How to wear flare trousers?

Even when the flare is supposed to be making a comeback, we never see that much in the streets.

Therefore it is sometimes hard to figure out how to wear it. Especially when we got so used to wearing skinny pants all year long.

I think you indeed have to choose the right ones for you and style them in a way that suits you in order to look great with it. Not as easy as with skinny pants.

But when you manage to do it, it is great cause they make you stand out by looking different from the crowd.

1. How to choose your flare pants?

The flare pants are NOT “wide-legged pants”, they are wide-bottom pants only.

Like the ones that used to be popular in the seventies.

Therefore their upper part shall be tighter than their bottom part.

A.  Width

The taller you are, the wider your pants can be.

Flares with super large bottoms will shorten petite girls.

My advice would be to never go over the top in terms of bottom width anyway (too large here or here).

You do not need that to be stylish.

And that is often not very practical.

B. Lenght

The flare pants tend to shorten the leg, so they look best worn full lenght, almost hitting the floor (almost! It shall not touch the floor, otherwise, they’ll get ripped, wet, dirty, etc.).

Calculate the lenght according to the shoes you are gonna wear the pants with. If you cut them with flat shoes and then wear heels, you’ll be looking like this, which is not stylish.

harper and harley

Harper and Harley

If you have short legs and a long torso or if you are just short, I advise you to wear heels under your flare pants.

Right now, there is a trend of wearing the flare 7/8 lenght.

I must say I think it will only look good if you have super long legs cause that really cuts the leg.

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

Natalie off duty

C. Waist

High or low waist are both nice looking.

Of course if you have short legs, using high waisted pants can be a good trick to lengthen them.

D. Bodytype

Flare pants look great on very different girls.

Tall and slender girls will benefit from the volume they give to the silhouette.

The broad hips from other girls will look slimmer than with skinny pants in comparison with the bottom’s width.

Living in color print

Living in color print

Short girls might not look their best with flare pants if they do not wear heels.

Busty girls with belly (sometimes called “apple”) and narrow hips also do not look their best with flare pants that widens their slim legs and give the impression of an overall larger body.

E. Fabric, color and prints

Any fabrics, colors and prints can be cool!

The fabric shall be somehow stiff, otherwise we are talking palazzo pants.

2. How to style your flare pants?

On the contrary of wide-legged or oversize pants, flare are rather skin-tight on the top and widen only at the bottom.

Therefore both tight and loose tops look great with them.

I recommend you to stay away from stiff fabrics and square looking shapes cause they’ll make you look like a rectangle.

A. With a top tucked or half tucked

Like a fluid T-shirt, a cashmere sweater, a light shirt, etc.

The tucking in of half-tucking in is recommended for ladies with flat bellies.

Natalie off duty

Natalie off duty

Fashionista next door

The fashionista next door

Meredith melina burke all denim

Melina Burke

Depending of the fabrics you choose it can look either casual (like the outfits above) or dressy.

Crepe silk pants with loose cashmere sweater would look sophisticated for instance.

B. With a top worn outside

If you have broad hips or wanna minimize your Kim K style bootie, wearing your top outside is the perfect choice.

For the slimming effect it shall stop right at the crotch level (but shorter can be stylish too).

Choose something fluid but not tight.

That style can suit anyone of course.

the northern light

The northern light

kacies closet

Kacies closet

cocokelley

Coco+Kelley (the jacket is fluid)

This last outfits shows that flares can be nice office trousers.

D. Oversized tops

Frankie hearts fashion

Frankie hearts fashion

If you are tall and slim, that will make you look casual and cool for weekends.

C. With a short top

The good thing with high waisted flares is that they do not look too sexy already.

So you can add some sexyness with a top that shows a bit of your belly.

It can be either tight or wide (crop top).

Karla's closet

Karla’s closet

(NB: Karla has curvy hips – that I think are beautiful – so you can tell how flare pants minimize with this pic)

E. With a sexy top

As said above, the flare pants are not too sexy themselves.

So you can add something daring like a silk cami.

Perfect combo for a night out.

Garypeppergirl

Gary pepper girl

F. With tailored coats

Since wide bottoms pants, as their name implies, already have a wide bottom, I prefer to stay fitted on the upper part of the outfit.

Like with a tailored coat that falls straight.

j crew FW 2015

J.Crew FW 2015

Hope now you have ideas about what flares to pick and how to wear them!

And you? Do you wear flare trousers?

Cover collage: Vicky violet on chictopia, Taylor Tomasi by Phil Oh on Street Pepper, Carolyn Sandstrom

 

Comments
21 Responses to “How to wear flare trousers?”
  1. Hi, Thank you for creating the brilliant content and helping me, people all around the globe to gain more knowledge. As a regular consumer of your podcasts, I have realized that most of the questions you ask applies to your own ongoing subjects & concerns in your various ventures and personal life which is good. However I would appreciate if you could broaden the spectrum a bit more. Just a recommendation to make the already brilliant content, even more helpful. Thank you.

  2. ella says:

    Hello! Can I wear flare pants with a kimono dress cardigan? Those kind of dress that doubles as a cardigan.
    Or does that style look better with wide leg palazzo pants? Thank you so much 🙂

  3. emline says:

    Bonjour , j’ai boudé cette coupe de jeans pendant des années mais depuis peu j’ai changé d’avis et je me suis décidée à acheter des jeans pattes d’eph et depuis j’en porte le plus souvent possible .

  4. Ann says:

    Hi,

    I am very very tall and bougt a flare pants but I’m not so sure what kind of shoes I should be wearing with it since I don’t want to wear heels, any advise?

  5. Magali says:

    Merci merci merci je découvre ton blog..et je suis tombée dedans <3

  6. Lobna says:

    God i really needed this !!! I bought a flare from Etam few days ago… When i first saw it i had a crush on it, but when at home i couldnt find the perfect match for this little peace of art !! But now i can. Thank you !

  7. Hydi says:

    i bought myself a pair of flared jeans this week @ mango in amsterdam. i really love them. i was raised in the ’70’s so they are not that strange to me:)))

  8. Susan says:

    I rarely wear flare pants or jeans. I just really feel more comfortable in straight leg pants. That said, I do own a few flares,one fuschia high waisted and lined, one denim and one black. The fuscia has a slightly larger flare. They are great pants. Because I am tall 5 feet 8 inches and slim, I feel I can carry a flare.

    I do love the oversized sweater with the flare in your photos. This casual and comfortable look is great. for weekend wear, casual work day, or flight overseas. You have inspired me to wear my flares. Thank you, your advise is outstanding. Susan

  9. V says:

    Bonsoir,

    Quelle bouffée d’air frais face a la tyrannie du slim et autres … Merci sincèrement pour ce post rendant la part belle a une forme trop rarement mise en lumière …les conseils pour le porter sont tellement percutants, ils sonnent justes …tout simplement
    Merci encore
    V.

  10. Evelyn says:

    Hi there, I LOVE your blog! I am obsessed with France ever since j went to Paris and your blog is so refreshing. I love to see what you are posting and just eat up those tricks and tips. I was wondering if you were going to do a series on how to dress different body types (apple, hourglass, pear, athletic, etc). I am an hourglass, and certain clothing really makes me look fat. What kind of clothes can I wear!? I have a big bust and a big butt with wide hips! The only thing is I don’t want to look trashy or too much like those Kim K lookalikes, she’s beautiful but her look is not for me. Is there anything classy and more like the style you show on your blog I could wear? Thank you for your wonderful blog!

  11. Merci pour ces conseils !
    Deltryliciouse

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