Lorelai identifies gauchos as being one of the times in her life she was wrong. Gaucho pants are a women’s fashion item: very wide-legged trousers with a cuff ending mid-calf – basically long culottes. They are named after the trousers favoured by South American gauchos (“cowboys”).
They were in style in the early 1970s as something of a feminist statement, and soon went out of favour because they are rather unflattering. They have never quite gone away, due to being practical and comfortable.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 