When pleats became standard fare for men's trousers in the 1980s, most men were delighted. What was infinitely more comfortable was suddenly stylish, too. Not only could pleats be worn in casual, khaki pants, but with a suit or a sportcoat. Well, brace yourselves, guys, the designers have plotted against the pleat.
Officially, pleats are out and flat-front trousers are in. Although they are alleged to make a man look slimmer, everyone may not agree. What could be worse than a man who is overweight looking as if he is poured into a pair of flat-front pants?Too bad. Industry leaders from Gucci to Calvin Klein to Richard Tyler now favor the unpleated style for tailored clothing. Tyler still shows both flat-front trousers and pleats in his menswear collection, but he hasn't been wearing pleats himself for a couple of years.
He thinks pleats cut him in half and make him look shorter. Besides, the new jackets tend to be leaner with more nipped-in waists, and he doesn't think it looks right for a fuller pant to appear at the bottom of the jacket. Tyler admits that he is "not in very good shape," but he still feels slimmer in flat-front pants.
Younger designers, like Richard Bengtesson and Edward Pavlick, as well as Matthew Batanian, John Bartlett and Gene Meyer are all going with the flat-front look.
So is Donna Karan. She still offers a choice between the pleat and the flat-front but favors the latter in her new shows. The look is meant to be "streamlined, whether lean and narrow or comfortably relaxed. Triacetate suits with flat-front pants go to work with white shirts and textured ties."
This is a cycle that should have been predictable.
In the 1920s, pants were 22 inches wide at the cuff, wider at the knee, with deep front pleats. In the '30s, trousers became full-cut with deep pleats; and in the '40s, pleats, tucks, cuffs and overlapping waistbands were eliminated, based on orders from the War Production Board.
Following the war, chinos, the military cotton twill, made its way into civilian life as plain-front khakis. In the '50s, pleats went out entirely, and Pierre Cardin began emphasizing the tapered leg style. It is the sleek, fitted look of the '60s and '70s that seems most at home in the '90s. So if you have any trousers left in your closet from that era, now is the time to drag them out.
No one who thinks pleated trousers are more flattering to his particular figure should go for the flat front. There is, after all, such a thing as comfort, and pleated pants are much less confining. Not only that, but some tailors admit that it is more difficult to cut a plain-front trouser that is flattering. And anyone who is accustomed to put-ting his hands in his pockets will look pretty silly when the plain front suddenly becomes lacquered in place.
Anyone who buys a flat-front trouser should be careful that it is not extremely low rise, meaning the distance from the crotch seams to the top of the waistband. A flat-front man should also look for angled front pockets that make it easier to fish for a quarter.
So far there are still pleated trousers available and designers that favor them. The Israeli-based Bagir, for instance, is interested in "keeping the peace between structured and relaxed clothing," so Bagir's Spring design for the "In-Power suit" features flap pockets and "triple-pleated, super-drapey pants." It is paired with a jacket with a tapered waist, squared shoulders and wider lapels.
But even Bagir offers the flat-front pant in an easy Friday, string-waist comfortable linen. The obvious advice, then, for a man who can't stand the thought of a flat-front pant is to go out immediately and stock up on pleats while they last.