New Fashion Board 10-3-2003 - 11-7-2003

[Jack Manfred]

I have a question about pleats in pants. Yes, I know that pleated pants have fallen out of fashion in a NASDAQesque drop. But I have an observation. At the beginning of the 90's, I worked in a department store. Most trousers were pleated, and the only customers who bought plain-front pants were men over 50. To be exact, the only customers who bought them were the wives of men over 50. Those men didn't actually shop for clothes.

Now, 10 or so years later, flat-front pants (good marketing, no one wants plain anything) are sleek and stylish. Pleated pants have a reputation for drawing attention to the middle area of a man's body and making him look dowdy. I seem to recall a dozen years ago, we told men that pleats were slimming.

What gives? I have a few theories, hopefully the fashionistas can agree on one of them.

1) It's all marketing/fashion. Men tend to buy pants only when they gain/lose weight. In order to get men to buy more, retailers need to convince men that they need an entirely new wardrobe.

2) We're being lied to now. Plain-front/Flat-front pants will be the acid-washed jeans of the early millenum, and one day tastemakers will wake up, shake off the fog of the decade's activities, and shudder at the thought of wearing pants without a pleat.

3) We were being lied to then. Pleated pants were always a bad idea, never looked good on any man, and we should pray they die a certain death.

4) Plain-front pants are cut differently than they used to be, so you can't compare today's pants with yesterday's pants. Today's pants are objectively more flattering.

5) It's all body-type dependent. Some men look good with pleats, others sans. Men should find out which is the case for them and dress accordingly, heedless of fashion. Pleats only exascerbate a dowdy look if their wearer is trying to squeeze into too small a size, and flat-fronts don't objectively look better on all men.

Is the correct answer one (or more) of the above? Is BRC the only one who can resolve such a Gordian knot of a problem with one slash of her rapier wit?