Are Leather Pants Business Casual?

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professional young woman wears black leather pants and a black cardigan with gold buttons; she's wondering whether leather pants are business casual

Can you wear leather pants to work? I've seen them styled a LOT in recent years with blazers and loafers — but does that make them workwear? Let's discuss. We've talked about leather skirts as well as leather jackets, but not for a while (although we did include a lot of leather skirts in our most recent skirt roundup!).

(Pictured above: Ann Taylor offers a bunch of leather pants at the moment!)

Are Leather Pants Business Casual?

I've always been fond of faux leather pants, personally — but I will say that in my wardrobe they're more something I'll wear out to dinner, and not something I would wear to a work-related function.

That said — they've been gaining a lot of traction in recent years, with a TON of websites styling leather pants for business casual work outfits.

A few thoughts from me:

Listen When Choosing Leather Pants

Some leather pants can be a bit noisy when you're walking down the office hallway — that would immediately make them “no go” for me. No one wants to hear loud swishing repeatedly throughout the day and think, ah, Susie must be wearing her leather pants again.

Know Your Office

As always — if you are junior or new to the office, do not wear leather pants to work until you see someone mid-career, preferably slightly above your level, wearing them.

Choose Work-Appropriate Leather Pants

This is a big question that is largely answered by “know your office.” That said, I would argue that these things might make leather pants inappropriate for the office:

  • five pocket styling like denim — if you can't wear jeans to the office, anything with five pockets will also likely be out
  • skintight fake leather — leather leggings were HUGE a few years ago and there are STILL a ton in the stores, but I'm not sure anyone really considered them workwear, especially since so many of them were more like tights.
  • bedazzling — IMHO, leather pants are, by themselves, a statement. You don't need grommets or sequins or anything else to dress them up.

Three Possible Work Outfits with Leather Pants

All One Shade

professional young woman wears black leather pants and a black cardigan with gold buttons; she's wondering whether leather pants are business casual

One of the best ways to wear one color is by playing with textures instead of colors — as you can see in the product photo above (from Ann Taylor) the black cardigan looks richer and deeper next to the black leather pants. It looks like they've styled it with patent leather heels, which adds a third texture.

Avoid Sexy

professional young woman wears black leather cargo pants with white cable knit sweater; she's wondering if leather pants can be business casual

These cargo leather pants from Theory are a great example of a business casual look during the day. Loose, casual, but still polished and trendy. Everything about the way they're styled keeps them casual and strictly business, from the crewnecked sweater to the flat shoes.

This is a common styling technique by stores — lots of prim clothing like cardigans, loafers, and the collegial look with a button-front shirt layered under a sweater. (Note that you can cheat!)

I would argue that cargo pants are another trend to be wary of — know your office! Weirdly enough the combination of leather and cargo is working for me here.

Match Your Leathers

professional young woman wears cropped black leather pants with matching shoes and bag and a beige sweater; she's wondering if leather pants can be business casual

Another way to do it is to match your leathers, as seen with this Banana Republic model — her bag and shoes are all the same tone of black, which in turn kind of elevates the softness of her neutral sweater. I particularly like the lug-soled loafers with the pants cropped just above her ankle bone.

Readers, what are your thoughts — are leather pants business casual? Would you wear them to your office on a casual day, or are they only weekend/evening wear for you?

30 Comments

  1. I was pretty out there towards the end as far as what I’d wear to the office, but I don’t think I ever wore my leather pants to work. Fun fact: I vividly remember the first time I wore my very-conservatively-cut black leather to the office back in the 90s (or 00’s?). I felt like such a rebel!

    1. I wore my wide-leg leather pants to my law firm back in the 1990s, but I am a petite woman and wore them with a white button-down, ballet flats, and pearls and was labeled cute. Edgy flees me.

      I have a lined leather pencil skirt from Talbots that I have worn to work and also just for evening fun since the early 2000s with a cardigan, pumps, and pearls.

    2. I have a faux leather pleated midi skirt that I wear to my office. It’s a fun / fashion piece and looks like “leather, but make it happy” and not very edgy at all.

      1. I used to have an A-line suede skirt in a fawn color and I did wear that to the office. But I’m against shiny black leather pants for the office!

      2. That reminds me… I rocked the heck out of my leather skirts at the office!

  2. In 13 years at a huge corporation, I never saw a pair of leather pants and I saw exactly one leather skirt (which looked fine btw).

    1. I’ve actually seen a woman in our HP department wear leather leggings to work! She looked great.

    2. Also at a huge corporation and our senior female leaders are out there in terms of attire. I’ve seen leather pants, skirts, jackets, in all different colors.

      I have a leather shift dress I wear with a cardigan and a leather skirt I wear with sweaters to work.

  3. I have a leather skirt that I wore to a cocktail hour at a conference followed by a client dinner in Las Vegas. I actually bought another in burgundy with the idea of client dinners at other conferences as well (I travel a ton). I feel like a skirt with a normal blazer is a good mix between still serious but also recognizing it’s down time and I never have a good handle on how casual the client is going to go. I would never wear either to the office.

    I also have a faux leather blazer that fits me in a really flattering way. But that’s strictly off hours with friends (surprisingly useful).

  4. Have you seen the musical “Moulin Rouge” and if so, do you think a 14 year old boy would find it interesting? I am going on a mother son trip to a major city where it is playing, and there isn’t a lot of things going on there at night for the under 21 crowd. Thanks.

    1. I’ve seen it. It’s very similar to the movie, so you could see if he likes that? But generally no I don’t think it’s the best fit for a 14 year old boy since the central focus is a love story.

      What about a comedy or improv club? A lot of them do PG-13 shows once in a while.

      If you say the city I bet people will have more specific suggestions.

      1. It’s Chicago. There are improv clubs but a lot of the shows are rated R and have a lot of sexual innuendo (I called the clubs to ask).

        1. Moulin Rouge has a ton of sexual innuendo and sexual themes too (the main character is a prostitute), so if that’s something you’re worried about it, I’d definitely avoid it. Second City’s age minimum is 13, and I know people who’ve taken their teens and really enjoyed it, but YMMV.

          Oh there’s ton to do in Chicago at night with kids. Navy Pier is fun at night. Going up the Sears (Willis) Tower or Hancock Tower at night is cool. Some major sports games are in the evenings. The various museums and zoos including Museum of Science and Industry sometimes have nighttime events including sleepovers, although those sell out well in advance. That’s just off the top of my head — I’m sure if you google you can find more.

          1. +1. Would also suggest looking at Theatre in Chicago. Something like Kid Prince and Pablo might be more interesting than Moulin Rouge.

    2. I think so! And anyway, the goal is probably to expand his mind as much as entertain him.

    3. Does he like musicals? I can’t imagine my brother at that age voluntarily sitting through a musical.

      1. There are musicals that I think many 14 year old boys would like (Hamilton and Book of Mormon come to mind – my anti-musical husband loved both of those) but Moulin Rouge is not one of them.

        I was a 15 year old girl when the movie originally came out and my girlfriends and I were obsessed with it, but the only boys I knew who liked it were big time theater kids. If he’s not a theater kid I would not take him.

        1. Book of Mormon is one of my favorite musicals ever, but 16+ for me, it has very explicit language and I’d want the kid to be old enough to understand satire and also what parts of it are potentially really offensive.

          For a 14 year old boy, I’d see if Spamalot, Hamilton or The Producers is playing. Chicago, Guys and Dolls, or even something like Les Mis for classics.

          1. They’re going to Chicago though, not NYC. Chicago has good theater, but generally only one major Broadway show at a time. Titanique (regional theater production) is playing at the same time as the Moulin Rouge tour, but I’m not sure that would be appealing to a 14 year old boy either. It’s more satiric, so maybe, but he’d need to see the Titanic movie first.

          2. What is so explicit about Book of Mormon? It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

          3. One of the songs has the lyric, “F* you, god in the c*,” for starters. The whole second half of Hasa Diga Eeboai is a giant, catchy, cheerful f-bomb.

            Hitler gets a bj from a demon in one scene.

            References to domestic violence, child r@pe, FGM.

            The whole show is just massively inappropriate. Also hilarious with excellent songs, but I wouldn’t watch it with my mom or my kids.

    4. Obviously you know your kid best, but my 14 yo would prefer a sporting event vs. a musical. This is not specific to Moulin Rouge, just in general – though I do not think Moulin Rouge would be appealing to most teenage boys.

    5. I enjoyed the movie back in the day, but the musical was just kind of a bizarre series of a couple of lines of pop songs at a time – was glad I got the seats for cheap at the last minute because if I’d paid actual money I would have been annoyed.

      1. Aw I loved it. I saw it with the original Broadway cast, but I thought it was really enjoyable. Not great theater perhaps, but definitely a very entertaining evening.

  5. I don’t think so because I associate it with a woman I used to work with who wore leather pants and went creak creak creak down the hall every time she wore them.

    Her fashion sense was overall horrible and office inappropriate, so everything I wear is in an effort not to be like her!!

    1. Someone in my small office wears faux leather pants–I don’t hate hate them, but I would never emulate the look myself.

      1. And they’re just so Memorable, with the potential to become emblematic/an inadvertent signature item. I have a colleague (young, male, not an attorney) who wears them very occasionally and they can’t be unseen. Like, even though he only wears them from time to time, he’s definitely ‘Leather Pants Guy.’ I don’t want to be Leather Pants Lady.

  6. Ahhh, I am guilty of wearing my leather pants to the office in 2024!!! I’m a partner at a midsize law firm. I really had to work up the nerve, and I got a few comments, some were positive, one was like “woah!” in a mostly nice, a little surprised, kind of way. I’ll wear them again because I bought them and want to get some use out of them, but they’re actually not that comfortable! They’re also a big statement. I wouldn’t buy again, although I do like the top and bottom looks above, but not the middle look, which looks slumpy.

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