SIMPLE STYLE
WIDE- LEG TROUSERS
No one can deny the power of skinny jeans to rock an edgy look, but there are days when the need to slouch is irresistible. A pair of trousers that flap around the ankles rather than strangle them is needed; ones that allow air to flow about your calves and enable you to adopt a loose, rangy way of walking. Preferably a pair with deep pockets in which to plunge your hands and wear with pumps for maximum loafing potential. These are the days when only a pair of wide-leg trousers will do.
Sailors were the first to recognise the ease of wear that such a pair can bring. From the 19th century until the 1970s, the lower ranks of the British navy sported ‘bell-bottoms’. These trousers with generous leg openings could be rolled up with ease so that sailors could scrub the deck without getting them mucky. They were also easier to remove when wet.
It was the swish of a sailor’s leg that inspired Coco Chanel to create a white, wide-leg pair of trousers – the kind made for pairing with a striped Breton top. Initially, these were strictly beach attire, however, suitable for the more liberal dress codes of fashionable resorts. Gradually, though, thanks to pioneers such as Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn, palazzo pants – which flare from the waist into a very wide leg – began to be worn in everyday life. The epitome of swooshy glamour, when worn with a neat blouse tucked into the high waistband, such slacks define mannish chic. Proving that you can never have too much of a good thing, among the garments given to Ohio’s Kent State University after Hepburn’s death were 30 pairs of tailor-made wide-leg trousers, in an array of tones of tan.
The arrival of Northern Soul in the 1970s and 1980s brought with it the return of Oxford bags. Originally worn in the 1920s by Oxford University undergraduates, these straight-but-wide trousers reached circumferences of more than a metre.
Just the thing, when teamed with a vest and a pair of leather-soled shoes to enable back drops and high kicks. Roomy, with pleats, turn-ups and sometimes, braces, they were also worn by women adopting an androgynous look.
The only thing to watch out for though is length. Best to avoid them rippling around your shoes or dragging in the dirt. Dig out the sewing box and take up the hem, and you’ll enter a world of slouchy elegance that no pair of skinny jeans can match.
“Wide-leg palazzo pants are the epitome of swooshy glamour”