Flare Jeans

A flare is a gentler proposition than a bell bottom, and for many women a more wearable one. It narrows through the thigh and opens softly rather than dramatically, lengthening the leg without announcing the decade it came from. The flare jeans women reach for at Vanessa Bruno are cut with exactly that restraint.

The maison chooses denims with weight and fluidity, because a flare lives on its fall. Too stiff and the opening stands away from the leg, too light and it flutters; the right weight falls straight and moves as you walk, which is the entire point of the shape.

The rise runs the line

A flare succeeds at the rise. Sitting at the natural waist, the leg begins where the body is narrowest and the line runs uninterrupted to the floor. Cut lower, the same trousers widen exactly where nobody wants width, which is why so many flares disappoint on a hanger and worse in a mirror.

Where quality shows

Quality lives in the detail. The weight and drape of the denim, the flatness of the front where a poorly drafted pattern would pull, the stitching at the pocket corners, the way the fabric softens rather than thins, the hem that breaks cleanly. Length decides the rest: a flare should almost touch the floor over the shoe you intend to wear, and should be hemmed for that shoe specifically. This is one of the few garments where a tailor is not optional.

Flare or bell bottom

The difference between the two is worth understanding before choosing. A flare opens gradually from the knee and reads as a long, soft line; a bell bottom narrows harder through the thigh and opens decisively. Neither is more correct, but they suit different wardrobes and different temperaments entirely. The flare bell jeans women compare, like the designer bell jeans women weigh against a softer cut, are both offered by the maison rather than pretending one has replaced the other.

- The weight — heavy enough to fall straight, fluid enough to move.

- The rise — at the natural waist, where the leg looks longest.

- The hem — cut for the exact shoe you mean to wear.

How to wear it

Proportion above wants restraint: a fine knit, a fitted t-shirt, a jacket that ends at the waist. Footwear follows from the hem, a small heel keeping the line unbroken and a substantial flat working equally well provided the length is right. What no flare survives is a delicate shoe, which disappears beneath the opening and leaves the leg looking as though it ends nowhere. Explore the maison's bell bottom and bootcut cuts for the neighbouring shapes. Caring for denim is almost entirely restraint: wash rarely and cold, inside out, and hang to dry rather than tumbling, which is what flattens a drape.

Discover the flare jeans at Vanessa Bruno and find the softer line that lengthens everything.