[abecode]

Actually if you want to find the origin of bell bottoms, according to a museum exhibit on men's clothing I saw, it was the sans coulottes in the 1700s. They protested the aristocrats, who wore high-legged pants, and eventually led to the French revolution and the association of bell bottoms with revolutionary/countercultural things.

[fsckboy]

I did an image search for sans coulottes and I did not see any bell bottoms. They did appear to wear long pants to the ankles rather than breeches to the knees.

[abecode]

Yeah you're right, I guess it was more the general fashion motif of long baggy pants being associated with revolutionaries/bohemians/anti-aristocrats.