Wide leg jeans differ from bell-bottoms in that the entire length of the leg is large in circumference whereas flare or bell-bottom jeans become wider below the knee.
The bell-bottoms of the 1960s and 1970s can be distinguished from the flare or boot-cut pants of the 1990s and 2000s by the tightness of the fabric at the knee.
These bell-bottoms were often just very wide-legged trousers, rather than shaped trousers that flared below the knee.
