How to Wear Wide-Leg Pants for Men

Wondering how to branch out and explore new fits? If so, try wide-leg pants! Heres how.

The collective millennial gasp echoed across the internet when skinny jeans were deemed “out” was harrowing. Was everyone just supposed to toss their skinny and slim denim and start over? 

No, but it might be time to introduce wide-leg pants into your wardrobe for some variety. In this guide, you’ll learn how to wear wide-leg pants and get some outfit ideas as well. 

What is a Wide Leg Pant

Just like the many versions of skinny pants (slim, slim tapered, tailored, etc.), there is a variety of what can be considered wide-leg pants. For this guide, wide-leg pants are any pants that aren’t cut to hug the legs. 

Wide-leg pants include baggy pants, flared pants, relaxed-fit pants, or really anything Gen Z would call “big pants.”  

You may see them also referred to as loose-fit pants and relaxed-fit pants. Loose-fit generally means that the pants fit more loosely around the hips and waist. 

Relaxed-fit pants are similar but also carry that relaxed fit in a straight cut down to the leg, leaving you with an untapered leg opening. 

Flared pants will have more of a bell-bottom shape.

Wide-leg pants also come in a host of different materials. They’re common in denim and cotton fabrics for a more casual style. However, wide-leg pants also made a resurgence in suiting, which makes them available in wool, tweed, and other more commonly tailored fabrics.

Are Wide Leg Pants in Style?

The short answer is yes. Firstly, the nostalgia for the 80s and 90s created a demand for wide-leg and baggy pants in the casual and streetwear categories.

While it hasn’t swung so far as to popularize pants that slide off the waist, the trend did revive wider silhouettes with more structured cuts for unique shapes. 

Masculine suiting and tailoring also is seeing a departure from tailored, skinny trousers. The classic styles of the 50s with higher waists and roomier trousers are now paired with more oversized blazers and structured tops. 

How to Style Wide-Leg Pants

One person’s wide-leg or big pants won’t be the same for another, but in general, styling wide-leg pants is all about structure and proportions. Pants that are looser and flare out from the leg typically create a longer leg illusion. If not long, then at the very least the extra material creates a lot more leg surface area. 

It’s important to create a balance between the pants and the top of your outfit. For wide-leg pants newbies, structured or tucked tops help create shape and create a flattering illusion. 

It’s what is popularly referred to as “little shirt, big pants” and it works on most body types. This is a go-to formula for styling wide-leg pants.

There is of course room for complete oversized fits (top to bottom), but it’s important to focus on the structure of the garments. There’s a difference between intentionally oversized items and ones that are just too big and ill-fitting. 

If you’re going for that “big shirt, big pants” look, focus on making sure the items fit you well and maintain their own structure as opposed to just being loose.

Bonus tip for finding wide-leg pants: shop the women’s section. While wide-leg pants are becoming more popular, it’s often hard to find pairs that are full throughout the leg. Even flared ones can be difficult to shop in men’s sections. 

However, the women’s section have been filled with wide-leg pants for quite some time. There’s always a chance that you can find what you’re looking for, even if it’s not immediately in your intended section. 

10 Ways to Wear Wide-Leg Pants for Men

This guide will take you through some outfit ideas so you know how to style wide-leg pants. It starts with some simple and flattering pairings and gradually progresses into showing you how to style more layers on top without throwing off the balance. 

1. Casual Tucked Tee and Wide Leg Pants

The easiest look to pull off with wide-leg pants is a simple tucked tee. The tuck is important. It creates structure in your tee and defines your waistline. If the tee is too large and stays untucked, you run the risk of looking like your clothes are too big.

This tends to look better with wide-leg trousers. The billowing and a-line cut of the ones shown here help elongate the leg and define that waist even more. 

2. Tank Top and Wide Leg Pants

This kind of styling became a go-to spring and summer option for lots of folks last year. The tank is tucked into the pants and emulates a 50s casual style. It’s flattering on a lot of body types.

The pants shown here are from COS’s women’s section. If you’re looking for a wider variety of wide-leg pants, make sure to check men’s and women’s sections. You can typically use a brand’s sizing chart to get the conversions.

Truthfully, you can pair any kind of single top with a wide-leg trouser. Tucking the top will create a flattering waistline and dress up almost any garment you wear on your top half. But, you can also layer. It doesn’t have to stay slim and minimal on top for wide-leg pants to work.

3. Simple Layers with Wide-Leg Pants

A ribbed white tank with an open button-down shirt will always look great with a wide-leg pair of pants. If you’re not open to the tank on its own, adding a linen or seersucker shirt is a great spring and summer style option.

This works with almost any pair of wide-leg pants, be it trousers or denim. It’s also a very easy style hack to look far more intentional and dressed up. 

4. Blazer and Wide Leg Pants

Here’s another style hack. If you need a little more oomph than a button-down, a blazer with wide-leg pants packs some great detail.

You don’t have to go for a cropped blazer, but it does have a nice effect here. The cropped length defines the waist even more and combines the lon leg illusion with broad, structured shoulders. 

This outfit also sports more of a relaxed fit jeans, which still count as wide-leg pants. It’s relaxed in the waist and all the way through the leg. 

5. Layers and Blazers with Wide Leg Pants

This look was inspired by the 80s. The oversized blazers, the sweater vest, and the turtleneck paired with light-wash jeans emphasize the retro influence. 

A baggy pair of light-wash jeans will always call back to the 80s and 90s, which is on trend at the moment. 

6. Flared Denim and Trousers

Flared denim is a welcome staple in the wide-leg pants category. It calls back to 60s and 70s style, but can also be modernized with styling.

Flared denim typically stays straight through the thigh and flares out at the knee, so it’s a different kind of structure and is a little less dramatic than some other wide-leg styles. 

7. Structured Wide Leg Pants

Not all wide-leg pants have to be flowy and seemingly “shapeless.” There are trouser options that give you more structure and appear a bit more formal.

Here, you can tell that the trousers have room in the leg, but the crease gives them structure. That crease also draws the eye all the way up the leg, serving that elongated silhouette. 

#8 Gurkha Trousers

Pleats are great details in wide-leg pants to draw attention to the waist and define that line even more. The Gurkha style with the belt and pleats adds even more details to highlight the waistline.

While these aren’t the widest of wide-leg pants options shared here, they’re still roomier than skinny jeans. They dress up a simple, casual outfit.

#9 Oversized Layering with Wide Leg Pants

Below, you can see a vest layered over a button-down shirt. This time, the shirt was left untucked to give a straight-line silhouette from top to bottom. 

While typically tucking the top creates great definition in the waist, you can get more creative. In this case, the vest creates some structure up top and because the shirt fits properly, it doesn’t look like the clothes are ill-fitting. 

If you’re going to play with oversized layers and wide-leg pants, it’s important that everything fits you properly. Specifically, all wide-leg pants should still fit you in the waist.

#10 Layering with Coats

In the cold months, a coat is just as much a part of the outfit as any other garment. An oversized coat can look great with wide-leg pants when balanced with the other styling elements.

Here, the coat and the trousers are the only two oversized pieces. The rest are structured and fit more closely to the body to help define shape. The chunky shoes also balance out the coat on top and almost create a bookend effect. 

How Would You Style a Wide Leg Pants?

It’s time to consider wide-leg pants if you haven’t already. Hopefully,  this guide gave you some new ideas for styling them. 

If you have any questions or comments, leave them down below!