Introducing Gossip Goh: our resident style guru who will be guiding your sad poly-blend self through the trends and fads of style, and helping you get your FASHH-ON.
Unless your eyes have been gauged out in the past year by the resurgence of leggings-as-pants (“It’s sportsluxe!” the women of Claremont cry), I’m sure you fashion-savvy readers have noticed the resurgence of flares on the runway as early as S/S15. Since then, both high street and high end labels have been coveting the trend. It’s a demand that simply cannot fail: they’re flattering on everyone and you get more material for your dollar. Flares give a great take on the classic black pant – providing an hourglass-esque shape to your legs, accentuating one’s natural body shape. They’re also said to be a new staple – this is me signalling ‘Goh’ to add them to your huge-ass capsule wardrobe.
Flares are said to have origins in the navy – just like our other go-to piece, the boat-striped shirt (and because of their common roots, fate says they’re gonna stay as a classic!). According to my favourite sources, Wikipedia and the Guardian, flares may have made it easier to save a man overboard and easier to remove when wet. Additionally, they’re easy AF to roll up which was thought to allow sailors to work barefoot without worrying that the rest of their pant-leg would slip down (they were skinny at the knee, after all).
Flares gained popularity again in the ’60s and ’70s (and are probably being revived now partially due to the festival-going trend that has hit the young and hip), whom, I assume from stereotypes, had similar intentions to the sailors in going barefoot and fucking around with wet feet. Originally introduced in the early sixties into high fashion, by 1967 they became a symbol of the hippie counter-culture, often paired with platforms, tie-dye and love beads. The seventies saw flares come back into mainstream fashion (probably because hippies, like Sonny and Cher, were familiar now that most households had a television) and popularised flares to the masses.
I’m not sure whether the return of flares is linked to some sort of cultural phenomenon that I’m blind to because of my work-study-drink lifestyle – but I wouldn’t doubt it. On the streets in my retail jobs in ~luxury fashion~ I’ve seen them on juvies, wannabe models, hippies, and elegant old ladies who were saving them for a comeback. While you’d have to pry my skinny pants out of my cold, dead hands, I have to admit that flares are back, revived in a modern style (often highwaisted) and, yet again, better than ever. Here are some options for you to consider:
$ a cheap City Beach number ($9.99 no fkn joke)
$$ still ‘affordable’ from witchery and probably a million other high street stores
$$$ Ellery‘s signature piece is the flared trouser, flared sleeve, flared skirt – layer them all for a real lampshade look that screams FASHH-ON. Want more? I see Yves Saint Laurent. And Zimmermann. Just search the shit on Net-a-Porter.
xoxo Gossip Goh
Words by Callista Goh, Art by Shannon Lively (Shlives)
Need fashion advice? send your questions to [email protected] and Gossip Goh will help you.