I Wore $30 Zara Leggings to My Fashion Office—Here's How My Boss Reacted

I wear leggings all the time, so why, you ask, should it be newsworthy if I wore them into my office? Well, for one, there seem to be unspoken rules around when, where, and in which contexts most people wear leggings and—shocker—work tends to not be one of them. I myself wear leggings multiple times a week to run errands or attend a workout class, but I wouldn't dream of wearing any of these athletic pairs into work in place of pants because, well, I just wouldn't feel put-together.

But you clicked into this story to learn how and why I did a 180 and wore leggings into Who What Wear's (particularly stylish) HQ, so here's the short answer: I found Zara's Leggings With Slits ($30) to be everything my workout leggings aren't, and for that, they've earned a spot in my office-outfit rotation, not to mention the approval of my boss, Who What Wear's editor in chief, Kat, a pretty solid indicator of a work-appropriate ensemble, I'd say. Continue on to read my Zara leggings review, see how I styled them, and shop a pair for yourself, too.

Outfit 1: Thoughts on the Material

What makes these Zara babies so doable for the office is that they're truly "anti-athleisure" leggings. The material, while still forgiving and unreasonably comfortable, is thicker than most of the leggings you're probably used to. This makes them look more like fitted trousers than yoga pants when I tried them on.

For my first go, I chose to keep the rest of my look just as sleek and minimal as the leggings themselves. I layered on an oversize mock-neck sweater, cinching the waist with a vintage metal chain belt, and finished it off with a pair of white pointed-toe flats to break up all the black.

While testing out the leggings at the office, I posted an Instagram Story with the caption, "SOS I'm wearing leggings as pants and a sweatshirt today by my own free will. Am I okay? Y/N." To which, Kat, who was out of the office attending Paris Fashion Week at the time, replied in the affirmative, confirming that my first go in the leggings-as-pants outfit was a success.

A closer look at the hemline. It's all about those ankle slits.

Shop my outfit:

Outfit 2: Thoughts on the Fit

Sure, these are different than all my other leggings, but the ultimate selling point, and what made me compulsively add them to my cart in the first place, was the cool split hem. It's such a small detail but one that completely transforms the way they look on. It creates a subtly flared-out effect at the bottom that's just enough to allow my pointed-toe heels to peek through. Since the split hem is the strongest detail on the leggings, I wore white shoes with them both days to really play it up.

On my second try, I got a bit more creative with my outfit. I went for a preppy layered look à la Blair Waldorf, but instead of a plain crew-neck sweater, I opted for a tie-dye sweatshirt (another great Zara find) to ensure it was still very 2019 and finished it off with a velvet headband and chunky gold hoops. I made sure to style both outfits with longer tops that hit below the hip since the whole leggings-as-pants thing is still a step outside my comfort zone.

Shop my outfit:

More anti-athleisure leggings from Zara:

Next, the under-$150 fashion buys with cult followings in Hollywood.