I’m calling it, leggings will be everywhere in 2026

Leggings are back. Or at least they are according to the autumn/winter 2025 collections. If you don’t believe me, look at the runway shows from the likes of Versace, Acne Studios and Max Mara. And let’s not forget the leggings that are currently a firm athleisure fixture among the celebs, from Dakota Johnson on her gym mornings in LA to Kim Kardashian leaving the home in her leggings and *checks notes* matching stilettos and, of course, Hailey Bieber’s, every off-duty look.

But I sense something else in the air. Something beyond the clean girl vibe of the leggings we’ve been seeing so much of. Take a look at the American Apparel-style maroon leggings on the Dries Van Noten spring/summer 2026 runway, or the big, baggy T-shirts and leggings for Conner Ives’s spring/summer 2026 collection. Cast your eye across all the bright, garish patterned leggings at Fashion East, Off-White and Balmain for spring/summer 2026. Noughties leggings–the indie sleaze-adjacent kind–are fast approaching us as a trend. Even Lady Gaga–who wore black leggings and platforms like it’s 2009–knows what’s up.

Photo: Backgrid

In the 2000s, leggings were sort of a casual alternative to jeans. People wore leopard print leggings and slouchy vintage T-shirts, or black leggings and a hoodie and Ugg boots. They weren’t worn with pulled-up Alo sports socks or three-quarter length with kitten heels. They were much more dirtbag than that. Think: Lindsay Lohan creeping away from the paparazzi in leggings and bug-eye shades in 2008. I’m pretty sure I spent the large majority of 2007 until 2011 in leggings – again, not the clean girl kind, the sort that you crumple up and shove in your handbag with a Blackberry on your way to the club.

Essentially, I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing more of the above type of leggings as 2026 hits, as opposed to the type of leggings favoured by Lululemon girls. All the clues are there. We’re already seeing the return of “Fight For This Love”-style military jackets and biker boots, and these sorts of leggings are of the same era and vibe.