DING DONG!

Peter Som Velveteen Pant,  $590 buy HERE

THE BELL BOTTOM PANT IS RINGING MY BELL.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Contempo Casuals was the stop and my mother started with a laugh, "I wish I would have kept all of my bell bottom jeans. Everything runs full circle." I scoffed at her ridiculousness. This is the same woman that assured me that Tiffany was not the original songwriter of "I Saw Her Standing There." Who was this Paul McCartney anyway? Surely these pants were WAY better than anything she ever wore. I was 14 and obviously, I was sorely mistaken. Had my mother kept her now vintage corduroy, swinging bell bottoms, I would be singing a tune of joy. Some other lucky girl probably picked them up at a vintage store years ago and smiled at the deal and the fit that only a 1970's pant has to offer. 

As I dry my tears of regret, I am comforted by the fact that many of today's designers have mastered the open throttle of this pant with an elegance and a fabric diversity that doesn't track back to a stiff polyester. No, these pants made by fashion sleuths like Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Donna Karan, and Richard Chai Love are palazzo perfect in jersey or denim or cotton, comfortable and oh, so chic.

Richard Chai Love; Richard Chai Love; 3.1 Phillip Lim; Zac Posen

It's hard not to love every version of this pant from camel to metallic to velvet or velour, the bell bottom/palazzo pant of this season is, without sounding redundant, a MUST HAVE. It doesn't hug, instead it drapes in a way that starts narrow at top and falls like a canopy upon your shoe. It doesn't care what shoe you choose to wear either, in fact sneakers will do just fine. You can layer up top with something sexy and snug, like cashmere or play the contrarian of proportions and add a grandfather cardigan that falls below your hip. Either way, your bells will ring. 

Linen Palazzo Pant, $75 at Serendipity Boutique

Siwy Anita Bell Bottom Denim (I own them in the Indigo Wash), $209 buy HERE

- sister