“Travel pants women want to put on” seems like an easy-enough invention, doesn’t it? However, with most pants’ binding zippers, tight waistbands and all-around constricting feeling, it’s no wonder I am tempted to head to LAX in sweatpants, which, as Karl Lagerfeld quipped, “means you have just given up.” Speaking personally, I’m somewhere between dressing as though I’m flying private or dressing like I just came in from gardening. But how does “low effort, big rewards” style translate into an airport look? (Hint: It’s not skinny jeans.) Recently, I heard about a trending pair of pants like leggings called kick flares—they have a slightly cropped length and a little mid-calf flare—and decided, well that’s it, the charming comfy stretch look that will accommodate extended sitting but bounce back, and balance my proportions at the same time when I stand up. Then I saw that those specific pants began at $860 and promptly dismissed them.
Et voila, it’s been a couple of seasons since those pants, a lightning rod for media controversy about fashion excess in the New York Times and cool-girl newsletters, have debuted. In the interim, this very good idea—stretchy pants designed to flatter, not restrict, a woman’s curves and movements—has been taken up by mass market retailers and mid-tier designers. I’ve been wearing kick flares as my new airport look (not to mention office apparel) and will never look back. They are the travel pants women have been waiting for, with no annoying, binding zippers or waistbands, and stretch fabric that gives with your waist, butt and legs whether you’re straining to lift that bag overhead or rolling around at the gate playing with your little one until pre-board is called.
