While folding clothes the other day (the laundry never ends, right?!), I started thinking about the evolution of mom fashion. For instance, why is it that yoga pants are synonymous with motherhood? Before I was a mother, I may have owned 1 pair of yoga pants, and I went to the gym A LOT! Now that I’m a mom, I’m pretty certain I own more yoga pants than real pants.
In fact, I’m wearing yoga pants as I type, and I’ve yet to go to the gym today. I wear my yoga pants to the splash pad, coffee shop, and grocery store. When I want to dress them up, I wear a tunic and call my yoga pants leggings. When did these lovely glute huggers become so mainstream? I’m a researcher, and by researcher I mean I like to search Google while wearing bifocals. Apparently, I’m the only person who needs this information because my search turned up empty. I guess I’ll never know who to thank. While it’s hard to find the history of yoga pants, I do know that everything old is new again, so here’s my theory:
Remember the 80s? Many of us were either fetuses or toddlers, but from what I remember it was a great decade. The 80s gave us many wonderful things: Uncle Jesse from Full House, My Little Pony, Trapper Keepers, and the best of althleisure wear. Who can forget stirrup pants?
Did your mom wear outfits like these?
When I think about stirrup pants, my first reaction is “but, why?” I mean, have you ever had a problem with your pants staying down? Yeah, me neither. However, these pants ruled the world. The thing about stirrup pants and other “athleisure wear” in the 80s was that every single woman I knew had a pair. They were so versitle, you could wear them with high tops tennis shoes or flats. They served as evening or daytime wear, and were considered appropriate for the gym, the office, the bar, and running errands. Does this sound familiar? It’s sounds a lot like what yoga pants are to moms of this generation. Can you recall your amazing mother drinking wine coolers or Tab, toting you and your siblings around, and or heading off to the grocery store in these fabulous athletic leisure outfits? I swear I can, and it’s like staring in the mirror!
Sometimes the women before us pave the way by breaking the glass ceiling, and other times women pave the way by making gym wear appropriate for places other than the gym. So, as a fellow mom who loves yoga pants, I thank all the women of the 80s for paving the athleisure path for us, the next generation. Now please excuse me while I do some Jane Fonda step aerobics…or go to the store…or get coffee…the sky’s the limit in these stretchy bad boys.
