basis, I think it’s fair to say that everyone – male or female – should be able to dress however they want.
Besides, workout clothes are pretty fucking comfortable (and flattering). .
[via Washington Post]
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Will
Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
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This really fired me up, tbh.
More or less fired up than the fact that Marvin Lewis still has a job?
You endorsed Kerry Folan for “Stupid Opinions” on LinkedIn!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-folan-8b630594
Welcome to the network. DCO baby
This Kerry Folan woman seems like she needs to toss on a good pair of yogas, poor herself a tall glass of cheap wine, and pull that stick out of her ass. She’d be much happier #TeamYogaPants
‘Sup?
Pour* damn you, autocorrect
Typing poor more often than pour. PGP?
I can’t argue that one.
Oh Kerry, you stupid fuck. You know what else is a nihilistic threat?…society in general and the lack of the human condition through out it. While you’re scurrying around in your Louis Vuitton shoes going to your masquerade dinner parties, performing humans sacrifices while sharing a bottle of 19th century wine from the vineyards in Burgundy in the name of Satan with the rest of the world’s elite, there are kids in the Dominican Republic using milk cartons as baseball gloves hoping they live to see 21 and a chance to illegally play in the little league World Series, kids in Africa rocking 2011 Patriots Super Bowl Championship shirts to the local contaminated water hole 5 miles away, kids in Syria hoping to just find some bread as their own government and 3 other countries converge on them by blasting them from the sky in the name of fighting terrorism. Are you starting to see the trend here? You’re life is even more meaningless then the one’s who get treated as if they are meaningless. Yoga pants are also great for self ass-fixiation, I suggest you get a nice poly cotton blend to wrap around your neck like a scarf except the only one judging your fashion choices will be the guy at the morgue. Sincerely Go fuck yourself…Hey Now!
Ass-fixiation… spit out my coffee at that one. Well said.
Oscar winning comment right here.
Lived in New York for a year. I wore yoga pants. Other women around me wore yoga pants. Of course I’m just a mere peasant compared to this Kerry gal, but whatever, I still fucking slayed bottomless brunch in my yoga pants.
Sup?
If stuff like that gets her so bent out of shape, she’d shit herself if she came to Texas.
Yas Will. Drag her
No way middle America would be ok with a hill staffer wearing the latest trends in the office. I’m pretty sure people would lose their S if officials, staffers, and government workers (and even contractors) showed up wearing $800 shoes. If this was a good fashion editor she would understand why fashion in DC is different from NYC.
Also I’ll wear my yoga/running leggings whenever I want.
Ann Taylor for days upon days.
Sometimes you just need to give off the appearance that you crushed your workout when all you crushed were those 2 for 1 bottles of wine. You will not shame me, woman.
Username checks out.
The lady who wrote the article clearly doesn’t squat enough or at all to know exactly how much easier it is to get into yoga pants the day after leg day. What a slut .
had never been to NYC or the northeast in general until a few months ago and I wish someone had told me how much I’d stand out wearing jeans and boots.
NYC is freak show central anyway. New Yorkers have seen the weirdest shit you can think of, no one paid attention to your boots and jeans
Can confirm unfortunately