As women’s entry to society became active and the scope of activity had widened from the late nineteenth, pants that was considered male-dominated was recognized as practical clothes that satisfy comfort and women started to wear pants. As aesthetics as well as functionality of pants started to be recognized as important items, however, pants have changed to various shapes in silhouette, color and material according to the fashion as compared to the past. In other words, value and significance of pants have heightened in today’s modern fashion, and pants are considered to be used as a medium that expresses various cultural and artistic expressions and individuality through decorative expression.
As for clothes that is completed by being put on human body, shape and wearing method of clothes are mixed, and visual evaluation is made causing an optical illusion in sensory perception of body shape. Therefore, there is a need to use principle or elements of design that can give an illusion effect in an effective way to supplement shortcomings of body shape when wearing pants. In other words, wearer can form one’s own image and supplement physical shortcomings, accentuating advantages by using lines effectively according to morphological characteristics of human body.
In recent collections, famous fashion designers present wide-ranging pants in various styles, and many kinds of pants capable of making people with various individuality stand out are displaying a tendency to be in fashion. Especially, bell bottoms pants capable of remedying one’s physical shortcomings with excellent aesthetics are in a growing trend, and those are considered retro items that combined supplementation of physical shortcomings and activity through drastic characteristics in design. Notwithstanding their constructive characteristics researches on bell bottoms pants remain insufficient as compared to the ones on pants in other design.
Therefore, this study aims to forecast silhouette and shape of bell bottoms pants which will be in fashion in the future, and provide preliminary data for development of bell bottoms pants design preferred by women through consideration on the chronological changes in silhouette of bell bottoms pants and visual evaluation on the changes in silhouette of bell bottoms pants that have been in fashion again from 2015.

Conclusions of this study are as follows.

1. Chronological changes in silhouette of bell bottoms pants show that the amount of flare has declined on a gradual basis. Silhouette with much flare is mainly shown in wide pants and palazzo pants, and silhouette of bell bottoms pants displays a tendency of being changed to a shape that activity is emphasized.

2. Results of factor analysis on the visual evaluation according to the silhouette of bell bottoms pants were composed of 4 factors such as body shape, individuality, practicability and attractiveness, and body shape turned out to be the most important factor in composition factors.

3. As a result of visual evaluation by factor by adding variety to the amount of flare of bell bottoms pants, it was evaluated as the most-preferred in all factors when the amount of flare was the least as 54cm.

4. As a result of visual evaluation by factor by adding variety to the starting point of flare of bell bottoms pants, it had a significant effect on the factors of practicability and individuality. With respect to practicability factor, it was evaluated as the most comfortable, active, natural and soft image when starting point of flare starts from 15cm. It was evaluated as individual when starting point of flare was 5cm, but was considered less practical.

5. As a result of investigating silhouette factor that affects visual evaluation of bell bottoms pants, amount of flare which is a main effect in visual evaluation of bell bottoms pants turned out to have a large impact on the evaluation of silhouette. The amount of flare affects has the greatest effect on the fourth factor, attractiveness, whereas starting point of flare was evaluated to have an effect on the third factor, practicability. The amount of flare of bell bottoms pants and starting point of flare affected visual evaluation only in body shape factor by interacting with each other.