First it was the young women and, since I am neither a woman nor a young person, I didn't say anything. Then, it was the mature ones and I didn't say anything either (in fact, I didn't even notice). Then they came for me, and there was no one left to save me: flared pants are back and will be a trend this season in men's fashion...
What harm have we done, those of us back then, the young people of the seventies, that bell-bottoms are now reappearing in the temples of fashion?
“The seventies were the most powerful time in terms of fashion and creativity,” those who understand tell me. Come on, bell-bottoms are back, but you are left with the years, the wrinkles and the legs of 2023, plus the existential doubt of whether you will succumb again because I know the ropes: if the fashion industry dictates – not anymore! They don't even dictate in schools! –, consider yourself dead because men mentally plant themselves in their forties, when one can handle everything, everyone.
Apparently, the flared pants – not to be confused with Campanero, the name of a horned bravo – stylizes and highlights the buttocks. This is all very well if you are 1.78 meters tall and up, you go to the gym for ulterior purposes and you have a yacht in Sardinia. But what about the short ones? What about the last married people whose wife still buys their clothes? Or the divorced sandungueros without a job or benefit?
I admit my traumatic relationship with bell-bottoms back in the 70s, a garment that I would never have worn had it not been for Johan Cruyff wearing them when he landed in Barcelona. To me, having John Lennon take them, to be honest, was a bummer for me. But Johan... the most beautiful legs in Catalonia after Tania Doris! We all wanted to be like him!
Let's assume that the trend catches on. And even the chief of staff appears on a Friday with the happy garment. So what's the point of wearing elegant shoes if only the toes show out (something that may be familiar to readers of a certain age)?
Oscar Ringo Bonavena, a ring legend who was shot four times by his lover's mafia husband, already said it: life is a comb that they give you when you are bald.
