The Perfect Black Wide Leg Trouser For Layering This Season Handpicked by Claire

I spent an entire winter convinced that skinny black trousers were the only sensible option under a big coat, on the basis that anything wider would bunch up and make me look like I was smuggling a duvet. I was wrong, and I owe the wide leg trouser a proper apology for the years I spent avoiding it out of pure laziness dressed up as logic.

A good black wide leg trouser is the one thing that makes layering actually work rather than just adding bulk on top of bulk. The trick is in the drop, it needs to fall from the hip in a clean line rather than clinging anywhere, so that when you pile on a jumper, a shirt underneath that, maybe a gilet on top of that, the bottom half stays sharp and simple while everything else gets to be a bit much. Balance, basically. Wide leg on the bottom earns you licence to layer like you’re dressing for three different weather systems up top.

Fabric matters more than people admit.

A wool or wool blend with a bit of structure holds the shape through a full day, sits properly at the waistband, and does not do that thing where cheaper fabric goes limp by lunchtime and pools round your ankles like you’ve given up. I learned that one the hard way in a pair that looked brilliant in the shop mirror and by 3pm looked like I’d borrowed them from someone taller and sadder.

Style them high waisted with something tucked in, always, or the proportions go wrong fast. A polo neck, a fine knit, a crisp shirt with the layering happening on top rather than underneath. Boots work best, a bit of heel if you want the leg to look longer, a chunky sole if you’re after the off duty version. Loafers earn their place too, for the days you want it to look like you didn’t try, even though you obviously did.

Office to dinner, a Sunday that starts with coffee and ends up somewhere you didn’t plan to go, any occasion where you want to look sorted without looking stiff. My colleague Priya calls hers her “grown up trousers” and wears them to everything from client meetings to her own leaving drinks, which tells you most of what you need to know.