Everything about Bell-bottoms totally explained
Bell-bottoms are
trousers that become wider from the
knees downwards. Related styles include
flare,
loon pants and
boot-cut/leg trousers.
Hip-huggers are bell-bottomed, flare, or boot-cut pants that are fitted tightly around the hips and thighs worn by men and women.
Note: In Britain, bell bottoms only refers to the sailors' trousers. In the 1960s they were known as flares or loons.
Naval origins
Bell-bottoms' precise origins are uncertain. In the early nineteenth century, very wide pants ending in a bell began to be worn in the
U.S. Navy (Clothing varied between ships, however, since in the early days of the U.S. Navy each ship's
captain decided what clothing to buy for his men).
In the 1960s, at least, U.S. naval recruits were taught to use their bellbottoms as life preservers by slipping them off, then tying the legs shut and capturing air in them.
Bell-bottoms in the 1960s and 1970s
Bell-bottoms became very fashionable in the late
1960s and much of the
1970s, both for men and women. They began as part of the
hippie counterculture movement in the 1960s, together with
love beads,
granny glasses, and
tie-dye shirts; in the 1970s, they moved into the mainstream.
helped popularize bell-bottoms by wearing them on
their popular television show.
They can, however, be seen as early as 1964,in the concert film,
The T.A.M.I. Show worn by a young
Toni Basil, who at the time was a go-go dancer in the film, and wore white "flares" with a baby-doll top.
Today, the original men's bell bottom pants and flares from the 1970's are collectible vintage clothing items. Worn by men to attend retro theme disco parties, worn in retro revival bands, and to wear clubbing - [mensbell bottom pants]
(External Link
) are the most wanted of fashion items from the 1970's.
Loon pants (shortened from "balloon pants") were one type of bell-bottomed trousers. They flared more from the knee than typical bell-bottoms, in which more of the entire leg was flared. They were a 1970's fashion, and could initially only be bought via catalog from a company in Britain which advertised in the back of the
New Musical Express. They were usually worn with a
Led Zeppelin T-shirt and Jesus boots
(sandals). They became associated with
disco music. When the disco backlash started in 1979, bell bottoms started to go out of fashion along with
leisure suits and other clothes that had become associated with disco.
Flare and boot-cut jeans in the 1990s
In the mid
1990s a disco revival occurred and bell bottoms became popular again in women's and men's fashion in
Europe spreading to the
Americas. They were initially reintroduced as boot-cut (also spelled "boot cut" or "bootcut"), tapering to the knee and flaring out to accommodate a
boot. Over time, the width of the hem grew wider and the term "flare-leg" was favored in marketing over the term "bell-bottom". As with boot-cut hems, the trend began in
Europe and spread rapidly around the world. Today both boot-cut and flare-leg pants remain popular both in
denim and higher quality office wear. In menswear straight-leg also gave way to boot-cut looks, again initially in Europe, and has made its leap into flare-leg for officewear, the same as what has happened in womenswear. In most cases men's boot-cut and women's boot-cuts differ. Women's jeans are tight to the knee and then flare out slightly to the hem while men's styles are usually flared/loose all the way from crotch to hem. The bell-bottoms of the 60s and 70s can be generally be distinguished from the flare or boot-cut pants of the 90s by the tightness of the knee. Jeans in the 1990s also tended to
ride lower than those of the 1960s and 1970s.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bell-bottoms'.
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