I've seen you many of you lovely ladies here really rock the flared jeans look. The last time flares came round in style I wasn't a big fan for a number of reasons.

Primarily because they are always too long on me and if you have to shorten them by more than an inch or so I think it throws off the proportions. Which only further accentuates my other reason for not being crazy about them: the tightly pinched knee flaring out to the hem I believe draws attention to the thickest part of me: where the top of my thigh meets the bottom of my butt (my crotch area, in other words) --and makes it look even wider.

Supposedly it's this exact cut that makes you look more balanced. So I truly believe I have an utterly non-objective poison eye for flare jeans.

So of course I had to challenge myself to get over it (or at the least get some other more objective opinions on the matter, and that's where you all come in).

Since they were having a big online sale, For $20 I bought a pair of high-waisted Artist jeans from American Eagle. They came in short lengths, and I'd heard good things about them and seen several of you wear them in your WIW photos, and thought they looked really flattering on you. So I decided I'd give flares another chance.

While there are some elements in this go-round of flares that I like (the higher waist, for example. The last incarnation of flares were primarily low rise/hip hugger which made the thick-thigh effect even worse on me, imho) I'm still not convinced they look that great (I will admit these are pretty darned comfortable, though).

Admittedly, even at the short length these are still about an inch too long for me. I can tell by how the leg breaks over the pointy toe boots I'm wearing them with. So I'll either need to have them shortened by between a half inch and an inch (most likely the case) or reserve them to only wear with the few sky high platform heels I can still wear that don't exacerbate my foot issues (the shoes I'm wearing them with have about a 2.5 inch heel on them and are very comfortable).

I kept the rest of the outfit incredibly simple (for me, anyway) and made no effort to match or coordinate overall. I wanted to wear the flares in a simple, casual way. So I just went with some colors I thought paired well together and a couple of interesting/semi-bold pieces of jewelry.

I thought the bright berry tones of the tucked in muscle tank went well with the deep bottle green of the leather moto jacket and the more blousy effect of it tucked into the high waist of the jeans helped create some balance against the snug-fit top half of the jeans and the flared bottom half.

My BF said he thought they looked as nice as any of my other skinny, slouch, cigarette or bootcut jeans. I still see droopy (non-flattering) butt and thicker looking thighs.

So, other than recognizing that the length is still ever-so-slightly too long and will need to be adjusted, would all of you fab fashionistas mind giving me your more objective opinion on whether these flare jeans are complimentary on my figure overall?

As always, your thoughts and opinions are very much appreciated!

Bottle green leather moto jacket: AllSaints
Berry pink muscle shirt: American Eagle
Artist Flare jeans: American Eagle
Pointed toe lace-up leather platform boots: Vintage (via flea market)
Bag: same as the previous day's --Coach mini tanner in port
Long Medusa head pendant necklace: Han Cholo (via karmaloop)
Green faceted stone large gold ring: had it so long I can't remember where I got it.
Golden spike earrings: Noir (via amazon)