Rick Owens F/W 25 Bolan Bootcut Trouser – Black Corduroy

A bootcut only works if the flare has something to hold it up. The whole shape depends on the cloth standing away from the leg from the knee down rather than falling against it, and in a soft fabric that simply does not happen: the flare collapses, the trouser reads as slightly too big at the ankle, and the line the cut was drawn for disappears. This is why bootcuts have historically been made in denim, and why most of the ones that are not are disappointing.

The answer here is linen, at better than a quarter of the cloth. Linen fibre is stiffer and far less elastic than cotton, so a modest proportion of it gives a fabric noticeably more body at the same weight without making it heavy. What that buys on this trouser is a flare that stands out from the calf and swings rather than trailing, and a leg that holds its shape through a day of sitting down in it. Linen is also the coolest fibre in ordinary use, which is what makes a full-length high-waisted trouser wearable in a warm month. The cotton is doing the other half: it softens the hand, it takes a black deeper than a linen alone would, and it keeps the cloth washable.

It creases, and it is supposed to. A cloth with this much linen in it records where it has been bent and does not entirely give it back, which on a trouser cut this severely is the thing that stops it looking formal. The Bolan pattern underneath is unchanged: high rise, slim through the thigh, opening below the knee. From the Fall/Winter 2025 Concordians collection, named for the town near Modena where the house has produced for roughly two decades.

We wanted the Bolan in something other than denim, and this is the version that can be worn in a warm month, which neither the denim nor the wool can manage. It is also the easiest member of the family to live with. A black trouser with a real flare and no drama at all in the cloth is a rarer thing to find than it sounds, and it is the pair we would recommend to someone who wants this shape before they want this house.

Seventy-four percent cotton and twenty-six percent linen. Made in Italy, in Black. High waist, slim through the thigh, bootcut below the knee. From the Fall/Winter 2025 Concordians collection.

High rise and slim through the thigh, with the flare beginning below the knee. A cotton and linen cloth has more body than a soft cotton and no stretch at all, so buy the waist you can sit down in rather than the one you intend to reach, and expect the trouser to soften over the first weeks rather than to give. Cut long, and drafted to sit over a heel or a boot; the flare is a length as much as a shape and it does not survive being shortened casually.

With a boot or a heel, since a bootcut is cut around a shoe with height. With a knit tucked so the rise is visible. A black cotton and linen sits more quietly next to black wool than a denim does, which is what makes this the version of the Bolan that goes with tailoring rather than against it.

Wash cool and hang to dry. Linen is the half of this cloth that decides how it ages: it softens with every wash and never quite stops, and it is also the reason a hot tumble dryer is the one thing to keep the trouser away from, since heat and tumbling are what break a linen fibre over time. Press it damp if you want it flat, and accept the creases if you do not. Our care guidance covers cotton in detail and its linen section is worth reading beside it.

The F/W 25 Bolan Bootcut Trouser in Darkdust is the same cut in a viscose and silk, the F/W 25 Geth Jean in Black Corduroy the wider leg from the same season, and the Bolan Bootcut Trousers the denim original. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.