Of all the iconic fashions of the Baby Boomer years, none were created out of neccessity like flares and bell botttom trousers (flares have a much more noticeable flare, bell-bottoms have huge width). While it is true that sailors had been wearing bell bottoms for decades, it was not their mode of dress that inspired the creation of flares as fashion apparel in the late 1960s. Miniskirts and go-go boots (almost knee high) were the most popular combination in women's clothing; they were great to wear in summer but in winter, it was a different story.

To keep warm in winter, many women swapped their miniskirts for jeans, but go-go boots were impossible to wear under jeans as thery constantly snagged. The perfect solution was found in flares, a pant style that is tapered to the knee and very subtly flares out below the knee to accommodate the bulk of a boot.

The radical bell bottom style - the extreme expression of the flared pant - was widely embraced by the hippies of the late 1960s. During the 1970s, flares moved in and out of fashion a couple of times, and if you got it wrong, boy did you know it at school. With the arrival of disco in the mid 1970s, flares came back with a vengeance and the flared-leg boogied on until the end of the decade alongside skin-tight disco wear.

Fashion designers in the disco era taught us that flares didn't just have to be the domain of trousers - anything with legs or sleeves can be flared. So, trousers, dungarees, shorts (flared shorts were called culottes; today they have returned in modified form as cargo pants), cat-suits, overalls, as well as long-sleeved T-shirts, shirts, blouses and miniskirts were all given the flared treatment, resulting in a wardrobe full of oddball clothing items that most who wore them then wouldn't be seen dead in today. It is mainly because of these percularities of fashion that the 1970s are generally looked upon as the decade that style forgot.