The Leggings

I have mixed feelings about leggings. And by mixed I mean that generally they are loathsome. My reasons are the following:

(1) Leggings can make even the skinny look disturbingly sausage-like. Metallic or shiny leggings especially can do this.

(2) Leggings -- especially cropped leggings! -- create unnecessary horizontal lines on the body. Much like wearing ankle boots with bare legs (another pet peeve of mine), leggings can give the body a choppy, horizontal look when what you want is to draw attention to the whole picture, and vertical lines.

(3) LEGGINGS ARE NOT PANTS. Trusssst meeeee.

However... I saw this post on Kingdom of Style and am now seriously reconsidering my position on leggings. Observe (pictures c/o Kingdom of Style):

Generally I feel that leggings can be replaced by either pants or opaque tights. They are neither necessary nor flattering. But these leggings... they are awesome. They are beautiful and striking and strange, and could not be replicated either by pants (too loose) or tights (feet would look funny).

Unfortunately they are not bandagey all around. This is what they look like from the back:

Perhaps I could achieve a similar effect by dyeing some muscle-wrap bandages black and artfully safety-pinning them around my legs. Project!

Leggings from Stolen Girlfriends Club are sold out at Pixie Market.