Baggy Britches

They have the elegance of long dresses but the ease of a pair of jeans. They fall handsomely over the clunky platform shoes that are so popular today. They are palazzo pants--wide-legged trousers that fit tightly at the hips but swell to bell-bottoms as much as five feet in circumference. The flowing material is often draped so widely that from a distance the eye cannot distinguish between a woman in a long gown and a woman in palazzos. Says Irene Satz, of Manhattan's Ohrbach's department store: "They don't look like pants, but they are."

Palazzos are already selling well in New York, Atlanta and Chicago, and are expected to be one of the most popular styles this fall and winter--even for women whose less than perfect figures have until now kept them out of pants. Unlike jeans, which tend to reveal everything, palazzos conceal everything, even fat hips, skinny thighs and thick calves. "They give a gal who has something to hide the place to hide it," explains Francine Farkas of Alexander's department stores in New York City.

But palazzos have their faults. In high winds, their flaring legs can flap like sails, tending to impede walking. "If a woman speeds around in them too quickly," says Los Angeles designer Jim Reva, "she'll trip on" the flowing hems. Palazzos also tempt women to pull the baggy britches on over their shoes, a procedure that can be dangerous. One Atlanta girl successfully got one shoe in but snagged the other on the voluminous hem and fell on her nose.

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