An old school friend of mine recently told me that he now only wears wide-leg pants, and continues with these small ones that he’s probably been wearing for 20 years. This, to me, means we have reached the top of the bell curve.
Fads always have early adopters and late adopters, and the media often gets their predictions wrong. All it takes is for two fashion designers to put Oxford bags down the street, and shout that wide legs are back.
In fact, it takes years from menswear designers pushing something to mainstream acceptance by society. Most men don’t care, or only change when their partners change enough. So why do you need to get to the top of that bell-curve distribution.
There are many other signs that the pendulum has swung.
Suit Supply, which makes its name offering tailored tailoring,launched its first wide-leg fit, the Duca, in 2022. Uniqlo, which makes its money by offering universal basics – so sticking as close to the middle of the road as possible –launched its first wide-leg fit in 2023.
Good visual data comes from magazines like L’Etiquette, which publish a fashion film or two in each issue. In the nearly 10 years they’ve been running, you can see from release to release how wide the pants have become.
So should you follow suit and switch to wide leg pants? My philosophy has always been that you should follow these steps, but slowly and carefully.
After all, menswear trends move very slowly – maybe a 15-20 year cycle – and it’s silly to pretend that trends last forever. It’s been more than 25 years since Hedi Slimane started making skinny suits, and that’s a long time ago – the same from 1960 to 1985.
I’ve been ditching pants consistently in recent years, not only because I’ve gained a little weight, but also because a fuller cut feels better. I’ve been following some of my acquaintances for a few years, but I think that reflects my conservative nature (and perhaps, PS readers’).
My suit pants have historically measured 19-20cm at the cuff. Go back tomy first suit from Cifonelli13 years ago, and you cansee our classificationthat the measurement of the cuff was about 19.5cm. Some English, likeMy Richard Anderson tuxedolength, about 21 cm.
It’s strange to think that the pants of that tux felt wide to me at the time. It’s almost like cognitive dissonance: in my head I’m sure of two contradictory things, both that the pants were wide, and that they’re smaller than what I’m currently wearing (Whitcomb pants are about 22.5cm).
Nowadays, 22 or 22.5 is usually what I have for tailored trousers – that’s what the Assisi above is, for example. As always happens with good brands and tailors, I was influenced by some of them as well, like Assisi and Bryceland. (The difference between jean styles is usually around this 2cm mark – Bryceland’s 133 and 133S differ by 2cm in the hem.)
The good thing about bespoke pants is that this level of customization is proportional to the amount of inlay that the tailor leaves in them. My Whitcomb can be extended by a maximum of 2.5cm wide, for example, by that amount behind the leg on both sides. And if any pants are taken, I ask that the money be left.
Contrast this with someone who is very fashion driven, like Japanese designer Yasuto Kamoshita. Inhis interview with ushe mentioned that most of his pants are small – 18cm – and he wants to take them out to 22cm. That’s a big swing.
(Remember that this width is relative to things like height, width and shoe size, rather than absolute. So 22cm is proportionally wider for him than for me.)
The biggest problem with changing pants made like this is that the height you want is usually high and wide. There isthere’s nothing we can do about this unfortunately – while there’s usually some extra stuff in there, expanding the front requires a few new things, including a longer zip.
It is also very difficult for regular, tailored pants and jeans. Here there is little you can do but hang on as much as possible, and accept that a pair of jeans may last you 10-15 years longer than your lifetime. But 15 years is actually not that bad for pants.
(I personally have always felt that this is one of the biggest misconceptions – that it lasts a lifetime, even generations. If so, at least the fit won’t be what you originally thought. And that longevity will be largely due to the ability to change it.)
If in doubt, I’d recommend taking your tailored pants off and seeing how they feel. Maybe something unusual would suit you, like flowing linens. It may bring a new sense of pleasure to wear them, of the kind you get when polishing old shoes, for example. They get new life, and they’re fun too.
Some have predicted that these trends will not happen again. The fragmentation of the media and the changing nature of society at large would mean that there was no dominant narrative, no general public practice.
The trends are certainly not as universal as they used to be. But for menswear at least, they survive. Men like to wear what other men are wearing, and nowadays most men I see are wearing wide leg pants – in the world of the internet, or in the playground. Dads wear stretchy pants from Gramicci or Service Works; young people wear 90s Levi’s or Carhartt.
And as if a final sign was needed, some designers have already begun to rebel against the common man, including Dior, Prada and Thom Browne, both of whom showed short pants this year.But don’t worry, it will be another 10 years at least before that is anywhere near us. Time to break out those flannels.
What do you see where you live, and have you changed your pants in the last few years? Let us know below – everyone loves it when we share.
Here are some examples of wide-legged models from the brands we cover:
