July 29, 2026

How to Style Flare Jeans

Flares are less forgiving than straight or tapered jeans. The volume at the hem changes the proportion of your whole outfit, so the things that work with a standard fit often don't. Most of it comes down to two decisions: hem length and what you put on top.

Get the hem right first

This matters more than anything else here.

A flare should sit just above the ground - close enough to almost graze it when you're standing still, with the front hem breaking gently over the top of your shoe. Too short and the flare reads as a mistake rather than a choice. Too long and it drags and frays.

The practical problem: hem length depends on the shoe. A flare hemmed for sneakers will be short with boots. If you wear one type of footwear almost always, hem for that and accept it.

If you're between sizes in length, go longer. You can hem down. You can't hem up.

Footwear

Flares need some height under them or the leg opening collapses onto the floor.

Boots are the natural pairing - the shaft fills the volume and the line stays clean from knee to ground.

Chunky sneakers work for the same reason. A low-profile trainer tends to disappear under the hem entirely, which can look off unless the hem is cut short deliberately.

Flat, thin-soled shoes are the hardest to pull off. Not impossible, but the hem has to be shorter than you'd think.

Tops: keep the volume opposite

The general principle is contrast. Volume at the bottom wants restraint at the top.

Fitted or boxy-but-cropped works best - a 300gsm heavyweight tee that sits at or just below the waistband keeps the waist visible and lets the leg do the work.

Tucked is the most reliable move. Even a half-tuck at the front defines where the leg starts.

Oversized on oversized can work, but it needs a defined waist somewhere - a belt, a tuck, a cropped hem. Without that, you lose your shape entirely.

Cropped jackets sit well with flares. Long coats can too, but they need to be long enough to clear the widest part of the leg rather than ending mid-flare.

Colour

Darker flares read more formal and elongate the leg. Lighter and patched styles read more casual and draw attention to the shape itself.

Our range covers both ends: beige and cactus patch sit at the casual end, black at the cleaner end, and the 1.618 Monogram somewhere of its own.

Fit at the waist and thigh

A flare works because of the contrast between a fitted upper leg and an open hem. If the thigh is loose too, you lose the shape and it just reads as wide-leg - which is a different garment, not a worse one, but not what you bought.

Ours are cut with a structured waist and a carpenter thigh, then open from the knee. They run true to size, and the 2% elastane gives enough movement without letting the shape go.

The full range is in Flare Jeans.