Coated Skinny Jeans: Professionally and Casually

January 28, 2019 by Virginia 20 Comments

Ever since I saw Emily Gemma wearing faux leather pants years ago, I’ve been on the lookout for pair of my own. I love how sleek and stylish they look. However, I have frequently struggled with the question: Can you wear leather pants to work? Since I believe in building a wardrobe that can work for both the weekend and the work week, it didn’t make sense to buy a pair of faux leather pants if I couldn’t wear them to work. Would they be too uncomfortable? Are they too “sexy” for a high school teacher to wear to work? I continued to struggle with these questions until I discovered coated skinny jeans.

black over-the-knee boots_white tunic_black coated skinny jeans_faux leather pants_night out_date night look

The high school I worked at least year had a “no jeans” policy and I found myself looking for other ways to be comfortable and professional without wearing jeans. One solution was leggings that looked like jeans (you can read about those here) and another solution was coated skinny jeans.

faux leather jacket_coated skinny jeans_faux leather pants_white tunic_black over the knee boots_otk boots

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Why I Love Coated Skinny Jeans

I love coated skinny jeans because they:

have the look of leather
are more comfortable than leather
are versatile – wear for a night out with a leather jacket like I did in the images above, or dress up for work like the images below.

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They are comfortable like jeans/leggings but they have a more sophisticated look that made me feel they were appropriate for me to wear to work. However, I do believe there are some tips to wearing coated skinny jeans in a work environment . I intend to show you a few different ways to style them in the coming months.

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Coated Skinny Jeans for Date Night

Though I personally wouldn’t wear an all-leather look to work, there’s something fun about an all-leather look for a night on the town with the girls or running errands!

leather biker jacket_coated skinny jeans_faux leather pants_affordable white tunic_black otk boots

As I shared in the last outfit post, I’ve been pretty obsessed lately with H&M. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that both of these faux leather pieces are from H&M. I’ve been pulling this faux leather jacket out more this winter because I’ve been so into neutrals. I wore it first HERE and though it’s from a few seasons ago, H&M has a new version that is almost exactly alike. These coated skinny jeans are the perfect affordable option for a leather look. They’re very stretchy and I find them quite comfortable.

Pair with OTK Boots and Long Tunic for Work

You’ll have to excuse the pictures of this next outfit. I realized I forgot to shoot examples of how I would wear these coated skinny jeans to work. Our downstairs unit was just vacated (and nice and bright) so I popped in real quick to shoot this “wear to work” version of the outfit.

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For work, I tend to dress down the leather look. Rather than pairing it with more leather, I paired it with a longer white tunic to cover the back and added my new black over-the-knee-boots.

After the success of wearing my taupe over the knee boots to work, I decided that I would look for some black over-the-knee boots. I tried a few pairs and finally ended up with these beauties. The block heel makes them more comfortable for work and I love the fact that the top of the boot is both stretchy AND has a tie. I find that they stay up better than most of the OTK boots I’ve tried. Keep in mind however, that I have a wider-calf. So, I can’t guarantee the staying power for those of you who can easily fit in skinnier versions. Right now OTK boots are on sale all over the place so I’ve linked a few places to buy these in the widget below. Hopefully you can snag them when they’re on sale.

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I love pairing black over-the-knee boots with the coated skinny jeans. The OTK boots cover so much of the leg that the leather isn’t as overwhelmingly obvious.

Get the Look

White Tunic, Shein.
Coated Skinny Jeans, H&M.
Leather Moto Jacket, H&M.
Black Over the Knee Boots, Nordstrom.
Blushing Rose Liquid Lipstick, Target.
Beaded Hoop Earrings, Target.
Similar Sequin Y Necklace, Forever21.
Baublebar Mason Ring, Nordstrom. Similar in widget.
Faux Hermes Bracelet, Amazon.
Leopard Clutch, Amazon. Old. Similar in widget.