A Working Woman's Guide to Leggings

(My favorite outfit of all time.)

My friend J asked me to do a primer about leggings in the workplace. It took me a long time to warm to the idea of leggings at work, and there are only a few circumstances where they are appropriate, but it is possible to wear them in the office, provided you use a little discretion and grace.

Caveat: all of this depends on what kind of office dress code you have. Mine is business casual, and when we are in the office at our desks, it tends to be on the looser end of business casual. When we travel out to the sites or for meetings, we step it up a notch, and for exec-level meetings, it's a suit.

Here are the guideleines I use for leggings:
1. Never ever wear them at a executive-level business meeting.  Just, don't.
2. Cropped leggings are a possibility in the summer, but I have only worn them when I knew I was doing something before or after work that required them. Otherwise they just look goofy.




3.  Long leggings are best, in dark colors. I have black and brown.




4. Wear them with a dress. They say they can be worn with tunics, but not to work. I've tried, and it just didn't look right.



5. Dresses that are too-short otherwise can get a new life when you pair them with leggings, but a regular length dress is best. The idea is to wear them almost like tights before it's cold enough for tights.



6. Wear them with flats, or sandals in the summer. It's the really the best way to wear flats with dresses without looking frumpy.



7. You can wear them tucked into boots, which I have done, but I don't see the point. Why didn't I just wear tights? To me, leggings are seasonal: spring and fall, when the weather is just between tights and bare-legged temperatures. Coincidentally, that's also (ballet) flats weather!




8. My favorite look is monochromatic. I think it's because there's that break at the ankle where skin shows again, so it's not the same as head-to-toe black in tights and boots.



9. Contrast is okay, but tricky. Angie at YLF said once to pull in that darker color up top somewhere in the outfit, and that makes a lot of sense. See? The left has that repeating color, the right doesn't.




10. Don't be afraid of patterns on top, especially if you use rule #9. The left outfit is missing dark on top, the one on the right has better color flow all the way down.



I hope this was helpful to you! Are there any tips that you use for leggings in the office that I may have missed? Do you have an office where they can be worn?

Angie has posted about leggings many times over the last couple of years. If my guidelines are too strict for your office, check out what she has had to say!