Fall's pants have wide appeal

Questions are blowing in the wind along with one of fall's biggest trends: wide-leg pants.

Hemlines are broadening their horizons at all price points, on the heels of high-waisted styles on the Gucci runway, menswear-inspired ones with rolled-up hems from Chanel and classic trousers from Marc Jacobs.

Not all of them will suit all women.

But free your mind, and your thighs might follow.

"Wide-leg pants can be quite flattering -- as long as you're not really short," said InStyle fashion director Cindy Weber-Cleary.

That's true even for women who are bigger on their bottom half.

"The best thing about wearing the wider-leg pant is it accentuates your waist, is loose around the lower hips and floats around your ankles, hiding a multitude of sins," said Karen Bonser, head of design for the British retailer Topshop.

"Designers realize women come in many shapes and sizes," Downing said. "The trousers we saw on the runway will easily adapt."

Proportion is a key consideration in what a woman pairs with wide-leg pants.

Here are other considerations:

Shoes: With summer's wide-leg pants in fluid silks, Downing preferred flat sandals or wedges. With fall's more substantial wools, wool blends and double-faced fabrications, he likes a heel or midheel.

"With this whole return to lady chic, pumps are everywhere. I like something that's more solid to the ground with that wider pant leg."

Tops: "Keeping in that '70s vein, a lot of designers did slinky, silky shirts, tucked in, with wide-leg pants," Weber-Cleary said.

Bonser suggests a bodysuit with a skinny belt to emphasize the waist, or, for late summer, a tank topped by a cropped vest, both with dropped armholes. "This is how everyone is wearing it around the London office," Bonser said, "sometimes even showing a lace floral spot-print bra at the sides."

Alternatives: "Wide-leg pants are one pants trend for fall," Weber-Cleary said. "It was a very big pant season all the way around, not just wide, but with some variations that we may not have already in our closets, like a pleated pant that pegs toward the ankle. ... And there are a lot of variations on sports-inspired pants with drawstrings."

So, in the spirit of the '70s: Be with a pant you love, honey, if you can't love the one with width.