The 1970s Flare That Came Back (And the Skinny Jean That Replaced It)

🔗 How We Used To Dress, My Complete Illustrated Collection: 📗 https://clarasamericanattic.com In this video I explain the real history of flared trousers, why the flare returned, why the skinny jean never really left in the same way, and how shoes, fabric, and cut changed what people wore from the early nineteenth century to now. I start with the naval record, because the flare was not born as a seventies fashion statement at all but as a working trouser with a practical job on a wet deck. From there I follow the shape through United States Navy uniform history, the rise of denim dungarees, the later shift toward slim silhouettes, and the trade logic behind today’s fitted bootcut and streamlined leg. I also explain why the wrap dress belongs in the same story, because the real achievement of the seventies was not spectacle but adaptable clothing that worked across bodies, days, shoes, and ordinary life. What’s covered in this video: - I begin with an 1813 United States Navy file describing enlisted sailors in blue jackets and bell-bottom trousers, along with glazed canvas hats trimmed with ribbon. - I look at the 1817 Navy regulation on washing decks barefoot with trouser legs rolled up, and I explain why a wide leg solved that sewing problem better than a narrow one. - I go through the practical reasons for bell bottoms at sea, including grip in the water, speed of removal from a soaked body, and movement on a wet deck. - I trace the official uniform history from the Navy’s authorization of bell-bottom denim dungarees in 1901 through the long life of the shape until the straight-leg change in 1998. - I explain why that date range matters, because the flare was still a working American uniform while later fashion replacements were being drawn elsewhere. - I connect the return of the flare to footwear, arguing that a shape designed to sit over a boot comes back when the shoe comes back. - I contrast that with the skinny silhouette, which I argue depended less on a shoe than on stretch fibre, especially elastane, so it never disappeared in the same dramatic way. - I use current trade language like fitted bootcut, wide leg, and streamlined to show how the same old shapes are being renamed and softened for the rail this week. - I bring in the wrap dress as part of the same seventies solution, because it answered the problem of fit across changing bodies without exact measuring. 00:00 It Was Not A Statement 00:18 Come And Sit Down 00:58 The Question, Held Back 01:14 Streamers Of Ribbon 01:33 A Regulation About Decks 01:52 All About Water 02:09 Nineteen Oh One 02:27 Still In Service 02:45 Where These Dates Come From 03:04 It Came Off A Kitchen Table 03:21 The Company Says So 03:42 So It Would Clear A Boot 04:00 Look At The Seam 04:16 The Six Four Six 04:34 Where The Width Came From 04:53 The Six Eight Four 05:11 What It Was Called At Home 05:26 Two Fabrics 05:44 The Sears Book 06:02 Just Say Charge It 06:20 Sensible In The Catalogue 06:38 Catalogue Fourteen Ninety One 06:56 Three Names For One Idea 07:14 The Better Half Of The Evidence 07:32 Simplicity Seven Two Two Six 07:48 Two More Numbers 08:06 It Was Answering The Post 08:25 Polyester Double Knit 08:41 What Was Wrong With It 08:58 Three Books Side By Side 09:18 Rigid Cotton 09:34 Hold On To That 09:50 Three Jobs 10:06 The Copy Nobody Reads 10:24 The Hem Can Be Worn Long 10:49 The Hem Did The Adjusting 11:05 The Third Job 11:21 What A Catalogue Is Not 11:39 A Fact About A Drawing 11:54 Not One Of Them Is A Mood 12:09 What Ended It 12:24 Nothing Left To Do 12:40 Dating An Envelope 13:00 When A Shape Loses Its Job 13:16 The Silhouette Turned Over 13:34 Still Working Somewhere 13:50 The Platform 14:06 The Other Half 14:20 The Trouser And The Shoe 14:37 Two Thousand To Two Thousand And Seven 14:54 A Suggestion Versus A Shop 15:12 It Is A Fibre 15:28 Two Fibres 15:47 The Most Honest Document 16:03 The Fourth Thing 16:19 Possible, Then Cheap 16:35 The Fair Thing 16:51 It Cannot Be Altered 17:07 Corduroy 17:22 Cloth In There 17:40 The Wale 17:58 The Answer 18:11 The Shoe Came Back 18:27 What The Trade Says Now 18:45 It Needed A Fabric 19:03 The Whole Answer 19:20 The Other Thing It Solved 19:40 Three Things To Look For 19:54 First, The Percentage 20:12 Second, Where It Starts 20:29 Third, The Hem 20:44 The One Piece 21:01 The Soft Shoe 21:19 People Wore This To Work 21:34 Look At The Back Of Your Wardrobe 21:50 Come And Tell Me 22:07 The Compromise Survived 22:25 Come Back And See Me 22:38 From A Wet Deck To A Rail 22:56 Take The Shoes With You 23:14 The Curved Leg 23:34 A Shoe And A Fibre 23:48 The Duller Reason 24:06 Why There Is No Vintage Of It 24:24 It Does Not Wear Out Evenly 24:42 Fair To The Designer 25:01 The Low Rise