Flares are one of those boomerang trends that despite our devotion to skinny jeans, make themselves known and tempt you to their voluminous ways every other season or so. But they have a complicated history - for every immaculately crisp pair Victoria Beckham wears the ghost of Barry Gibb and his bulging crotch in the Stayin' Alive video sends a cautionary chill down your spine. When done right, they can look great, but without a heel or the denim flaring at the exact point that will best flatter your leg, they can be seriously unflattering. Plus, getting your foot caught in a bell-bottom when climbing stairs is a serious fashion hazard.

With the reliability of the moon entering aquarius, the flare is enjoying a moment in the spotlight once again thanks to trend-setting celebrities such as Karlie Kloss and Kate Bosworth giving their calves a good airing. 

Take a look at the highs and lows of their tumultuous past to decide whether you'll be convinced to give them a go this time around.

Like Breton stripes, flared trousers have their origins in workwear having been the cut of choice for stylish-looking sailors. 

As early as the 1930s flared trousers crept from the high seas into women's wardrobes, although they didn't stray too far, appearing on early swimwear styles. 

Coco Chanel was an early adopter of the wider trouser (well, they were on theme with her Breton top), and we all know what happens with styles that Coco loves. 

When fashion became more youth-focussed and casual in the 60s, flares came along for the ride, their loose fit a perfect parallel for the loose boundaries of flower power. The decade's poster girl Jane Birkin made them look like the best thing that had ever happened to trousers.

Their bold shape sat with a new avant garde approach to fashion and its accompanying imagery too.

By 1969, when Woodstock ended the decade with a climactic boom, anyone who wasn't naked was wearing flares. 

Fashion designer Mary Quant is a renowned style leader, and she wasn't shy of wearing a pair.

In the 70s, flares showed no sign of retreating, entering their increasingly wide glory days.

With the smooth must come the rough and flare-mania started to get out of control with more elaborate styles starting to emerge.

But it wasn't all bad! Have you seen a better reason since Jane Birkin to go wide on your jeans than this perfectly wholesome image of Farrah Fawcett on a skateboard? Perhaps she was using them like sails for extra wind power on her ride. 

Farrah's all-American charm may not have been enough to keep denim at the top of the denim pile as the 70s marched on. As Elvis entered his final, dark era, in his then signature bell-bottomed jumpsuit, the style's original appeal was starting to wane. 

Did flares die with Elvis in 1977?

As ankles clung ever tighter in the 80s, flares remain in fashion exile, receiving little attention beyond Trevor and Simon's 'Swing your pants' ridicule on Saturday morning show, Going Live!

While bootcuts in the 90s erred on a flare, we weren't ready to welcome them back into the fold until the early 2000s, but alongside the trend for pelvis-baring waistbands that had become so popular at that time, which made for a confusing return. 

And what of people not going full-on 70s, with the pretty much necessary platform shoe, and dragging the flare all over the ground with a flat shoe. A generation of people wearing jeans with rips and filth up the back ensued.

When people did take the 70s reference literally, it wasn't always a good thing. The flare's reputation was suffering some serious damage.

Meanwhile, as the flare was out of the fashion limelight, it became the alternative jean of choice for emo kids and skaters the world over. 

Remember the squelch of Vans as a flare sucked up water every time it rained?

Things were looking bad for the flare. 

REALLY bad...

But wait! Like the good fashion samaritan she is, Kate Moss, who would later help John Galliano out of disgrace by asking him to make her wedding dress, did the same thing for flares. When Chloe kicked off a 70s revival with billowing blouses, wooden wedges and most importantly, stonewash flares, Kate Moss was one of the first to wear a pair and make us all want some of our own.

In the mid-2000s when Rachel Zoe was trussing anyone worth copying up in 70s vintage, updated for a new era, she breathed a chic new lease of life into the flare with crisp, indigo versions, and she's still wearing them now.

Katie Holmes has made flares her signature, like a modern J Crew version of Farrah.

A high-waisted hip-hugger is given more subtlety with a loose lower leg, allowing the flare to create a casual sexiness if worn simply.

Penelope Cruz and Milla Jovovich give the flare a European glamour just that little bit razzier than the relaxed French kind we usually love.

The later 2000s were kind to the flare! Could our love be re-ignited?

Is anyone other than Gwyneth Paltrow a perfect enough human to wear white flares without it looking like they've been dipped in dirt?

Ten more points in the flare's favour.

Would Heidi Klum's kimono look work as well with a skinny? Probably not, the proportions would be all wrong, and we'll be damned if we're giving up the boho pyjama dressing that the last decade has given us. 

J Brand's Lovestory jeans are as key to the revival of the flare as Chloe's pair, and as Victoria Beckham's super-style reinvention got underway when the noughties entered their teens, she was rarely seen out of a pair. 

Proving the original is often the best, Kate Bosworth takes flares back to their roots with a nautical striped top.

In co-ordinating dark colours and a sleek, streamlined shape, Jennifer Garner confirms that it's OK to love flares again!

Like Bosworth, Margot Robbie favours a classic approach and shows how great they look with another classic: the mack.

They've also been spotted on the streets at Paris Fashion Week, which is a good a seal of approval of a trend as you're going to get.

And as if we needed any more reason to hold flares back in our hearts, Karlie Kloss, with her million mile long legs, made them look as amazing as they ever could on the streets of New York. 

We're sorry we ever doubted you, flares!

So, do you dare to flare?