Can you start wearing leather pants in midlife? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Dressing

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Can you start wearing leather pants in midlife?

Aziraphale

Veteran

I had this conversation the other day on the soccer field, where I was standing with my skinny jeans tucked into my fuzzy uggs (yes, my thighs were flipping freezing while my feet were nice and warm) and having a conversation with the other parents about the tall boots/tight pants conundrum. One mom (the one who used to be an exotic dancer, of course) was singing the praises of the tight leather pants she was wearing. Certainly I think leather pants are warm (anyone remember the Friends episode where Ross gets his leather pants down and can't get them back up because he's too sweaty?), but I said I don't think you can wear leather pants in middle age unless you've been wearing them all along. Or, well, you could start wearing them in middle age, if you're comfortable with sending out a clear 'midlife crisis in progress' message to everyone around you. Stripper mom disagreed -- she thinks the only requirement is being slender, an idea I have trouble with -- but then her sartorial choices are...not the same as mine.

What do you think? Who gets to wear (tight) leather pants?

(This is a deliberately provocative question. I'm winking as I ask it).

Dressing

134 replies

Latest reply was from Jenni Li

catgirl

Veteran

I did.

Aquamarine

Veteran

This is going to be a good thread

Aziraphale

Veteran

Una - Hahahahahahaaaa, oh crap, I've totally put my foot in it. I knew that would happen. So, did you get comments? One way to deal with it is to, you know, simply not care what people think. Which is actually very cool. As of course you are.

rachylou

Veteran

Do young people wear leather pants? I think the only youth who wear leather pants are super models. Because only they and old people can afford to buy them.

Anonymous

If you want to and you don't care what anyone else thinks, sure. It's the attitude that counts. If you're unsure, then you won't be able to pull it off.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Rachylou -- that's a good point. But I have seen some students at art school (notoriously poor) wearing them. Maybe they have rich parents.

Betty Crocker, I myself have no plans to wear them. Just curious if you can pull it off in midlife and not look like you're having a crisis.

BTW, I'm talking tight leather pants here -- the rock star kind -- and not the more cutting-edge baggy ones you sometimes see.

catgirl

Veteran

Not at all! Nice controversial topic! It's a total midlife crisis. I don't have past career baggage nor care much what people think. All comments good, but who knows what people were thinking. They were perfect for Sundance. And yes, warm. And I don't sweat a lot.

I have tight ones from The Row AND baggy Vince ones. Yeah, I'm that mom.

carter

Veteran

Mo gets to wear leather pants.

KikiG

Veteran

If they were normal pants (like, say, the black ponte pants I have on right this minute, which are pretty tight) only leather, not all straps and zippers and jazz going on, sure.
But I wouldn't wear any pants that were all straps and zippers and jazz going on.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Carter -- yes she does! But she looked hard rock all along. So she gets a pass.

KikiG -- OK, I'm with you. 'Jazz going on' adds rock star points to the pants and makes them more limiting.

Gaylene

Veteran

My first response is "anyone", but, on reflection, I know I'd hesitate to encourage anyone I cared about who was contemplating wearing form-fitting leather pants if she was 55+ . Same goes for mini skirts, midriff-baring tops--in short, a whole sector of female clothing that has developed a highly sexualized connotation in the minds of the general public. I'm sure we all could find pictures of 65 year-old women in tight leather pants who look fabulous out there on the Internet, but, for the average woman...hmm...maybe not the best look? Really, though, I think the whole question of appropriateness of the tight, short, revealing fashion genre is hardest for women between 35 and 55. Too much variation there to make rules, but lots of disdain for women who cross an invisible boundary.

K. Period.

Veteran

Ah ha ha! You lured me out of lurker-dom. That and Rachy's comment, which was totally too hilarious not to acknowledge.

I don't have any, but I'm totally pro adopting leather pants later in life, just with the same old "balance in the pairing" qualifier. If a person is a late adopter, wearing them in an "I'm cool and I wear leather pants" way (Una, Mo) versus an "I'm super sexy and look at my Kim Kardashian baby, yeah, encased in leather" way. Maybe I'm influenced because I've been considering them on and off for a while. One of my best friends (decidedly not a stripper) wears them all the time and she's in her late 40s. She looks great. And warm.

TraceyLiz65

(website)

Veteran

I am 49 and considering them... Never worn them before, but think I now have the self esteem and spunk to carry them off... the expense is holding me back, so starting with HUE Leatherette Leggings... Will see how that goes over first...

Aziraphale

Veteran

K. Period -- Ha! Excellent. I was absolutely trying to provoke.

There's the rub -- how to wear them and give off the 'I'm cool and I wear leather pants' vibe. Your friend who wears them -- has she been wearing them all along? Because if so, she can seamlessly move into her 40s and still wear them. I've never worn them, or even had the hard rock look, so I know I'd fail to pull it off.

Gaylene, I think you can wear form-fitting leather pants if you're 65 and also a bona fide rock star (or the equivalent in some other creative field). They do have some sexual connotations, but not in the same way as midriff-baring tops. Also, find me a granny who's got the abs for a bare midriff. There ain't many. But I'll bet there are quite a few who could still do form-fitting pants -- even among us mere mortals.

ETA I agree with you about the disdain for women who cross the 'invisible boundary'. I think we can't help but make internal judgments. This post wasn't intended to mock anyone, though. And a midlife crisis is funny because it's such a commonplace thing -- so many of us (myself included) can relate, acknowledge that we're having one, and (hopefully) laugh about it.

unfrumped

Veteran

Even though I suffer from narrow style filter syndrome, I don't have any leather pants-age taboo per se.

Admittedly I would look for, and appreciate on others, a more refined look, going for the luxurious aspect rather than the hard-rock, in more "mature" ladies.

Re: Angie's gold jeans post--is it a whole lot further to imagine chocolate leather pants, tweed jacket, cashmere or merino sweater? So that's a form of filter, unless I get credit just for having a style preference.. But it's fabric-neutral in some ways--I think some folks are wearing skinny jeans and other pants too tight for age, as well! So to me things that work are slightly looser fits -including slouchy leather but mostly just having some ease--and maybe not-black, though that's hard to find.

And I would guess they are harder to pull off ((:) if they are squeaky or move in a funny way. If one tries to avoid crotch issues and whiskering and pulling and all those things in pants in general, it may be hard to fit a leather pant in a satisfactory way. Body type would play into that and maybe in a more exaggerated way--would they be hard to look flattering unless one is pretty lean and fit--I think so, again based on pretty conventional fit expectations.

I think it's like art! And many fab outfits. The right person wearing the right pants in the right way would look fantastic. But I think it is just a more dramatic and noticeable type of item and so we have may critique it more vigorously, whereas we may hardly notice dozens of passersby in their jeans and boots.

It overlaps with leather skirt questions--which ones work and which don't and why--but is a lot more leather, I guess.

Desmo April

(website)

Veteran

Absolutely!!!!!

I'm a firm believer that we can wear anything. If I really love something, I can find a way to make it work.

I've had faux leather pant with the double whammy of over forty and fat. My real leather pants are 100 percent gear.

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Unfrumped -- 'I think it's like art' -- good point!

Desmo april -- oh, if they are gear, there's no question they're OK. I mean, you can't be a poseur if you actually ride a motorcycle. I've seen what happens so unprotected skin abraded by the road.

Jules

Veteran

I think of them as a fairly adult item, actually, probably due to cost.
I've personally realized that black leather moto-styled items are not really me. As a softer, low contrast type I don't naturally suit them and don't have the edge or whatever it is that allows people to pull things off that shouldn't work. But, that was always the case. Someone else might have always suited the look but not been able to afford it, or might grow into it with an older face, edgier hair etc... I actually think women in their 40s/50s may pull off edgy/avant garde better than anyone.
Personally I'd love the right brown leather or suede pants and I don't think I would have any trouble starting to wear them at 40. I'm more comfortable with expensive items in general as I get older and have a better income.

Anonymous

Ok - I may get myself in trouble here and reveal myself for the stripper I wish I was apparently, but .....I think they look pretty great on (and again I hate myself for saying this , but it's what I think) slim legs and as part of a luxe look. Not tight, not tricked out with gold buckles and Keith Richards crap, but nice soft lamb leather that isn't skin tight. Then, the baggy fashion forward stuff from Vince, Rick Owens etc looks great on those who wear an urban high-end look.

I used to have leather pants back in the day and loved them. Skirts too. Would I wear them now? Yes, if I was thin enough (and that's ME putting that on me, not anyone telling me I have to .....nor is it a judgement on anyone else). Which I'm not. Nor am I a stripper, or Keith Richards.

bj1111

Veteran

i wore black suede straight leg pants in my 20s, wore them to work. they were hands down the warmest pants i had when i walked to work in the icy snowy middle west. i am the last person to roll with the stripper look as my wiws show.

now i'm looking for my skinny leather pants. in the meantime i'm rocking the ag leatherette skinnies, great great leather look for a fraction of the price. also wear to work. i'll bet i've got a few years on you.

meh to comments. if those around me have "those" thoughts, they keep them to themselves or at least away from me.

if i had the dosh, i would have a pair of leather pants custom made.

Aziraphale

Veteran

LisaP and bj1111, neither of you count! You've worn leather pants before. Like I said, if you wore 'em when you were young, you can keep right on wearing 'em, no sideways looks.

On the other hand, if I wore them -- first time ever at 42 -- it would be a flashing MID LIFE CRISIS light (which I'm totally having, btw, but I'm choosing to reveal it by changing careers).

Liz

Veteran

Ah, now, see ...I think the key to starting to wear them after 40 without flashing MID-LIFE CRISIS is to not be having a midlife crisis. Or, if one is having one, to not care how loudly one signals it. : )

bj1111

Veteran

i think there are leather pants and "leather pants" just as there are thigh high boots (what otk used to be called) and "thigh high boots."

the leather pants i wore in my 20s are a very different look from the leather pants i'm looking for now, which if we were lumping not splitting closer to stripper leathers. the pants i wore then are more like mom jeans that happened to be in suede.

for me, the equivalent would be wearing plaid, can someone who never wore plaid wear it convincingly. but plaid isn't iconographically sexual in the same way as leather. so i guess i want some clarification on the original question...is it dressing in a sexualized way if one hasn't had a history of it or is it the wearing of the actual item--in this case, leather pants?

catgirl

Veteran

http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....ack-needed

Do these scream "crisis"? Because I need to know!

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

I just got some leather front leggings and I'm 48. I would do all leather pants, too. I never have worn them before. I have been fond of black, though.

I could see how it could feel a little costumey if you were in the same place you lived your whole life and you went suddenly from being a prepster in LLBean wear to a Patti Smith-alike.

But yeah, I think if you're making it work in a tasteful manner and not also flashing the mid life crisis high beams in everyone's face, why not?

Aziraphale

Veteran

Liz -- lol precisely!

bj1111 -- I meant tight leather pants specifically, but you could theoretically extend the question to any clothing that has a sexualized vibe. As you say, leather pants are iconographically sexy, but they are more than that. They are also emblematic of the rock n' roll spirit -- sort of like plaid skinnies are emblematic of the punk rebellion in London in the 1970s (which is, to touch on your question, what makes them tricky -- although not impossible -- to wear if you don't have a history of a bit of punk spirit).

In the case of stripper mom, I think she can go right on wearing her tight leather pants without a whiff of midlife crisis because it's not incongruous with who she is. She's not a rock star, but she's coming from a background of hypersexualized apparel in general. Certain types of musician can likewise wear leather pants as well, although for different reasons.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Una, no, you're fine. For one thing, your entire look is Urban Warrior Princess, which by definition has a edge to it. You invented the term, for crying out loud, and if that doesn't give you a pass to sport some tasteful (but sexy) leather pants, I don't know what does!

The boxy sweaters tame down the sexy, too.

Anonymous

How do you know she's a stripper? Does one just drop that into conversation on the sidelines at a soccer game? I'm intrigued.

Aziraphale

Veteran

It's well known. She's proud of it. Talks about it regularly. Also talks about how she had lipo and a boob job. But you know what? It's all fine. It takes all kinds. I suspect her politics aren't the same as mine, and she's loud and brash, but she's supportive of all the kids and a very positive person.

12…5