The Flare timeline: where it all began.

American sailors were the first to adopt bell-bottomed trousers in the 19th century. It is believed that this may have been for practical purposes. They made it easier to snag a man who had fallen overboard and easier to remove when wet. This mariner is seen on the deck of USS New Hampshire in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1864.

Flares never really took off until the mid-60s. Sonny and Cher, seen here in June 1965, helped popularise the look in the US through their TV appearances.

It is a misconception to think that all late-60s hippies wore flares. Those who wore clothes favoured a straight-leg trouser. This chap, resting during Woodstock in New York in 1969, is one of the few I could find.

Those who took to flares in the latter half of the 60s tended to be the famous. People like Twiggy, here at home in 1966, Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix.

It wasn’t until the 70s that the trousers struck out for global domination. Here, a young man waits for a ride near the New Jersey Turnpike in 1971.

In the UK, the designer Mary Quant – posing with two of her autumn collection outfits in May 1972 – took the flared trouser to her heart.

But it was music that ignited the fashion. Former skinhead band Slade ditched the bovver boots and braces at the turn of the decade and embraced glam and flares, but their music was still for the working class. Here guitarist Dave Hill shows off his threads.

In April 1974, Abba won the Eurovision song contest in Brighton, England, wearing silver boots. These are their dress-down flares.

It’s August 1974 and these Manchester United football fans certainly liked the look, but I think they are more Slade than Abba. They have just arrived in Cardiff and are looking for trouble.

The platforms and billowing slacks are no hindrance to being hard: the fans of Manchester United and Cardiff City indulge in some 1970s hooliganism.

One of the most successful flare bands of the era were the Scottish group the Bay City Rollers. Formed in 1966 they broke through in late 1974 and achieved worldwide fame in early 1976, when this photo was taken.

Elements of skinhead fashion permeated Rollermania. Feather cuts, braces, denim and cut-off jeans that look rolled up. Again, embraced maniacally by the working class teeny boppers.

Many bands flared up and tried to cash in. Step forward pop group Kenny. Andy Walton, Chris Lacklison, Richard Driscoll, Chris Redburn and Yan Style, look on your works and despair.

A youth club dance hall in Finland in July 1975 #shepherdshuffle.

Ludicrously large flares, such as these sported by heartthrob/budgie-smuggler David Essex in LA in November 1975, were sometimes referred to as Elephant Bells.

The death knell for flares sounded in 1976. US bands such as the Ramones had no time for large trousers. Punks in the UK preferred to adopt the drainpipes of the Teddy Boy. Here pioneer punk rocker Sue Catwoman and friends turn heads in London.

It would take a while for the flare to fizzle out though. Here children play on a homemade go-cart outside a corner shop in Manchester in 1977.

The Jackson 5 at Buttes Chaumont Studios in Paris on 30 May 1977.

0n 13 June of that year, flares made appearances on the legs of picketers at the Grunwick dispute in Willesden, north London. Here, an unfortunate police officer with his foot trapped under a van is ignored by comrades in favour of a fashionable striker.

As ever, footballers were at the cutting edge. Here Arsenal’s David O’Leary, Graham Rix, Trevor Ross and Frank Stapleton relax at the Post House hotel in Norwich before their match against Norwich City in September 1977.

Two Provisional IRA gunmen on the Creggan estate in Derry on 30 January 1978 during a demonstration to mark the sixth anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Saturday Night Fever was a fitting swan song for the fashion. Released in the US in December 1977 and in the UK in March 1978, the film featured the working-class Tony Manero and his life of music, dance, violence and fashion.