By Brooke Bailey

The first thing that needs to be addressed about leggings is that they are not pants.

This is a fact that several people seem to be adamant about.

If you’re unfamiliar with the fashion trend, leggings are a tight, stretchy and usually black article of clothing, most popularly worn with an oversized T-shirt, sweater or dress.

Girls wear them to class, work and the gym. Leggings are literally everywhere.

They haven’t really gone anywhere either. In the 90s, leggings were quite the trend. Most 90s kids wore leggings at some point.

Leggings are back, and it looks like they are here to stay for a while.

Leggings are popular, comfortable and some might even say fashionable.

Leggings are under dispute, therefore people tend to describe them in different terms. A few examples are sorority girl attire, comfy tights and yoga pants.

Since society has several interpretations, I think it’s best to consult the Merriam Webster dictionary. Webster defines leggings as “a covering for the leg-usually used in plural.”

Webster defines pants as “an outer garment covering each leg separately and usually extending from the waist to the ankle.”

The biggest difference between leggings and pants is the material. Leggings are thinner.

There’s not really a definite dictionary difference.

Leggings usually extend from the waist to ankle as well. This might surprise you, but it looks like leggings are pretty close to pants. (They’re in the same family, anyway.)

For some reason, these tight stretchy coverings have caused an uproar over the past few years.

It’s a campus and nationwide trend that some people deem as inappropriate or tacky.

Girls are heavily criticized for wearing leggings. Comments like “put some pants on” or “leggings are not pants” are common on social media. It doesn’t matter what kind of leggings they are. Purple, pink, black or polka dotted, leggings are wrong.

I don’t see too many people telling girls who are wearing a skirt, dress or tights to change into a pair of pants.

Those types of clothing are too traditional to be attacked on Facebook. Leggings are at fault by existence; other clothing items are OK if designed and worn appropriately.

Why do leggings upset people so much? I guess it’s cool to hate leggings.

I wonder what the next fashion victim will be. Perhaps anime shirts, saggy jeans or chain belts will be under fire.

Who’s going to start a social media fashion critique movement about those fashion faux pas? Those offend me.

It’s probably still more cool to criticize leggings, though.

I have a question concerning leggings: Who cares?

Girls who wear leggings are not committing a crime or a sin.

Unsuspecting individuals sport other horrendous fashion don’ts all the time.

Other trends that tend to work people up are UGGs with shorts, over-sized T-shirts and Nike shorts in freezing weather.

Fashion is a personal choice. One person who wears leggings might hate your duck tape purse or Birkenstocks, and vice versa.

Wear what you want. It’s called freedom of expression, and that extends to fashion.

Brooke Bailey is senior journalism major from Little Rock, Ark. She is a reporter for the Lariat.