Of course, not only trousers can be flared - anything with long legs or sleeves can be flared. So, trousers, dungarees, cat-suits, overalls (e.g. picture, far right) are all flarable, as are all long-sleeved T-shirts, shirts, blouses and dresses. More strangely, we have discovered what amount to flared stockings for sale, being the flared bits of trousers, but without the top bit (see picture, left). They cling to the thighs and hang down looking like flares, for use under a skirt, apparently.

Sleeves can be flared to remarkable sizes. This is particularly popular in gothic fashion, since they harken back to the houppelandes and the like of the middle ages. Having such a garment means that you can get away with wearing a short dress but still being flared. Furthermore, many T-shirts and jumpers have slight flaring of the sleeves (e.g. F15), and blouses or shirts can easily be altered so that they have a satisfactory amount of flare (see F10).

Long shorts — these (oxy)moronic garments are much favoured by skateboarding teenagers, and are not exempt from flaring. But still, longer trousers are probably better, as I think this picture (left) shows…

Shorts and skirts. It isn't clear how a pair of (short) shorts or a skirt can really be flared, without their tapering inwards first, but so-called flared skirts are available. A picture of one such claimant is included here (left). They contrast with hobble-skirts which taper inwards towards the ankle, making them the equivalent of Karottenhosen.

On the right is a diagram of so-called flared shorts, which are reported to look like a skirt when worn, in a most deceitful manner! Shorts and skirts often appear flared in a summery-type way anyway, but you could always add panels and adapt them into something much flarier. Yey!

Shoes and boots can be flared as well, in their own special way.

Even a Top Hat can be flared — is there nothing which will not flare? Hehe — we hope so…

And this is just clothing — we haven't even begun to mention furniture, jewellery, musical instruments, staircases, glassware, and the myriad other flared objects in the world.

Townie flares are usually decorated somehow, either with particular patterns of fading, embroidered designs or oodles of sparkle. They are often accompanied by splits, missing waistbands, absurdly oversize belts, and so on and so forth. It is very unusual for townie flares to be particularly large compared to certain other flares (although it does happen — see picture, far right). Any reasons suggested for this can only be speculative.

Normal or Grebby flares lack any such encumberances and are free to become as big as you like, since they need not adhere to the Townie Code (we know it exists, although we haven't seen it). They are not often ironed, and rarely have a sharp crease in them, gladly. They sometimes get dirty from jumping in puddles, and the hems get ragged from being dragged along the floor and trodden on, both by the wearer and inattentive people nearby.

Techno-flares, also known as Technoschlaghosen, are always made of synthetic fibres, and are often quite well flared. They are often made in bright, or even fluorescent colours, and indicate that the wearer is on his or her way to a club, or making their way home afterwards.

The Belgian Look seems to involve flared trousers which end, unexpectedly and prematurely, only ¾ of the way down the leg. Which looks like a mistake. And they tend to be worn with knee-high boots. Seeing as they only have a few inches in which to flare, these tend to be rather small flares indeed. If they kept going down to the ground, they may look rather better. I suppose this does stop you dragging your flares in the copious dog-poo on Belgian streets, but it seems like the wrong solution to the problem, frankly.

Slits - even if they do carry on long enough, some so-called flares turn out to be nothing more than straight trousers with a split seam. This is clearly fake flareage and is far inferior to true flareage. This is just the first step in making a pair of straight trousers into flares. If you find you've got a pair of these, you should consider finding some material to fill in the gap, and then you could make some proper flares.

Gothic fashion makes little use of trousers, preferring flowing skirts, but they do tend to have big flared sleeves, for which they must be commended, if nothing else.

Big or baggy trousers, including those trousers known in the early seventies as "palazzos". These trousers are very large and they go out from the waist and not the knee. Although they lack the curves of the more traditional flares (and it could be argued that they don't really count as flares), they can nonetheless be very wide at the foot. Many people like the feel / look of trouser-legs covering the feet entirely, and the feel / look of the fabric swishing in the wind or as the wearer moves. Big trousers like these can certainly provide these sensations.

Flares can be made in a number of ways. The easiest, and commonest, is to use bigger pieces of material during manufacture. We may call these original flares. They have the advantage of being the same colour and texture all over, and don't have extra seams. Another method of making flares is to insert extra panels, into the legs. These triangular inserts provide the extra width in so-called expanded flares, and are technically known as "gores", a word also used for the tapering pieces used to make globes and hot air balloons. Expanded flares can be made from other, non-flared trousers, by opening the seam and sewing in the gores (see the How To… section for an illustrated guide). Usually only one gore is added to each leg, usually on the outside, but two or more are possible. In the simpler designs, the gores can be straight, or curved (see F13), and with a straight slit, a zip can be added to hide the flare away (e.g. F8), although we don't recommend you use that facility unless it's somehow necessary :-).

Original flares	Outer gores	Inner Gores	Dual panels	Front gores

The pictures here show one pair of original flares (without gores), one pair with the typical external gore in contrasting fabric, one pair with an unusual internal gore in matching fabric, one pair with both internal and external gores in contrasting fabrics, and one pair with gores in the front. One could also have gores at the back of the leg, but we haven't got pictures of those.

Interleaving	"Zig-zag"	Ribbons

A more complicated designs uses interleaved panels. To do this, you must make a backwards and forwards, or "boustrophedon" slit (see diagram, above right, photo, right, and F12), which you then open up and stick little more–or–less rectangular panels into the gaps. Another possibility is the zig-zag pattern made by Pitaya — also shown below — which I guess you can replicate with a series of chevron-shaped panels of different sizes. In fact, any sort of cut can be opened out and filled with panels, provided that the cut never goes away from the point where the two sides meet up. Perhaps the most unusual is the ribbon flare, where the lower section of the legs is made of a series of slightly tapering ribbons. In the example pictured, they are all different colours, and very fetching that is too.

Straight trousers. It is important to learn the difference between these and bootlegs, which are indeed flares, if small ones. Straight trousers do not flare at all, and carry on from the knee straight to the floor. These are often identifiable due to their just–a–bit–too–short appearance, probably because real flares, even if they are just a bit too short, don't appear to be so. Which is a good thing.

Tight trousers. These are straight trousers that don't even go straight down from the knee, but indeed go in below the knee, presumably because your leg does that too. The worst offenders are probably leggings, of the early-90s sort. Flare-lovers are collectively waiting the obligatory five years for these to enter the mainstream again, so be on your guard. Nooo! Dont do this. These are in fact anti-flares, for each pair balances out a pair of real flares, leaving straight trousers. Flare-lovers must therefore wear more flareage to counteract the damage done by these other trousers. Even those members of society who normally wear very tight trousers, such as dancers and ice-skaters, are abandoning the straight–leg and accepting the flare (see right). Wear bigger flares!