Kendrick Wants to Know…Are You Flared Up?
StyleDuring the Super Bowl halftime show, Kendrick Lamar’s bell-bottom jeans added fuel to the taunt-made fire.By Eileen CartterFebruary 10, 2025Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesSave this storySaveSave this storySaveThe rapper Kendrick Lamar has spent much of the past year perfecting his professional hater’s uniform. The look almost always includes some combination of the following: polished streetwear by one of his preferred designers, namely Martine Rose, Balenciaga, ERL, or Loewe; a fitted New Era baseball cap, typically for his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers; retro—if not borderline passé—Nike sneakers, like the witchy Shox he wore during his Los Angeles “Pop Out” concert last summer; and a similarly outmoded pair of flared jeans.On Sunday, during a Super Bowl halftime performance that was widely anticipated to be the capstone event of this action-packed past year, Lamar, with guidance from his longtime stylist Taylor McNeill, combined all of these elements to craft the ultimate naysayer ensemble. He wore a custom Martine Rose letterman jacket stitched with the word “Gloria,” a nod to the final track on his latest album, GNX, with a diamond-brooch-embellished New Era cap and a pair of $1,300 light-wash bell-bottom jeans by the French fashion label Celine, as designed by the perpetual maker of conversation-starting denim, Hedi Slimane. Their fraying hems pooled over Lamar’s Nike Air DT Max ’96 high-tops, a sneaker made famous by Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders.Online spectators marveled at Lamar’s gall as he orchestrated millions of people—both inside the Caesars Superdome and at home—to sing along while he once again accused one of this century’s most successful artists of being a pedophile. The fact that he did so while also managing to make bell-bottoms seem broadly cool again? A one-two knockout punch.Kendrick Lamar, in flared Celine Homme denim, performs during the Super Bowl’s halftime show on Sunday. Gregory Shamus/Getty ImagesGiven the lopsided dreariness of the game that bookended Lamar’s performance, the flared jeans served as a welcome bit of excitement and much-needed talking point for bored viewers, from hordes of fans jamming comment sections with desperate pleas of “ID on the jeans???” to longtime flare-wearers like Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carrabba pleased to see the silhouette’s triumphant return.(And hell, this wasn’t even Lamar’s first headline-making denim moment this past week, nor was he the only one to deliver a fashion moment during his set: Samuel L. Jackson’s cheeky Uncle Sam costume—a three-piece blue suit and top hat featuring red stripes and silver stars—was custom-made by the New York label Bode.)Keen KDot observers will know that this isn’t a new silhouette for Lamar, who has been wearing bootcut denim throughout the past year. That notably includes the pale blue Balenciaga flares he wore first at the “Pop Out” concert (with a red hoodie by The Row and the aforementioned Nike Shox) last summer, and then again in his “Squabble Up” music video (with a hefty ERL belt), which debuted in November. And indeed, fashion insiders have been ringing the bell on the return of bell-bottoms for years now. But this is the Super Bowl, which means Kendrick’s flares were beamed directly into well over 100 million homes globally, turning a niche trend into a mainstream concern at lightning speed.
The rapper Kendrick Lamar has spent much of the past year perfecting his professional hater’s uniform. The look almost always includes some combination of the following: polished streetwear by one of his preferred designers, namely Martine Rose, Balenciaga, ERL, or Loewe; a fitted New Era baseball cap, typically for his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers; retro—if not borderline passé—Nike sneakers, like the witchy Shox he wore during his Los Angeles “Pop Out” concert last summer; and a similarly outmoded pair of flared jeans.
On Sunday, during a Super Bowl halftime performance that was widely anticipated to be the capstone event of this action-packed past year, Lamar, with guidance from his longtime stylist Taylor McNeill, combined all of these elements to craft the ultimate naysayer ensemble. He wore a custom Martine Rose letterman jacket stitched with the word “Gloria,” a nod to the final track on his latest album, GNX, with a diamond-brooch-embellished New Era cap and a pair of $1,300 light-wash bell-bottom jeans by the French fashion label Celine, as designed by the perpetual maker of conversation-starting denim, Hedi Slimane. Their fraying hems pooled over Lamar’s Nike Air DT Max ’96 high-tops, a sneaker made famous by Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders.
Online spectators marveled at Lamar’s gall as he orchestrated millions of people—both inside the Caesars Superdome and at home—to sing along while he once again accused one of this century’s most successful artists of being a pedophile. The fact that he did so while also managing to make bell-bottoms seem broadly cool again? A one-two knockout punch.
Given the lopsided dreariness of the game that bookended Lamar’s performance, the flared jeans served as a welcome bit of excitement and much-needed talking point for bored viewers, from hordes of fans jamming comment sections with desperate pleas of “ID on the jeans???” to longtime flare-wearers like Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carrabba pleased to see the silhouette’s triumphant return.
(And hell, this wasn’t even Lamar’s first headline-making denim moment this past week, nor was he the only one to deliver a fashion moment during his set: Samuel L. Jackson’s cheeky Uncle Sam costume—a three-piece blue suit and top hat featuring red stripes and silver stars—was custom-made by the New York label Bode.)
Keen KDot observers will know that this isn’t a new silhouette for Lamar, who has been wearing bootcut denim throughout the past year. That notably includes the pale blue Balenciaga flares he wore first at the “Pop Out” concert (with a red hoodie by The Row and the aforementioned Nike Shox) last summer, and then again in his “Squabble Up” music video (with a hefty ERL belt), which debuted in November. And indeed, fashion insiders have been ringing the bell on the return of bell-bottoms for years now. But this is the Super Bowl, which means Kendrick’s flares were beamed directly into well over 100 million homes globally, turning a niche trend into a mainstream concern at lightning speed.
