I grew up during a time when Joan Jett, Suzi Quatro and Catwoman were all fairly popular. So seeing a woman dressed in skin-tight black leather pants wasn’t totally unheard of. Quite the opposite in fact, as Joan Jett’s videos ran practically every hour on MTV back then. Even with that being the case, I think I always loosely (and probably unconsciously) associated leather pants with being either a rock goddess or a dominatrix. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)
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Despite my preconceived notions, it seems that every few years leather pants come into vogue. And each time, as I am neither rock goddess nor dominatrix, I have decided that this look is not right for me. That was until the spring of 2012 when wax-coated pants, a new take on an old look, became all the rage. For some reason, I decided that coated pants I could (and would) wear.
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The pants I wound up buying are by AG and are called: “leatherette leggings.” Though, I think they are more pant and less legging. Regardless, I am crazy about them. It only took putting the AG leggings on once for me to realize what I have missed out on by not expressing my inner rock goddess. But not one to dwell on what might have been, I immediately switched my focus to thinking about how I was going to keep these pants wearable in the longterm. Because they seem kind of fragile.
I could tell just by eyeballing the leggings that washing them in a machine (which is what the label inside of the garment instructed me to do) was not going to work. Not even on a delicate or hand-wash setting. So I did what I always do when I need help, I turned to my friends at Google search.
And that is how this happened:
Why yes, my leatherette leggings are sitting on a shelf inside of my freezer. Don’t judge, I am washing them. Apparently, freezing specialty jeans is not only a perfectly acceptable method of cleaning them, it is the preferred method when it comes to those that have been wax-coated. You might be wondering why that is. I know I was. Here’s what the folks at Intermix.com, one of several online sites to recommend this method of cleaning, have to say: ”The freeze clean method will remove bacteria, preserve dark dyes and special finishes, and restore shape.” Who knew?
These are the instructions (courtesy of Intermix) that I followed:
- Spot clean stains and let jeans dry completely.
- Fold lengthwise twice, then smooth out wrinkles.
- Place jeans in zip lock bag and close tightly without air.
- Place jeans in freezer for a minimum of 24 hours.
- Thaw, wear, repeat!
I wore my pants twice before I put them into cold storage. And during my pre-freeze examination, I saw no visible stains, detected nothing but fine smells, and observed that the shape was holding up just fine. (So upon further reflection, it might not have really been time to clean them.) Thirty-six hours after depositing them in my freezer, and an hour after allowing them thaw out, my leggings looked pretty much the same way they did before the detoxification. The smell, however, did seem to be a tad bit fresher. So maybe two wears was too soon. But that’s okay, I’d rather err on the side of being fastidious than err on the side of this:
Very jealous for both myself and normal males in general how we are deprived of fashion freedoms that females have posessed all within historical menswear fashions the last fifty years; I ‘m not jealous of their transvestite freedom just their menswear freedom , such as expressed above about leather pants, leather leggings. & jeggings!
Which item(s) from traditional women’s clothing do you think would offer a good crossover? I’d love to know. Thanks for reading and for leaving a comment, Fashion Avenger!
Just turn back to the just to 1800″s; all the frontiersmen not women , wore leather trousers; probably the idea from all the numerous Indian tribesmen, not squaws, who wore leather pants, such as buckskins.
Great point! I didn’t think that far back in history.
You are welcomed. I was born in 1952 and the N.Y.C. t.v. market showed t.v. Western series & movies ” liberally “. Watching all the Hollywood good guys, such as : Roy Rogers,Gene Autry, Clayton Moore,aka, Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid, Zorro, Guy Madison Sgt. Preston; what did these heroes have in common as far as male fashions ? all wore slender legged,aka , stovepipe , tight pants ( leggings ) tucked into tall riding or cowboy boots for a sleek, streamlined , aerodynamic look; something not offered to us males ever since to emulate but boldly introduced to female fashion overnight around 1964, such as the nylon & spandex stirrup stretch pants which my older sister quickly purchased; to me, they wear similar to my favorite Hollywood cowboy’s sleek riding pants, he is Roy Rogers.. As a 12 year old, i would sneak into her bedroom’s closet and ” borrow ” those pants for myself and pretended that I was Roy Rogers; even used they as my p.j.’s.for several years. Thanks for your fashion tip for rubbery coated denim jeggings . both my wife and myself will have our own pair arriving from an online retailer, they are N.Y.D.J. Angelina coated jeggings ( black ). She is a size 14 & I’m an 18. Deeply discounted. both my wife & me have several other N.Y.D.J. jeggings of different model types; highly recommend this brand. I live in snow country and will tucked these sexy pants into my black leather Western style Red wing boots ! Happy Trails to you, Jennifer.