At Milan Fashion Week in June, luxury tailoring house Cesare Attolini announced it would be widening its trousers. The updated silhouette, which will see the leg opening increase from 19 centimeters to 23, may be imperceptible to the eye of most observers, but it represents a sizable shift in prevailing tastes when you consider Attolini’s traditional Neapolitan roots. “Our approach has always been rooted in timeless elegance, rather than fleeting trends,” says Massimiliano Attolini, president of the brand. “The change is more of a refinement than a revolution.”
And yet, this is no flash in the pan. The post-pandemic years have seen a gradual relaxation of most garments and a renewed focus on comfort. Wider trouser legs allow the thermoregulating properties of the chosen cloth to function properly while also letting the body move with less restriction. (Seemingly hundreds of well-dressed guys tested this theory in Florence during the summer’s Pitti Uomo menswear trade show.) There are aesthetic benefits as well: Dag Granath, cofounder of Swedish tailor Saman Amel, tells Robb Report that “having a bit of space between the body and the fabric allows the cloth to drape properly and flow better.” Translation: If you’ve paid a premium to have the best fabric in the world, you should let it do its job.
Brioni’s take on the wide-legged look.
Brioni
Many of luxury’s biggest menswear brands are once again embracing louche, voluminous tailoring. Brioni’s fall 2025 collection featured a performance by ballerinos demonstrating just how much freedom of movement its clothes offer. Fendi’s coed centenary show in February displayed many spacious legs and puddling hems, while Kim Jones proposed straight-up palazzo pants in his final showing for Dior. It’s a clear shift, and designers have collectively deemed that it’s time for trousers to once again widen.
But in the tailoring space, where traditions are more tightly held than in the fickle world of fashion, there has been a more consistent love of the style. Take Connolly, the London-based heritage brand whose tailoring has been almost decadently relaxed for many years now. “Since 2016 Marc Audibet has designed for Connolly, and [we] have always had a wide-leg trouser in the collections,” says owner Isabel Ettedgui. “The wide leg allows the fabric to show [its] full beauty, reveals the drape. You can’t hide a poor fabric with [a] wider cut; it needs to be designed and cut and crafted properly.”
From left to right: Cesare Attolini is taking its traditional trousers a few centimeters wider; Connolly’s cuffed Sash style.
Cesare Attolini/Connolly
What makes this trend so appealing is that it feels somewhat like a return to form. In Naples, tailors have long preferred pleated pants with a relaxed silhouette. Now anyone with an Instagram account and an interest in menswear will have been swamped with images of this style lately. Pictures of N.B.A. legend Pat Riley stalking the sidelines in his roomy 1980s Armani suits (or anyone who wore Armani in that era) have flooded the zeitgeist, while a slew of contemporary celebrities from Brad Pitt to Robert Downey Jr. have also cosigned the trend.
Officine Générale will introduce its ninth—and widest—cut this fall.
Officine Générale
But who is actually wearing these trousers today? It’s easy to break from the norm when you’re a professional dresser, but are office-dwelling men also leaving the standard, slimmer fits behind? Pierre Mahéo says yes. The French designer has developed nine distinct trouser cuts, each one seemingly wider than the last, since he founded Officine Générale in 2012. He estimates about 70 percent of his customers have embraced his Nash pants, with their 25-centimeter leg opening, as well as or instead of the Pierre, which tapers to just 18 centimeters. This month, Mahéo introduced his most recent style, the Evans, with a whopping 28-centimeter leg opening. At Saman Amel, the shift is less pronounced, but about 30 percent of its made-to-measure clientele is now commissioning wider cuts.
Saman Amel’s cut gives a sizable break.
Saman Amel
Even my own tastes have evolved: Since being persuaded to try a pleated, wide-leg trouser from Sunspel around four years ago, my collection has grown beyond count. The extra space around the seat and thigh that the pleats afford was a revelation; the gentle sway of the cloth as I walk brings a nonchalance, and somehow an added confidence, to my demeanor when I wear them. As a result, I can no longer bring myself to wear jeans.
And as more guys discover just how good they can look and feel in a more generously cut pair of pants, we might all have to start making more room for one another to pass by on the street.