Pleated or Flat Front Chinos

[radman46]

What is the rule on flat or pleated pants? Is it just personal taste? Does one style lend itself to a certian body style? Is one more the current style than the other? What's the story?? I know, too many questions. Thanks for your help.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Both are fine. Flat-front chinos give a nod to U.S. military dress, though Gen. MacArthur had his own (unique?) pair with British-style forward facing pleats.

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[Tomasso]

What is the rule on flat or pleated pants? Is it just personal taste?

Simply personal preference.

Does one style lend itself to a certain body style?

Flat fronts will look better if one has a flat stomach, flat rear and slim hips.

Is one more the current style than the other?

Flat fronts are in at the moment.

 

[Diamondback]

OT: Marc, thanks for the tidbit on Mac's uniforms. I'm trying to build a reconstruction of it to frame for the office wall...

 

[Orgetorix]

Flat fronts are in at the moment.

And while that's generally a poor reason to buy a particular item of clothing, chinos have a short enough lifespan, in my experience, that it might not matter much.

 

[Diamondback]

Oh, BTW, I think Mac's were tailored in Hong Kong or somewhere else that would've worked mainly with Brit uniforms, so they probably would have interpreted it as OK to do Brit-style trousers, I think he had 7 or more of 'em and went through 2-3 a day. Just a trivial note...

 

[Jovan]

If I'm correct, don't most Japanese tailors do forward pleats anyways?

Bill's Khakis has a style both in the original flat front and forward pleat front.

 

[Diamondback]

I'd also suspect that the Japanese doing Brit-style tailoring is possibly an artifact from the turn-of-the-century Anglo-Japanese alliance that ended with the London Treaty ca. 1930 on naval limitations.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I prefer plain-front. Just seems to fit khakis better somehow. With pleated, you quickly lose the crease in the pants leg and then the pleats look strange.

 

[Tomasso]

With pleated, you quickly lose the crease in the pants leg and then the pleats look strange.

Yes, but with flat fronts you often get a horizontal crease midway between the crotch and the belt from sitting.[huh]

 

[Jovan]

I do plain fronts. They look better with fitted shirts, for sure. While I do have a flat stomach, I have a bit of man-hips and big seat going on, so a blousey shirt makes me look wide. Good example here. (Though these are not khakis.)

 

[Senator Jack]

As I've written before, years ago, it was impossible to find new flat front pants, and it was my aversion to pleats that was partially responsible for my burgeoning interest in vintage. It wasn't till I started finding high-rise 40s trousers that I realized pleats can actually look good if cut right.

Having written that, I was just yesterday asked by a twenty-something lad with growing sartiorial interest if he should stay away from pleated dockers and without hesitance I answered yes. Rarely, do I say go along with what fashion dictates, but the fact is that women are starting to realize that the modern low-rise pleated trouser simply does not become a man. 'I can't stand a man in pleats,' I've heard more than a few say, and I think this is just the beginning of the backlash. In fact, I think women are going to start viewing men in any sort of chinos, dockers, khakis as rather dull and unfashionable.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Jovan]

They're certainly not as high as some trousers, but I wouldn't necessarily call them low rise, myself. In any case, Dockers are pretty evil nonetheless. They don't flatter anyone.

 

[Rafter]

I do plain fronts. They look better with fitted shirts, for sure. While I do have a flat stomach, I have a bit of man-hips and big seat going on, so a blousey shirt makes me look wide.

I have to agree with you, Jovan. The plain/flat front trouser goes better with fitted shirts. Pleated pants are a good way to conceal extra baggage. I opt for no pleats, since I have a flat stomach and a "no jo-lo' rear end. I own just two pairs of pleated dockers and hardly ever wear them.

 

[Naphtali]

Pleats are significantly more forgiving of a less than perfect body shape.

 

[Quigley Brown]

They're certainly not as high as some trousers, but I wouldn't necessarily call them low rise, myself. In any case, Dockers are pretty evil nonetheless. They don't flatter anyone.

I avoid Dockers like the plague. They're just so.......average. I've always worn pleated. I'm very picky and I can't seem to find new ones my style this year. I guess flat fronts are 'in.'

 

[Jovan]

Quigley: Everyone recommends Bill's Khakis to me. They have a style just like the WWII originals, but with forward pleats.

Hope you find that right pair!

EDIT: Apparently this website sells them with free hemming. Nice.

 

[Duck]

Pleats all the way. I think I have one pair of chinos that are flat front and rarely wear them. I just find the pleated more comfortable and my wife likes the way pleats look.

 

[Cobden]

I wear chino's pretty much daily, but I always go for pleated chinos. Not for any fashion reasons, mind, but because the pockets are bigger!

 

[Mr. Rover]

I prefer flat-front chinos, because I find that pleated chinos don't take a crease very well. I find that wool holds a crease for longer. With cotton chinos, the crease is usually mostly gone by the end of the day, and that is fine with flat fronts but with pleats, theres just too much material.