What do you think of when you hear the word flares? The counterculture of the late 1960s? Pictures of your parents in the 1970s, perhaps. For me, it’s the Wrangler bell-bottoms I bought secondhand in 1995. They were already 20 years old, but completed my vintage look of Adidas T-shirt and shell-toe trainers in a contemporary way.
Bootcut jeans, the bell-bottom’s slightly toned-down cousin, were huge in the early noughties before skinny jeans took their place. But our love for flares couldn’t be suppressed for long; they were back on the catwalks as soon as 2015. Fast forward another 11 years to Claudia Winkleman’s celebrated wardrobe for The Traitors at the beginning of 2026, and it was full of, you guessed it, flares.
Flared trousers have been around since the 19th century when they were worn by US navy sailors, but it’s since hippies adopted them that they’ve drifted in and out of fashion for the best part of 60 years. I still have those Wranglers in the loft. They very much don’t fit me any more, so perhaps I should think about selling them to someone who could actually zip them up. I loved those jeans, and looked after them well. They enjoyed a life long before I owned them and deserve to have some more fun now.
Do you have any old gems lurking in your wardrobe that it might be worth giving some air time to? Thanks to the cyclical nature of fashion, it’s highly likely. Other trends that are enjoying their second, third or even fourth time to shine include bodysuits, boho and batwing sleeves. You’ve probably seen plenty of rugby shirts and rara skirts around this summer. Checks are in vogue on the catwalk again – ditto blazers.
Of course, if you’re planning to wear an item that hasn’t seen the light of day for a while, it may need some attention. Check for holes that can be repaired (there are plenty of online services if you’re not nifty with a needle and thread) or marks that might require a little pre-wash attention. Ecover’s stain remover will do the job nicely and even has its own built-in brush for stubborn marks. Delicate items such as wool blazers may just need an air outside or a spruce with a steamer. Otherwise, it’s time to reintroduce those old garms to the washing machine. Knowing when not to wash is part of looking after clothes, but so is knowing how to wash them when they need it.
I’ve just washed the beloved purple bomber jacket I bought as a teenager, using Ecover’s non bio liquid. I trust it to be gentle on this 35-year-old coat, while leaving it smelling great. I haven’t worn it for years, but having seen catwalk images from the likes of Simone Rocha, Burberry and Chopova Lowena’s autumn/winter 2026 collections, I’ve been inspired with some different ways to wear it. One of the keys to making old items feel new is finding inventive ways to style them. Teaming my jacket with a baggy skirt and flat, chunky lace-up shoes, for example, will make it feel fresh rather than that I’m recreating my teenage wardrobe. Wearing it with jeans and beaten-up Converse would, on the other hand, make me feel 15.
While it can seem that trends come and go more quickly than ever, I’d argue that, thanks to the internet making every era of music, culture and fashion available to us all at once, the opposite is true. It is really a matter of perception, depending on what brands you buy, which website’s trend report you read and whose style you happen to admire walking down the street. Look close enough, and you’ll find your own favourite item being touted as “the latest thing” at any given moment.
That’s what makes looking after your favourite clothes even more rewarding, because you can wear styles from decades past for decades to come. And if you do follow trends, when one comes back around and you realise a treasured item no longer fits, you can donate or sell it on so that someone else can enjoy it. I’m just uploading those bell-bottoms to a resale site now …
Let’s live clean
Find out why Ecover® laundry products can help keep your clothes looking their best at ecover.com
