The Flared Trouser
Twenty-four inch bottoms, wet to the knee all winter.
Flares got wider every year until about 1976, then vanished almost overnight when punk arrived.
The hems dragged on the ground and frayed. In the rain, denim flares wicked water halfway up your leg and stayed wet all day.
The speed of the change is the remarkable bit. By 1978 anyone still in flares looked like a museum exhibit.
Cost back then
£4 a pair
Goes for now
£40–£120 for original 70s denim
