Yoga pants put Vancouver on world's worst-dressed cities list

by Michelle da Silva on Sep 15, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Will the yoga-pant trend finally be laid to rest?
lululemon athletica

A "study" released on MSN Travel today has a few fashionable Vancouverites' $100 Agent Provocateur lace Brazilian panties in a twist. On a list of "top-10 worst-dressed cities in the world", Vancouver placed third. The culprit? Yoga pants.

While the list, which was conducted in partnership with men's mag GQ, mainly consists of U.S. cities such as Pittsburgh, Seattle, Boston, and Orlando, thee international cities were added to the list, including Harajuku, Japan—which, note to GQ and MSN Travel, is not a city but a district within Tokyo—as well as two Canadian cities: Vancouver and Ottawa.

Here's what MSN Travel had to say about Vancouver, home to the "fashionable" yoga pant.

There is one reason, and one reason only, why we've decided to include Vancouver on this list of the sartorially damned: yoga pants. We blame you, Vancouver, birthplace of a certain, insanely popular yoga gear brand which will go unnamed, for spawning a street trend dreaded by all women with wobbly bits and fat deposits in the wrong places. Really, what gives with the whole wearing of bum hugging workout gear to every other place except the gym? On behalf of women with hips and thighs everywhere, who like their pants to have buttons and zippers thank you very much, and who are of the opinion that yoga pants are a ruse worn by lazy pseudo-fashionistas, we beseech you: unless you plan to do a downward dog within the hour, spare us the yoga pants and put on some real trousers .

So, do you agree with Vancouver's unfashionable status? Is it well deserved, and if so, what are some other fashion faux pas you'd like to see off our city streets? How about knitted Ugg boots? If I'm not mistaken, it downpours in Vancouver about 95 percent of the year, so women trotting around in sopping wet wool Ugg boots are probably one toenail short of a fungal infection. Or guys, especially those frequenting Granville Street on weekends, it's time to lose the Affliction and Ed Hardy tees. You don't look any tougher.

You can follow Michelle da Silva on Twitter at twitter.com/michdas.

Are yoga pants a fashion crime?

Yes 50%
633 votes
No 23%
300 votes
Sometimes 27%
344 votes
Comments (70) Add New Comment
Carolyn Ali
Sep 15, 2011 at 1:22 pm
If anything were to put Vancouver into the unfashionable category, I would have thought it would be fleece and Gore-Tex
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sleepswithangels
Sep 15, 2011 at 1:39 pm
The flip side of this coin is that fashion obsessed cities like London UK are cities that are awash in phony, petty airheads whose pathetic grasping for status is indicative of their empty barren lives in one of the planet's biggest paranoid hell holes.
SMBs
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Fugga
Sep 15, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Where do we rate on the list of dressing practically for the climate?
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John Lucas
Sep 15, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Carolyn, yoga pants are to this decade what fleece and Gore-Tex were to the last two.

And Vancouverites in general are appalling when it comes to personal style. Myself included. I tend to wear jeans and T-shirts every day, mostly because there's no point doing otherwise in this all-casual-all-the-time frumptown.
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kreativekaur
Sep 15, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Finally... I've been saying this all along.... How can you take a person seriously at a social event with yoga pants paired with heals.... I wear yoga pants to yoga, not to a party... and they certainly aren't Lululemon!
kreative kaur
- Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Einstein
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really?
Sep 15, 2011 at 4:15 pm
I don't know. I wouldn't mind seeing either of the above (pictured) walking down the street. Then again, some just shouldn't wear them.
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You
Sep 15, 2011 at 5:21 pm
I'll have to agree with John on this one. However, even jeans and a tshirt can look put together if they're not just plain boot-cut Levi's paired with some nostalgic shirt you got at some event some many years back.

Really, 'really?'? There's not much to look at in that picture. And if they weren't lifting their shirts, there'd be nothing to see.

No matter how hard you try to pretend otherwise, yoga pants are on the same level as sweatpants
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keepin it real
Sep 15, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Vancouverites with style haven't wore ed farty or assfliction for a few years. As for yoga pants, they look great on the right person and terrible on the wrong one. You can't hate on them for that. I'd bet whoever wrote this article is a fatty
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Hmmm
Sep 15, 2011 at 6:30 pm
I've never seen bigger air-heads than on Kitsilano beach! Fake boobs and Coach bags. Londoners have personal style and personality that are a far-cry from Jersey Shore look-a-likes.
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Tony Almeida
Sep 15, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Ask most guys and none of them have a problem with women wearing those pants anytime.
Yay for nice bums!!
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Be a Man
Sep 15, 2011 at 6:43 pm
So Vancouver isn't a fashionably dressed city. So what? At least the bodies of many people in Vancouver can flatter yoga wear.
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miguel
Sep 15, 2011 at 7:19 pm
My sartorial accoutrements are a glass pipe and a bic lighter, so you can guess what I think of that opinion of my apparel.
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Tate
Sep 15, 2011 at 7:58 pm
I wish people would stop wearing these stupid pants. They are not "fashionable". I'm really sick of having deep crevices I'd really rather not see in my face!
I've been complaining about this stupid brand for a long time - I'm so glad this is in the news!!!!!! I totally agree our city deserves this rating!!!!!!
I've lived overseas almost all my life - most people would be embarrassed wearing gym clothes as everyday wear in most other cities in the world! It is NOT trendy!!!! Keep it in the gym - PLEASE! It's really an embarrassment!
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mm
Sep 15, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Sleepswithangels: Vancouver also contains many phony, petty airheads who pathetically grasp for status. They just don't dress as well as Londoners. Vancouver also apparently contains many knee-jerk extremists...
Anyhoo, I'm perpetually disgusted at how men in this city all dress like eight year-olds, and women dress so vulgar. Take a few clues from "Queer Eye" or "What Not To Wear" and dress like a grown-up city, Vancouver!
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well...
Sep 15, 2011 at 9:24 pm
The article makes a good point. Yoga pants aren't flattering to the general populace, nor are they appropriate for any place except the gym.
However... "frumptown"?? I hardly think so. Go any small town, where hoodies are the new T-shirt, pajamas are grocery store haute couture, and spandex leggings are worn like jeans. At least Vancouver has the decency to sport brand names.
To the idea that "there's no point" in dressing up: way to fall in with the culture you seem to despise so much. If you want a change, be it.
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sleepswithangels
Sep 15, 2011 at 9:40 pm
"Dressing well" and clawing one's way up the social ladder is ALL most Londoners have going on in their rat and smog infested seat of imperial wet dreams. Sure..Vancouver has plenty of semi conscious drooling wasters. What you don't find in Vancouver is a climate where you're primarily judged by others entirely on your social status and how your wardrobe measures up to the lastest fashion standards.

There's plenty of well justified talk about the decline of the American Empire but I can't help but shake a gut feeling that London will be the first big city on the planet to be obliterated in a massive karmic comeuppence.

At least one can hope. Don't like it? Go suck some fashionista dick.
SMBs
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Pamela
Sep 15, 2011 at 10:09 pm
A couple of people have mentioned London (England, not Ontario :) ) in their comments. I don't know why. I find the fashion on the streets of London look frumpy, for the most part. Hit and miss. Mostly miss. The men at GQ mentioned Harajuku too. Harajuku fashion is about artistic self expression - it's not about keeping up with the other fashionistas in other countries. But I'm still putting my vote in for the women of Tokyo who are much more stylish than the women in London (or Vancouver.)
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matt johnstone
Sep 15, 2011 at 10:20 pm
frumptown? No, I don't thinks so. The fact is that Vancouver women are generally pretty and stylish. But that doesn't change the fact that http://tightsarenotpants.com/
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Dan in Van
Sep 16, 2011 at 6:19 am
@sleepswithangels, you have a weird attitude towards London. What makes Londoners' fashion interesting is the creativity you see when walking down the street in any neighbourhood: rich or poor. Having style doesn't depend on spending money.

London is pretty casual anyway. If you walk into any pub in Shoreditch, Camden, Putney, etc. I doubt anyone will judge you by what you're wearing. Most likely they just won't notice you or care.
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JustSayin...
Sep 16, 2011 at 8:54 am
another ignorant blog added to the social media about how some part of the world yet again dislikes something about Vancouver... nothing juicier then a story about Yoga PANTS!... If you don't like them, don't wear them... Get over it...
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