The white flare - this season's school gate trend

As a childless twentysomething, I'm ignorant of the perilous peregrination that is the school run.

But just because I've never embarked on a 30-minute expedition in which a child wants to cry, kick and cuddle at 30-second intervals doesn't mean I can't commend the pluckiness of those prepared to take on this season's boldest school-gate trend: the white flare.

Bravely championed by a host of bouncy blow-dried types, recent weeks have seen white flares take over from the Range Rover as the item no self-respecting yummy mummy can bear to be without.

Apparently unfazed by the prospect of arriving at the school gate with a trail of strawberry-jam paw-prints tracking up her left thigh, the white-flare-wearing-mother is heroic in her quest for seamless school-gate style.

While for some the school gate is a place saved for snotty kisses and tearful drop-offs, for others it is a catwalk, a publicity grabbing spot that is as effective as any red carpet. So it's little wonder that a number of long-legged celebrity mums have wasted no time in getting in on the act.

Elle Macpherson, arguably this trend's greatest ambassador, favours a figure-hugging pair cut from poplin, while fellow model Heidi Klum is often photographed in a denim version of the style.

Katie Holmes and doting mother Jennifer Garner are also fans.

Essential to this season's Seventies revival, white flares featured heavily on the spring/summer catwalks. At MaxMara, they were tailored and cut at ankle-skimming height, and for Chloe, Hannah McGibbon presented a more floaty version of the trouser tricksy style.

The most attention-grabbing of all of this season's trouser shapes, the white flare's greatest downfall is that it leaves little to the imagination where a thigh shape is concerned. Got the guts to get involved? Try J Brand for slouchy flared-jeans which are available in stark white and ivory and Gap for a more affordable version of the style.

And remember to stock up on OxiClean.