You can’t walk through campus one day without seeing them. They’re in during the summer, winter, spring or fall and they come in an assortment of colors. Figured it out yet? It’s those little things called leggings.

Those pieces of fabric that cover the legs of almost every woman and child have been around for a long time, and although I just noticed them, research showed that this is no new fad.

Katrina Buenaventura, a freshman at CSUN, has worn leggings since her sophomore year of high school.

This is a shock for a person like me who feels as if these things popped up out of nowhere.

So I questioned the reason for the leggings attack.

‘They are very comfortable,’ said Buenaventura. ‘Plus they are good because I don’t always want to wear tight jeans.’

Buenaventura also mentioned that there are a lot of colors and designs now so you can change it up from the regular black and white ones.

‘The main focus of these seems to be the retro aspect,’ said Buenaventura. ‘They’re not the same ones that are seen in Olivia Newton John’s music video for ‘Physical’ and they’re nothing like the ones seen in Flash Dance.’

‘Every year something seems to be coming back and now leggings are,’ Buenaventura said.

Bianca Duong, a freshman and political science major, said that she thinks the store American Apparel is responsible for the leggings craze.

‘I first saw them in American Apparel,’ said Duong. ‘They’re a retro store and I see leggings as retro.’

Duong said she has been wearing them since the eigth grade, which takes her relationship with the accessory back about four years.

Another store that could be responsible for the popularity of leggings is Forever 21, a store that keeps up with latest the styles while offering them at low prices.

‘Forever 21 shoved them in the front of the store on all the manequinnes,’ said Alex Philips, a junior English major. ‘They are cheap and you can find them everywhere.’

Philips said she doesn’t wear her leggings to school too often but she does have a couple of pairs she likes to wear to bed.

‘I have like six pairs of them but I never really wear them in public,’ said Philips. ‘They’re more of a bedtime thing because they are very comfortable.’

There’s that word again. Comfortable. How is it that something that is tight is also comfortable?

Philips said there’s something that probably makes it uncomfortable for guys.

We’ll leave it at that.

But the comfort thing stretches further than the way they fit.

Aricela Pascual said that she has worn them before they were even in style.

‘I’ve worn them since I was small,’ said Pascual, a senior sociology major. ‘They weren’t popular then, but I liked them.’

So age doesn’t seem to matter, but is there a right way to wear them?

‘They are really cute but I’m not a fan when people wear them with short shirts,’ said freshman Katie Gross.

Philips said you have to make sure you get the right size.

‘I hate it when girls buy ones that are too small because it looks like a muffin top,’ said Philips.

So long shirts are a start. Maybe a skirt or shorts work too. And according to Pascual boots seem to be a definite plus.

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‘Leggings are great because they can go with anything,’ said Pascual.

Comfort is what makes them popular, but it is also the thing that still baffles me. Maybe I’m not meant to understand it, but after asking around I can see that leggings don’t seem to be dying down any time soon.

The next time you see a pair of these around campus, which will probably happen while you’re reading this, remember all the hard work that goes into wearing them. When putting them on you’re going a little retro, hopefully wearing the right shirt and size and possibly pairing them with boots, shorts or a skirt. One thing is for certain, however you choose to wear this popular accessory, always rock them with pride.

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