Leggings are several types of leg coverings that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg warmers or tights.
Usage from the 18th century refers to men’s wear, usually made of cloth or leather that is wrapped around the leg down to the ankle.In the 19th century, leggings usually referred to infants’ leg clothing that were matched with a jacket, as well as leg-wrappings made of leather or wool and worn by soldiers and trappers. Leggings prominently returned to women’s fashion in the 1960s, drawing from the form-fitting clothing of dancers. Leggings in various forms and under various names have been worn for warmth and protection by both men and women throughout the centuries. The separate hose worn by men in Europe from the 13th to 16th centuries (the Renaissance period) were a form of leggings, as are the trews of the Scottish Highlands.
There has been societal debate about whether leggings are clothing on their own, which can be worn without covering, or are an accessory only to be worn with other items covering them, such as skirts, dresses or shorts. In a 2016 poll of its readers Glamour Magazine said that 61% of its readers thought that leggings should only be worn as an accessory,whereas an article that same year from Good Housekeeping concluded that “…Leggings do, in fact, count as pants—provided they are opaque enough that they don’t show your underwear.”There have been a number of instances of people wearing leggings as pants who have been restricted or criticized for their actions. In 2013, schools in Sonoma County, California banned students from wearing them as outerwear,as did a Massachusetts school in 2015.Schools in Oklahoma, Illinois,and North Carolina have enforced or suggested similar dress codes.A state legislator in Montana introduced a bill in 2015 intended to ban leggings and yoga pants.
In March 2017, three children flying on a company pass were barred from boarding a United Airlines flight by a gate agent who decided that their leggings were inappropriate. United Airlines defended its position, while rival airline Delta stated via Twitter that leggings were welcome on its flights; United said in a statement that it does not bar regular female passengers from boarding if they are wearing leggings.Although some public figures, including actress Patricia Arquette and model and actress Chrissy Teigen, were critical of United’s decision, a survey encompassing 1,800 travelers carried out by Airfarewatchdog found that 80% of their respondents backed the airline’s decision to ban “inappropriate clothing”, although the term was not defined in the poll.
Restrictions on wearing leggings is sometimes linked to slut shaming or body shaming, with critics noting that “…not being able to wear leggings because it’s ‘too distracting for boys’ is giving us the impression we should be guilty for what guys do.”
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