Want to Look Cooler (and Possibly Taller)? Consider These Pants

AT A MAY awards show, Oscar Isaac, the 44-year-old actor known for his cool-dad style, smoldered in a slate-blue outfit. Elegant and restrained, the monochrome Ferragamo ensemble had one particularly memorable feature: Its trousers kicked out, subtly, at the hems. That gave it a hint of “Saturday Night Fever” swagger, said Michael Fisher, the stylist behind the look, without suggesting Isaac was eager to boogie to the Bee Gees. When done right, said Fisher, flares “add a cool factor without looking like you’re trying too hard.” 

These pants are slinking into men’s wardrobes nearly 50 years after John Travolta’s Tony Manero strutted so flappily in 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever.” In updated formal and casual varieties, the long-pilloried style has emerged as a genuinely cool choice for guys seeking to add oomph to outfits. “Rather than wearing a straight-leg [trouser] all the time, flares bring a slightly new dimension to your wardrobe,” said Damien Paul, head of menswear at e-retailer MatchesFashion.com. Even better: Unlike slim pants, their gentle swoop elongates legs, a helpful factor for shorter guys, said Fisher.

Hold up, you say. Another fashion comeback story? Yup. But you can stop the eye-roll. These aren’t cheesy ’70s replicas. Today’s flares, often subtler than their forefathers and cut from more supple or sporty fabrics, have outgrown their disco kitsch phase. Though they retain an old-school charm, many are low-key, and some can lay claim to sophistication. (The category includes quieter cuts that gently widen from the ankle, and styles that fit tightly on the thigh and seat, yet balloon at the hem.) 

Among the brands fueling the resurgence: cult Swedish label Our Legacy, whose high-waist, bootcut jeans are Gen-Z catnip; Paris’s Husbands, which sells sexy, ’70s-anchorman-chic corduroy trousers; and London’s Wales Bonner, whose tailored track pants, created with Adidas, feature hems that kick like angry donkeys (see below).

At online shopping platform Lyst, searches for “men’s flares” in June were up by 18% year-over-year. And dressy flares—often worn as part of suits—were a hit for MatchesFashion.com this spring, said Paul. Perhaps the most compelling evidence that flares are a thing? At his big-deal debut show for Louis Vuitton in June, new men’s creative director Pharrell Williams showed versions in denim, leather and as part of slick suits.

Open to the flares proposition? Go long(ish), said Fisher. “You want the back of the pants to just hit the bottom of the back of the heel.” He likes to balance the wide hems with heeled boots, though Paul thinks bootcuts can also play nice with loafers, sandals, even deck shoes. Joshua Massie, 30, a business-development rep in New York, goes both ways: He wears his flares with cowboy boots or mules.

Massie, who favors vintage pants, likes flares’ nostalgic charm. So does New York stunt man Nico Coucke. For his recent wedding, Coucke, 38, wanted something with more old-timey glamour than a slim suit. He settled on a Dries Van Noten pairing of black bootcut trousers and a navy double-breasted jacket. 

Compared with slim pants, the voluminous flares were “just cool and more laid-back,” he said. “Of course I got comments,” he added. “It was a split. Half the people loved it, and then I got my mates who were like, ‘You look like Dick Tracy,’” he said, owing to the trousers’ old-school vibe. “I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s the point!’”

Please, Don’t Ever Come Back! 

Three men’s trouser styles that need to stay in the past

Capri Pants

Long shorts are trending. That does not give you permission to wriggle into three-quarter capris, whose tendency to chop even gym-rat calves into squat sausages should be illegal. 

Bondage Pants

Bondage-style pants were a favorite of ’80s punks and Y2K-era teens. Many had straps or chains linking the legs. Not recommended for the office, dates or when mounting a horse. 

Ripped Skinny Jeans

Worse than regular skinny jeans? Shredded 2010s abominations that look like Bruce the  “Jaws” shark used them as dental floss. The correct amount of leg to flash in jeans: zilch.

—Jamie Waters

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