Half a year ago I was looking for a pair of flared jeans and had such a hard time getting hold of some. I spoke about it with my assistants, but they had no clue what kind of trousers I meant. I have a few names for it in Dutch but it did not ring a bell. In the end I found a pair in a vintage shop, which was a stroke of luck, because the numerous vintage shops in Amsterdam don’t stock them at the moment. As you can understand from the effort I put in, I needed those trousers, because I’m a 70’s kid – love flares, bell-bottoms, whatever you call them. They are a re-occurring topic in my way of dressing.
I was checking all the men’s collections last week, and a few themes stood out troughout all the different labels and brands that presented in London, Milan and Paris, and one of them was wide-legged, flared trousers. Oh my goodness, really?
Funny how flares are already in the shops this season for women, and men are slowly following, so maybe next year we will see a comeback of the flare with some fashion-boys? If a development in men’s fashion goes so slow, when will the wide-legged trousers reach the normal public again, and how many men will be happy to put their ultra skinnies on the bottom of their shelf?
I was thinking that although men might still be perceived as a dominant gender, in dressing they are slow followers. Throughout history there have been times in which men dictated fashion, but this era is certainty not one of them, unless you consider the fact that most high fashion – for men and women – is designed by men. There where times where the difference between men’s and women’s fashion was less big, almost equal. One of those times were the seventies, the era of the flare, there was something to say for that free way of dressing.
Is it time for men to put on some flared jeans? I think so, put on those flares and let’s swing!
