Lemaire Maxi Barrel Workwear Pant

A barrel leg is a specific shape rather than simply a wide one. It curves outward from the hip, reaches its widest point around the knee, and then draws back in toward the ankle, so the silhouette is a rounded volume with two closed ends rather than a straight column or a flare. That shape has to be engineered, and the pleats at the front and the back of the waist are the engineering: they release the fabric into the volume in a controlled way and gather it back at the waistband, so the trouser holds a round shape rather than collapsing into folds. On a heavy slate denim the effect is at its clearest, because a substantial cloth stands away from the leg and keeps the curve where a light one would fall out of it. The jacron at the back is a small piece of real detailing worth naming: a jacron is the stamped leather or leather-like patch at the back waistband of a pair of jeans, the thing that carries the maker’s mark on almost every pair of five-pockets ever made, and here it is embossed rather than printed. Made in Italy.

Why we selected it

A barrel cut done in a heavy cloth with proper pleating is a genuinely difficult trouser to make, and most attempts at the shape are simply wide. This one holds the curve.

Volume that is engineered rather than assumed is a recurring Lemaire concern, and the barrel is where it is most obvious.

Materials and construction

A heavy slate denim, oversized barrel cut, with front and back pleats and an embossed Lemaire jacron at the back. Made in Italy. We do not hold a composition for this trouser. Denim is very commonly all cotton and is frequently not, particularly in a heavy cut where a small proportion of another fibre is used for recovery, so we describe the cloth by weight and finish and leave the fibre content to the label.

Fit notes

Oversized and barrel cut, so it is wide at the knee and narrower at the ankle, and it is sized at the waist rather than at the leg. Pleated trousers sit differently from flat-front ones and want to be worn at the waist rather than at the hip, since dropping them flattens the pleats and the volume goes with them. We do not hold measurements, and there is no Lemaire size chart on this site.

Styling

A barrel leg is a large shape and does not want a second one, so a close top and a shoe with some presence at the ankle, since the trouser narrows there and a delicate shoe disappears. The volume works better with a tucked or a short top than with anything long.

Care

Heavy denim wants washing rarely, cold, and inside out, and drying away from direct heat. Where the trouser is pleated, hanging it by the waistband keeps the pleats set; folding across them will crease the volume in the wrong place. Our fabric care guide has a section on denim.

Related pieces

In heavy denim, the Twisted Workwear Pants and the High Waisted Curved Pant. The Utility Jacket is the outer to wear over it. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.