Spring 2021 has a few trends popping up and the wide-leg pant is one of them! Also known as the palazzo pant, this pant style has been in the fashion scene for many years. Derived from the Italian word meaning palace, these pants certainly carry an air of elegance and class. Since the 1920s, women have worn loose or wide-leg pants in Asia and other parts of the world. The wide-legged style of the palazzo pants was most likely highly influenced by the Asian fashion. According to palazzo-pants.com, "in China, the wide leg pants are made of silk, which was usually worn by the royalties, popular entertainers, and nobilities of that era. This type of style is often called the pajama pants or lounge pants, which is always loose-fitting, straight, and flows down to the ankles."
Here is a timeline on how the wide-legged palazzo pant made it's way into Western fashion, from palazzo-pants.com:
1920s: Wide-leg lounge pants become popular. Famous celebrities, as well as the regular folks, begin wearing these roomy and loose fitting pants when going to the beach or just lounging at home.
1930s: The 1930s give birth to the beach pajama, which are lounge pajamas that were meant to be leisure wear. Their light and airy style are suitable for the summer heat, and many women wear it when going to cruises or traveling to tropical destinations. During a trip to Venice, Coco Chanel discovers the wide leg pant and gloves them because they're very comfortable and easy to wear when boarding the gondolas.
1940s: The war years. In the 1940s, the working girls wear trousers, which means that the palazzo pants' wide leg design is no longer suitable for them. This is the reason the pants become narrower but still have some flare to it. The pants become denim and many are made from strong cotton twill.
1950s: The wide leg pants slowly fade out of the fashion scene.
1960s: Some upscale restaurants start refusing to let women inside their establishment if they wear trousers or pants. The owners of these restaurants think that this type of fashion is inappropriate. Some women are too stubborn to follow this absurd rule, and instead look for ways to go around the ban on pants. The best solution they come up with is to wear palazzo pants or wide leg pants as their evening wear.
1970s: Wide-leg palazzo pants resurface and became popular again. The counterculture movement of the late 60s and 70s is open to wearing more loose and flared pants. The hippies of this decade start sporting loose pants with colorful and creative patterns. They also popularize bell-bottom pants, which are pants that flare out from the knees down to the ankle.
1980s: Wide leg pants go out of fashion once again. Skinny jeans and baggy shirts become popular instead. However, famous designers like Donna Karan and Giorgio Armani create power suits for women that included palazzo pants!
1990s: There is a bit of resurgence in the wide leg pants. Hip-hop culture brings the oversized pants back to life, which is often paired with tight tops.
Today: Palazzo pants have made a complete comeback and they are once again a hot item in department stores and fashion boutiques, a staple in many women's wardrobes.
Here are a few photos of black women styling wide-leg/palazzo pants!
Examples of Black Women Styling Wide-Leg/Palazzo Pants
Another form of the wide-leg pant is the culotte, which are basically wide-legged "almost" shorts. The word culotte is derived from the French word culot, meaning the lower half of a something. Culottes aren't pants, where they come below the anle. Usually, culottes are worn right above the knee or hit right above the ankle.
According to navitique.com, women in the Victorian times began wearing them because it was a necessity for the active women who wanted to ride horses and ride bikes. Victorian culottes were disguised as floor length skirts, with the leg split thoroughly covered, therefore, it was almost impossible to tell the difference.
Technically, culottes made their debut in the early 1500s, but weren’t actually fashionable until the 1930s. According to Vogue, designer Elsa Schiaparelli "created the revolutionary divided skirt, a forerunner of shorts, which was worn by Lili de Alvarez at Wimbledon in 1931 and shocked the tennis world,” essentially bringing culottes to the world.
Culottes really took of in the 1940s with the woman empowerment movement. Two-piece outfits became quite popular in the 40s due to rationing on fabric because of the war.
Here are photos of black women styling culottes!
Examples of Black Women Styling Culottes
Having a wide-leg pant, or culotte in your wardrobe this spring would be a great addition. They're light and airy, very comfortable for the transition from winter to spring. I own a few pairs of culottes myself!
What do you think? Do you like this "wide-leg" style when it comes to pants and culottes?
Happy Wardrobe Wednesday!
Arrivederci,
Brianna