Pleats cuffs plains and hems

[jake_fink]

There is a strong tendency not to cuff plain front trousers, and to cuff rather than hem pleated trousers. Is this a "rule"? can anyone provide remarkable exceptions to this rule, especially of a vintage type?

Cheers.

 

[Feng_Li]

I was unaware of this rule when I bought my trousers. I rather like the plain front with cuffs.

 

[Jovan]

Same here. It brings more interest to the trousers, in my humble opinion.

 

[Orgetorix]

One major exception: sack suits in the American trad/Ivy League tradition, which gained prominence after WWII, always have flat fronts and nearly always have cuffs.

I don't think that flat fronted pants really became popular for general wear until the war, when cloth rationing clamped down on details that used up excess cloth--vests, pleats, etc. So I think most pre-war trousers, especially for suits, would have been pleated. And a quick browse through the few dozen pictures and illustrations I have from that era didn't show any un-cuffed trousers except formal and semi-formal ones. That is, trousers worn with morning coats, strollers, dinner jackets, and tailcoats.

If you like cuffs, don't hesitate to put them on flat front pants. They usually help trousers hang better, anyway, because they add a bit of extra weight to the bottom of the leg.

 

[Senator Jack]

I have and had plenty of 50s/60 vintage flat-front trousers and most of them had cuffs. I think the style mags/gurus believe they shouldn't have cuffs because they automatically associate flat-front with drainpipe. They need to learn their vintage.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Plenty of 30s trousers were made without pleats. Particularly those from the middle 30s. I don't recall seeing many without cuffs, and usually deep cuffs.

bk

 

[herringbonekid]

So I think most pre-war trousers, especially for suits, would have been pleated.

have to disagree here. as BK says above, flat fronted trousers were common in the 30s. the 20s too.

 

[Orgetorix]

I never knew it. Ya learn somethin' new every day...

 

[jgilbert]

Most my dress slacks are cuffed. Be they a plain front or pleated.
All my summer slack seem to hang or drape better due to the extra weight.

Think only my jeans are cuff free.

 

[Feraud]

Should tuxedo pants be cuffed or not?

 

[Jovan]

Nope. No formal trousers should have cuffs. (But try telling that to Brooks Brothers. ) A good rule of thumb I was told once is that the simpler something looks, the more formal it appears. I can agree with that.

 

[Senator Jack]

Good lord, Jovan, have they all gone mad over at BB? Why would they do such a thing? Here the fashion gurus are currently pushing cuffless trousers and the one pair of trousers that SHOULDN'T be cuffed, are! Talk about Bizarro World

 

[Jovan]

There is a certain designer who is pushing 2" cuffs on tapered trousers now... sadly one of the few.