An Eye-Opening Week Of Wearing Leather Pants

I have never worn, let alone purchased, a pair of leather pants in my life. For me, they conjure up images of a super-sexy Lana Del Rey riding on the back of a motorcycle in head-to-toe leather with cowboy boots. With 0% stretch, leather is way more unforgiving than even denim (which I end up unbuttoning after every meal). Its bodycon aesthetic makes me self-conscious, and as someone who hates “breaking in” anything, the stiffness of leather scares me a lot. I can’t think of a look or clothing item that is less me.

Thus, I approached this week frantically googling “how to wear leather pants without being too sexy” – a fruitless search, it turns out. But by the end of this experiment, my sartorial blind spot was no more. Once I explored the leather pants market – and the vast variety of fits and styles available – my outlook totally changed.

They’re like jeans, but even more complicated when it comes to fit. The material is crucial, which is also what makes their prices exorbitant. So this week, I sought to explore wearing leather pants casually, simply, and free of all my naive assumptions. My ulterior motive: To channel that particular type of older, classy, confident lady that wears dark sunglasses and is always sipping espresso (without getting heart palpitations). So here's my first leap towards that.

Click through to see how I became a leather pants wearer, and let me know how I did.