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All I really want from life is a job that allows me to wear yoga pants when I feel like it, and dresses when I feel like it.

OK, that's a gross oversimplification of my dreams. But when I work from home, you can be sure I'm having a yoga pant kind of day. And after overhearing that declaration a time or two, Birmingham magazine Managing Editor Alex McDaniel sent me an email about Betabrand.

It wasn't the first time I heard about the company, which gained prominence by introducing "dress pant yoga pants." Anytime there's big news in the yoga world, you can find it posted all over my Facebook timeline. Lululemon pants are see through? My friends are checking in to be sure I'm not showing my assets to anyone who dares lift his or her head during downward facing dog. (Check your alignment, folks, not my behind! Besides, I don't own any of the offending pants.) A studio brings shelter animals into classes to promote adoption? I've heard about it a time or two.

So it was with dress pant yoga pants, except even Facebook itself got in on the game, promoting the gimmick through ads in the sidebar.

I rolled my eyes the first several times these pants came up in conversation. Just buy comfortable clothes, people! I thought. Style and comfort don't have to be contradictory.

But Alex's email pushed me from cynicism to curiosity. She had purchased dresses from Betabrand, which relies on crowdfunding to develop new products, and she loved them. I examined the company's return policy, and after I determined there was essentially no risk, I took the plunge. I ordered a pair of gray, straight-leg herringbone dress pant yoga pants. And then I waited.

(OK, I also ordered a dress. Because online shopping is hazardous to my bank account.)

The pants arrived this weekend, and I wore them for the first time yesterday. I'm here to tell you, these things are legit.

My ensemble was slightly less comfortable than my average couch-surfing attire, but that's largely because I paired my pants and emerald green shirt with heels. I'm not above walking around the office barefoot, but I try to pretend to be a grown up during business hours. (I don't always succeed.)

More importantly, though: I felt good, and no one realized I was wearing yoga pants. At least, not until I told them. I'm not one to keep that to myself. My colleagues complimented my totally work-appropriate attire, and I wouldn't be surprised to see others show up in dress pant yoga pants.

Then I went to yoga.

As I moved through sun salutations and warrior poses, I realized most people probably buy these pants for office comfort, not physical activity. (Isn't that why yoga apparel is such big business, anyway? And it's not like I saved many seconds by wearing the same pants.) Even so, the pants stood up to a vigorous vinyasa practice. No, they don't move quite as fluidly as my usual skin-tight leggings. I could stand to have the waist taken in a half an inch to reduce slippage. But overall, these pants were a win.

Bonus: I stopped by a friend's house on my way home, still in my yoga attire but again in my heels. She asked where I was headed for the evening, and was surprised when I said I was fresh from yoga. Apparently work-to-yoga-to-bar is do-able.

Now Betabrand has added cropped dress pant yoga pants, and I've just discovered their dress pant sweatpants. My bank account is going to feel the stretch.

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