“You’re wearing a sweatshirt!” my neighbor shouted through her mask from a distance after she dropped off a chai latte from the Starbucks drive-thru on my front steps. If there was anyone who would instantly realize that seeing me in a sweatshirt was a strange sight—even on week seven of a nation-wide lockdown—it was Taylor. To add to her surprise I even said, “and I just ordered some more sweats too.”

Somewhere in the middle of March I began to see an endless stream of loungewear roundup blog posts pop up and while I’ve been trying to think about how to adjust my content, I knew that was something I could never pull off. (But if you were looking for some cute loungewear to shop I’d recommend checking out Lauren and Caitlin’s posts because they did really thorough roundups with their favorite cozy pieces.)

The reason it would be unbelievable for me to suddenly post a loungewear roundup on my blog is because the last photo of me wearing sweats on record is from January 2011 (pictured below) when a friend and I decided to switch outfits for the day. So why exactly has it been almost 10 years since I’ve worn a pair of sweats, even after the return of athleisure and the boom of loungewear?

Maybe it’s because in high school I read that Karl Lagerfeld quote. You know, “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” This quote was the first thing I thought of when a few weeks ago a photo of Anna Wintour herself wearing sweatpants popped up in my Twitter feed. I instantly felt a new wave of dread about the future of fashion magazines—but more on that in a different blog post.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t think of myself as a Cool Girl who could wear sweatpants, a cropped tank, a low bun, hoop earrings, and heels, and get away with it like a Hadid leaving a runway show through the backstage exit. Or maybe it’s also just because I grew up loving fashion and reading magazine editorials that featured some of the most brilliant designers and I could never fathom why out of all of the clothes in the world someone would ever choose a simple sweat suit.

In 2013 when I was working part-time at Free People I used my employee discount to purchase a pair of velvet pants with a burnout design. I still own these and have always thought of them as my sweatpants equivalent: that piece I slipped into after a long day when I was seeking comfort. But I wore them out a lot too and even did a blog post wearing them.

The past few weeks have been a different story and in a time of a crazy amount of uncertainty, I finally started to embrace the idea that maybe I can find comfort in comfy clothes and it doesn’t mean that I have to start wearing them out once this all blows over and it doesn’t meant that I can’t return to normal clothes, although I’ll be interested to see how all of this alters fashion going forward.

Really the only sweats that I’ve accumulated over the last few years have been sent to me by brands. I have my Versed Skin Team sweatshirt that has been a new addition to my collection that I started wearing around the apartment during the first few days of social distancing. And then a few weeks ago Terez reached out to me and asked if they could send me some pieces to wear at home and they sent me this sweatshirt and matching joggers that makes me feel like I should start my own supplement company and be wearing it around L.A. with some kind of green juice in one hand and keys to my car in another.

The waffle knit fabric helped ease me into loungewear whereas I think straight-up sweat material is harder for me to wrap my head around. I remember pieces from American Eagle or Free People being in this material that felt more like Real Clothing. I did eventually cave and order another sweatshirt and a matching sweatshirt and sweatpants combination in black to try this out for real. I’ll link everything cozy that I’ve ordered below and keep you updated on Instagram. Who knows. Maybe I’ll be a convert, or maybe I’ll go running back to my leather pants and structured jackets the moment lockdown is lifted.