Life By Kristen

Yes, I Really Spent Time Thinking about Sweatpants

The other day on some blog or another I saw this quote by Karl Lagerfeld: “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.”

How utterly ridiculous.

To be fair, the quote was from a few years ago when the velour tracksuit trend seemed to take the world by storm (again I might add, since it was big in the 80s & 90s with exercise chic). And of course to Lagerfeld, couture designer at Chanel & ‘tastemaker,’ the trend of going outside of your own house wearing sweatpants or pajamas would be ghastly–though depending on what your pajamas look like, I may agree ( we’ve all seen at least a few people wearing some inappropriate pajama bottoms and even slippers in public). But by and large, sweatpants, yoga pants, comfies, whatever you call them- are in my opinion, sometimes the best part of the day.

I did a somewhat informal poll of friends and coworkers about the wearing of comfies. I was curious how many people, on a weeknight after work, go from their work clothes right to pajamas/comfies- or if there was a population of folks who opted to change from business attire to casual clothing like jeans, upon returning home from work. I ask not just because of this quote, but also because I am actually curious about such things. For me, whether or not I go right from dress pants and heels to comfies or jeans is obviously dependent on a number of factors: plans for evening, weather/temperature, amount of junk food I have consumed during 2:30pm work slump, etc. But by and large- no matter the season- I am out of my work attire and right into my elastic/drawstring pants of choice ( flowy dresses for me in warmer months).

I don’t see this giving into sweatpants at 5:30pm as giving up on life or losing control. I actually like to think of it more as knowing myself well enough and doing what I want. I have spent a good deal of time with the tough work of self-discovery and I know that after a long day at work, there is nothing that will make me more relaxed and rested than a night reading or watching a movie in a comfortable place wearing comfortable clothes. If I was going out with friends, doing night time errands, or even working on freelance writing projects, I very well might change into jeans or something that makes me less inclined to curl up on the couch. I generally don’t wear sweatpants out other than to run errands, but that’s mostly because I have maybe two pairs of comfies/warmups/yoga pants that are worthy of view by the public. Wearing sweatpants isn’t about giving up or being a sloth, it’s about comfort in one’s skin and life. And I think that that is the ultimate in control in one’s life. Take that Mr. Lagerfeld!