The Glamour of Sweatpants

Ava Gardner is wearing a grey sweatsuit in the last photograph taken of her.

Ava Gardner, the iconic Hollywood glamour queen, is wearing a sweatsuit in the last photograph ever taken of her.

This is how they say it, too, when talking about the photo. Friggin Ava Gardner…glamour incarnate…all casual. And there is a pervy sort of tension in it. Like a dog walking on its hind legs; the icon wears grey sweats.

I was reminded of this photo of Ava recently, at around the same time I noticed that, of the documented outfits I wore this year¹, many of my favourites included this very same, much-maligned chill-time wardrobe staple.

For a long time, Sweatpants were something I had not allowed myself to own. Here’s why: the supremacy of the straight or slim-legged sweatpants and those doing nothing for my legs, a reluctance to spend money on “inside clothes”, memories of the floppy sweatpant dicks of high school classmates and my parent’s paint-stained thread-bare home-only sweats, and visions of my first year of university, the lowest point in my personal style (also life), when I wore sweatpants 90% of the time and cried every day (unrelated), and couldn’t stop thinking about how far away I was from who I wanted to be without knowing how to bring those two closer together.

So for years, I did not do sweatpants. At home I would lounge in cotton Victorian-style nightgowns or hot lil leggings and in the world, I would wear pretty unchill outside clothes. There was no harmony, the wardrobe was bifurcated and, as often happened, if I wanted to be outside and also feel chill, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

All the while, glimmering in my peripheral, was the platonic ideal of the sweatsuit; that of Rocky Balboa, Danny Zuko running track, Clarice Starling in the opening scene of Silence of the Lambs.

Yasmeen Ghauri photographed by Gilles Bensimon for Elle France, 1993

My Pinterest boards were full of images of people wearing grey sweats styled for fashion. Aside from looking comfortable, I found this type of styling so glamorous. It’s the unexpected pairing, sure. Cliché play, low fruit that it may be, is novel. But there is also luxury in owning a pristine sweatsuit. Or buying a fashion sweatsuit; a riff on the original but cut à la mode. And then there is the decadence; the degenerate ease of appearing in public, at work perhaps, in sweatpants. Fuck self-driving cars, the casual revolution, with its destabilizing fluidity, is the true promise of living in the future.

My sense of all this finally eclipsed my floppy dick-ick and I bought a pair of sweatpants (cream Lu’u Dan Bonton sweatpants on sale; so juicy they were practically harem pants) to wear on the red eye to Paris back in September. I justified it because I dislike feeling too aware of my sitting thighs; it always seems to me that what they look like squished together in an airplane seat is none of my business.

Not ME, swanning around the Paris apartment in my cream colour sweatpants feeling hot-to-trot. Not ME, swirling my lower body like an invisible hoola-hoop was around my waist, marveling at the volume and comfort. Not ME, saying over and over “I never wear sweatpants! This is amazing!”

At home, I started wearing them more and more. The cream of them called me into more tonal styling, and I found it so attractive. Shortly after, Absolutely Fabrics launched a sweatsuit (hoodie + sweatpants) in a luxurious oatmeal-grey Pima cotton, with a completely classic cut, and I also added that to the mix.

On a dog walk wearing my AF sweatsuit, with my vintage fur and boots

Of the three sweatpants outfits above, the left two I wore to work (heheh 😈) and the right is at the airport on a work trip, my inaugural sweatpants look. I find sweatpant-butt to be unprofessional (LOL) so I like to wear a something that covers it like a blazer or long shacket. The middle look was a kind of ho-hum day before Christmas break outfit until I tossed on the Elena Velez Mesh Harness Tank & suddenly it was VERY fun and when I posted this outfit all the A+ fashion girlies gave me those likes.

This is my favourite outfit from 2024. Worn on a weekend trip to my favourite neighbourhood antique store, it is tonal chill dressing at its finest. It slants a little quiet luxury but I think the juiciness of the sweatpants and the distressed “Dirty Salt” New Balances keep us in cool territory.

CONTROVERSIAL TAKEAWAY!

I am very PRO bougie sweat clothing. The cost-per-wear on these pieces is A++ outstanding between the wearing inside and outside.

Though not represented here, my lowest cost-per-wear garment is my Monitaly Super Russell Mockneck sweatshirt which I paid $300 ish dollars for and felt stupid but I do not feel stupid now and want to get another one in cream.

The AF hoodie and sweatpants feel very luxurious. I sized up two full sizes in the pants because they are a classic cut and my legs are…not.

Lu’u Dan Bontan sweatpants go on sale on SSENSE all the time. I’m a US 10/12 in pants and bought them in L which was perfectly juicy. Now I have my eye on the raw edge Bontan in overdyed black but I think SSENSE is a leeeedle bit bad so will wait to buy them on deep sale.

Strong-thigh-havers like me rejoice at Tibi’s answer to the Adidas track pants.

Charlotte says that Acne’s basics absolutely slap.

GET COMFY IN A FANCY WAY!

xoxo

1. Which are documented on my instagram profile in a highlight called “2024 Mirrors”