How Should Pants Fit?

[alebrady]

I have been curious about this for quite some time. I am in the process of building out my odd jacket and trouser portions of my wardrobe (mostly trousers in flannel, some worsted, and some chinos for casual) and am hoping for some guidance on the fit of the latter. In a lot of the reading I have done on 'classical' wardrobes (i.e. Flusser, Boyer, et al.) it seems there is a preference for what I would could consider a fuller cut trouser - fuller in the hip and thigh, though still tapering to the bottom of the leg.

It seems that, currently, there is a marked trend toward a slimmer silhoutte with respect to trousers - even discounting what I would consider very fitted trouser legs, the overall aesthetic seems to be much leaner than many of the classical pictures/examples I have seen.

My question is: are references to fuller trouser fit unduly biased by that Golden Age of tailoring that they all seem to love (i.e. early 20th century)...or is it that the current trend of slimmer trousers is simply that - a fashion trend - and fuller cut is the way to timeless style...or is it simply, whichever cut a man prefers?? Should there be a difference in fit for flannels vs. chinos, for example??

I'd be very interested in hearing opinions on this.

By the way, for my own purposes....I am quite slender of build so could certainly 'get away' with slimmer cut trousers...but I have also seen it said that fullness in trousers help balance a jacket as well as leading to a more aethetically pleasing/masculine line. I do have to be careful with trousers that are too full, however, lest the seat, rise, etc. become baggy to the point of sloppiness (and I assume this should certainly be avoided)...