I truly hope not….

I love my leggings and wear them everywhere…

Yes, this is going to be a rant! For the love of all that’s holy, could we just stop wearing exercise clothing everywhere we go… Yes, this woman is outside, on top of a building doing her yoga…and that is fine! I can only hope she lives in this building and puts some clothing on before she goes out in public.

Recently my daughter and I were running errands and everywhere we went that day we saw women/girls in workout clothes. I use the term loosely as in my opinion, they are not really clothes. We went to a nice department store, a grocery store, and a fairly upscale restaurant. Every place we went that day we ran into women in exercise outfits.

I walk every day. I wear these outfits. I don’t go anywhere in them except to walk to and from my house. Several times I have needed to go to the grocery store and think to myself…just this once. But I can’t do it. I run upstairs and put my jeans or capris on and out I go. Why can’t I do this? Maybe it’s my age and the fact I was raised to have respect for myself and others… My daughters are the same way though, so I guess it can’t just be my age. My youngest is a yoga teacher and she does go to the store after yoga, but she wears a jacket or top that covers her little tiny tank thing. This is what bothers me the most I think. The fact that not only do these people wear active wear, it is hardly covering any part of their body. And you are in a public place, you are in a restaurant….

“Dressing well is a form of good manners.” ~ Tom Ford

The stores are not helping the situation…once only a small section, is now a whole department full of various leggings, tops and tanks. Some times that section has more in it than the regular clothing section…and while it used to be in the back, it is now front and center. And it is filled with women dressed in the outfits, frantically looking for more outfits. I just look at them and wonder what makes someone put this on, look in the mirror and say, “Damn I look good, I’m going out to dinner!”

I know I may get some flack on this, but I don’t care. If you look good in your exercise outfit, then good for you! I’m happy for you! Wear it at the gym, wear it on your hike, even wear it to Starbucks for coffee with your workout friends afterward…but don’t wear it to a nice restaurant. If for some unknown reason…say you had a flood and all that’s left of your wardrobe is workout stuff, ok then wear it, but for heavens sake wear a jacket over your skimpy damn top!

There are many articles out there about why we wear what we wear. What the philosophy behind each outfit we wear is telling the world…. But what does wearing a teeny tiny top above the navel(when clearly you don’t have the body for it) and tight and I mean tight leggings mean? What are they trying to say? What message are they putting out there? Ok, I get the whole non body shaming thing…. yes its wonderful they love their body enough to do this…but I’m not even talking about weight here…I’m talking about women with huge breasts that are falling out the sides of the teeny tiny tanks.

“Dress how you want to be addressed.” ~ Bianca Frazier

Have we lost all respect for others or ourselves? Do we not care about the image we are putting out there? And it’s one thing for us to do it. But do we even think about the young girls growing up in todays world? Do we even think about the image we are projecting… telling these girls it is ok to look like this in public. Every now and then I have to tell my 11 year old grand daughter that her outfit is not acceptable if she wants to go away with me. And I went to lunch with my 7 year old grandson recently on Grandparents Day at his school and I was horrified to see what 5 year old girls were wearing to school! Most of it was totally inappropriate workout tops… Did these kids pick out the outfits or do they have mothers who are wearing them and think its fine for a 5 year old to dress this way?

I guess by now(if you are even still reading this) you are thinking I am just an old fuddy duddy… well, I’m done my rant now and I’m sorry if I offended anyone…..Hey, you know what, no I’m not sorry! Everyone is offended these days by something. I’m offended by the woman wearing leggings and a tank top to the restaurant I am paying good money to eat in and…I have to look at her boobs hanging out the entire time. Because she is right smack dab in front of me and I just can’t unsee that..So no I’m not sorry….

I will leave you with this one thought…if we are what we wear…what does that say about us…

“You should dress the way you want the world to treat you.” ~ Stacy London