Women's Flared & Bell-Bottom Pants

The point where the leg starts to widen tells you which of these you are looking at. A flare opens from the knee and finishes wide, past 21 inches measured around the hem and five inches or more wider around than the knee. A bell-bottom begins the sweep higher, sometimes from mid-thigh, and ends wider still. Both want length, and rise decides where that length starts: high and ultra-high waists set the flare off from the hip, while mid-rise reads softer.

Denim carries the shape best, from rigid weaves that hold a sculpted bell to stretch blends that stay close through the thigh before releasing. Away from denim there are flares in crepe, satin, corduroy, jersey and suiting cloth, plus split-hem and slit-front versions that open the sweep further. Hems come finished, raw, frayed or kick-split, and the colours stay simple: indigo, black, white and other solids.