Designer sweatpants have arrived, with some versions costing nearly $1,000—but not everyone is convinced the notoriously informal attire is a great sartorial choice for anywhere but the gym. The Wall Street Journal is especially skeptical, opening a recent article with the question, “Sweatpants with stilettos?” Um, “yes, sweatpants with stilettos,” counters Amy Odell in New York. The only problem with sweatpants “is that not everyone gets them.”
Other questionable fashion trends that eventually made good, like leggings, “may look odd at first, but not necessarily inappropriate and ill-mannered.” Sweatpants, on the other hand, can be “deemed rude”—even if you are wearing them with heels. The trick is to remember that you “strut on the forefront of style, while those who don't are so behind. A fashionable person loves nothing more than knowing this is what separates them from the masses. And that is why sweats are here to stay.”
(More sweatpants stories.)