Pants: Flat or Pleated?

Do you prefer Flat or Pleated pants?  In other words, do you prefer a plain or classic style of pants?  It is my opinion that pleated pants are much better looking than flat front pants!  After all, another word for flat front is plain front so I'll use them interchangeably.  Whereas there are box pleated, single reverse pleated and double reverse pleated pants, there are little to no variations in flat front pants. They're all pretty much the same flavor, "plain vanilla"! Enough said!  That is just my opinion and not shared by all.    Having stated the above flat front pants do look good on some men.  Let's take a look at some icons in plain front pants:

Sammy Davis Jr.

Marvin Gaye

Richard Roundtree as "John Shaft"

Drake and Ne-Yo

It's no coincidence that the flat front pants look good on those brothers because they have the proper build which is somewhat slim.  I'm not saying that only men with slim builds can wear flat front pants.  They just look better on them because the pants have less material when compared to a pleated pair of slacks.  Otherwise, slim build men can also wear pants with pleats but they may not look as polished as they would with flat front pants for the reasons cited above.

In consideration of pants with pleats:

Bill Cosby

Supermodel Tyson

Cedric the Entertainer

Men with meat-on-the-bones look better in pants with pleats.  The extra room of the pants accomodate the man not only in terms of fit but also comfort. 

PANT STYLES

Flat - Reverse Single Pleat - Flat Western Pocket

Single - Double - Inverted Box Pleat

Tips

For durability and comfort quality dress pants should have a lining through the crotch that falls just above the knees.  

The pleats of the pants should lay flat when you're standing.  If they're open then the pants are too small. 

For durability and comfort quality dress pants should have a lining through the crotch that falls just above the knees.  

Pleated pants look better with cuffs.  The cuffs add weight to the bottom of the pants and enable the pleats to flow linearly.

The cuff should be no more than a maximum of 2 inches wide.  Cuffs vary in width from 1.25" to 2.0". 

There is a thought that men that are vertically challenged should not wear cuffs.  However, cuffs are a classy look and I'm of the opinion that the height of the man should not matter.  Having stated the preceding I do believe that the shorter the man the shorter the width of the cuff should be in consideration of the above widths.

Regardless to whether you're wearing flat or pleated pants please make sure the color of your socks match the color of your pants.  If you can't match the two exactly the pants should be darker than the socks.  Otherwise, unless you don't mind imitating Micheal Jackson you will draw undue attention to your socks.  I'm presuming those are not your intentions. 

Per the above the second option would be to match the color of the socks with the color of the shoes.  Again, the color of the socks should not be lighter than the color of the shoes.

The pants should have a slight break on top of the shoes to ensure that the pants aren't too high.  You don't want folks to think that you're a clam digger! 

Pants without cuffs should be slightly longer at the back of the bottom of the pants.

Never, never, never, never, never wear braces (suspenders) with a belt.  Did I say that enough times?  By the way, braces typically have leather endings and attach to the (six) buttons on the inside of the waist band of the pants.  Suspenders are typically metal and they attach to the exterior of the waistband.  The exceptionally well dress man wears braces as opposed to suspenders.


The bottom line is whether the pants are plain or pleated they should be made of quality material and fit properly.   There is nothing like cheap looking and/or ill fitting pants!